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Keep it Simple, Keep it Real: Videos to prevent parents from serving fruit drinks and toddler milks to their young children (ages 9 to 36 months)

By Frances Fleming-Milici

The UConn Rudd Center and 1,000 Days have released two new videos for parents to help correct common misperceptions about the drinks they often serve their young children. Marketing of fruit drinks and toddler milks portrays these products as healthy drinks for toddlers, but child health experts do not recommend serving drinks to young children for many reasons. First, both fruit drinks and toddler milks have added sugars. Toddler milks also have more sodium and less protein than plain milk, and they can cost four times as much. Fruit drinks have almost no juice and most have diet sweeteners in addition to added sugars. What’s more, research shows that providing sugary drinks to toddlers likely increases their sweet preferences and may reduce their acceptance of unsweetened beverages such as plain milk and water. These 45-second videos dispel the marketing hype about fruit drinks and toddler milks and inform parents about their true ingredients and why experts do not recommend them. They encourage parents to “keep it simple, keep it real” by serving water and plain milk to their young children – the only drinks experts say toddlers need for a healthy diet. The videos are available in English and Spanish.

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Date Added
June 28, 2021