in the northwest and dry still in the southwest. del. >> dave, thank you very much. and thank you for watching al jazeera america. the stream is next. >> hi i'm lisa fletcher and you're in the stream. a special milk for toddlers. it's a booming business for formula companies. is it good for toddlers or just good for the bottom line? ♪ ♪ ♪ >> my co- host wajahat ali is here.

these companies have fightd out there's a -- figured out there's a market for toddler milk, particularly when it's widely semed to use infant formula. >> i'm the perfect message engineer in this. i learned a lot in today's show. this toddler formula according to him causes long term health complications, therefore guaranteeing future health care patients, little snark there. some essential elements and nutrients. check out my page right here, similac hq, this is in china raging, people think if they give this to their toddler that they will become smarter with inteleipro. this is a personal issue and we shouldn't be shaming moms about formula-needing and what decisions they make. >> everyone knows raising a child is no easy task and deciding what to need them can

be even harder. for decades, infant formula was touted as scientifically better for babies. aggressive campaigns have weaned much of the public off of formula and back to the notion that breast is best. financial losses aas a result, but instead of throwing a tantrum they've turned to toddlers. globally, it is a $15 billion industry. toddler milk is now the fastest growing product for formula companies. powdered based milk claims to provide t tots nutrition. >> is something be missing from your toddler's formula? toddlers only get 25% of the dha

that many experts recommend. >> marketing buzz words like dha are just needing into insecurities. toddlers don't need special milk. it's packaged milk and twice as much sugar as regular milk not good for kids. clever marketing campaigns that boost bottom line but not necessarily the health of kids. tiffany hayes, director of pediatric nutrition at johns hopkins children center. and also the mom of two girls and in hong kong maria tarent, social professor at the university of hong kong's school of nursing. welcome everyone to the stream. so plea, there are millions of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles out there, who care about the young won of ones in their lives.

it could be helpful if we could figure out why the companies are moving in the direction of toddler formulas, can you explain what set this course? >> there are basically two trends, which have driven the formula companies to sort of tap this market. in 1981 the world health organization put restrictions on the marketing of formulas that breast milk companies markets, most companies have some compliance with this who code. restricted from advertising and promoting the infant formulas. in most developed countries we have seen a daniel increase in breast need -- substantial increase in breast needing rates. combined with the fact that most women have fewer children the market for the infant formula has declined substantially. this is companies that are looking for additional markets for their

products. >> tiffany, this trend in breast needing has been problematic forkinproblematic fornn fant foa companies. give us your thoughts on this? >> they are just that. they've taken what the advancements that they've made in infant formula and they've expanded it to this market. i think that they're really capitalizing on the fear that parents and grandparents, caregivers have in this question, and i giving my child everything they need, are they getting everything that they need. and the formula companies are packaging it and saying if you are worried about that, here is a product that is going to be a guarantee. >> and what parent isn't worried about that? slam dunk. >> exact lir. >> wendy says,

parents, they the parents worry about the imrik eating toddler isn't -- picky eating toddler isn't getting enough nut rents. entirely unnecessary coul cow's milk is fine after 12 months or breast needing. then great video comment. from jenna. >> i have a two-year-old. i think it's healthier and more effective to give her nutrients through a varied diet and toddler milk is marketing based on parents' insecurity . s. >> you are a fit mommy. what do you think? >> as a parent myself i have two children, one is a toddler, two and a half years old. i do believe that i'm also concerned that my daughter is

not getting enough nutrition. however i'm a registered dietician and usually children after the age of 12 months they can start drinking milk and starting to get a lot of nutrition starting at six months from food. i understand that as long as my child is eating a balanced variety of food, she most likely is getting the nutrients that she needs. >> these products are marketed particularly overseas, particularly in hong kong. talk about these products around town. >> the formula companies are very good at targeting the parental insecurities. in asia, for example, china, hong kong, thailand, parents are focused on educational outcomes. education is very important. so the advertisements for these products target the insecurities. you have

the i.q. formula, you know, the advertisement of the dha and all the additives for the cognitive function. you have pictures of babies playing the violin for example. pictures of babies with the gown and the mortar on, toddlers wearing the graduation gown and lifting weights, doing all these things. so they are really promoted as a superior form of nutrition and capitalizing on parental anxieties about education and i.q. and academic performance which are very credit important to asian parents. >> here in the u.s., it is targeted to parents who are just too busy, you have this supplemental drink for your child. does the type of marketing maria indicate to you at all the motive? >> well, certainly the regional

marketing is targeted as the parental anxieties in those areas, in north america in general, parents work, a lot of toddlers are in daycare settings, parents woish they don't have a -- worry they don't have a home cooked meal every day. they market this as insurance that your child is getting adequate nutrition. whereas in asia they target the academic performance and i.q. and so forth. you can see a marketing strategy that is specific to different regions. so really that is marketing the product and not really focusing on the -- any benefits of the product. >> communities really are commenting about marketing. paul agrees, formula companies are in the business of making money. they are marketing a production that are convenient. these companies were able to see they could have a bigger market

if they expanded it past the one year mark. aaron says these companies push formula as the, quote, next best thing. more about convenience and less about health. leslie, it has a prebio 3 that helps promote a regular digestive system. this? do you think they have been very successful in marketing this to otherwise you know global parents? in they have been, actually. and another formula company now has opti grow as their buzzword if you will. they are highlighting the cognitive potential benefits. the digestive system benefits. ironically though, as maria was saying, they market to the increased i.q, in asia, where their natural diet is some of the highest containing

containing dha in the world, those families that are eating the traditional worlds ohave no need for additional dha in their diets. in this country we probably do need some additional, but we should be turning back to traditional diets and eating a healthy variety of frsh fresh foods, especially fresh fruits and vegetables, back to the farm. there you could be getting the pre-bioingredients and the be fiber as well. >> you are the nutritional expert at johns hopkins, do you stock is these in the hospital? >> no, we do not. we do review our formulary, every spring, we had our nutrition advisory group review the need and the potential cost-benefit of these products and we don't feel any need for it. generally we try and accommodate

parental request. but if it's items that are just going to add to our inventory and clog up our shelves and we don't see any benefit for them we try avoid stocking them. >> well, ads forthese toddler milk products claim to provide important health benefits for these kids, is it backed by independent medical research? we have a response to criticism from one of the largest manufacturers of the formula, nestle. get exclusive app content, grafers, interact with other app yoursers in real time.

>> when i came for the toddler milk for charlie, it was the answer for me. charlie loves nutrigold and he took to it straight away. i heard it had pre-and pro- you pro-biotics. >> so maria, we just saw that hines commercial out of england, nurture gold, the little boy's name in the commercial is charlie. does charlie really need it? >> well, according to the world health organization, healthy safety alliance and other

organizations, there is no nutritional benefits from these formulas. the regular cow' cow's milk and a varied diet, if consumers have worry about picky eaters and difficult eaters these formulas would not provide the nutrition they need. >> hines and nestle declined to come on the show but nestle did provide united states with the statement that the health and well-being of infants is our prime concern. sufficient levels of key nutrients, our growing-up milks have a role to play in meeting the nutrition requirements ever children. gums, or growing up milks, we are

committed to providing a number of nutrition options. it's interesting waj that they share the concern s of the european safety association and that association is one that says these products are not necessary. >> they use this for their toddlers, it is helpful, got to get that perspective in. it's a vitamin milk that doesn't need to be refrigerated. we supplement with this formula and lori ann says, i have a boy that has survived solely on peed pedia-sure. we help these

kids. what do you say on that base he? >> we do have to use specialized formulas and even tube needings for those children. but children who can eat by mouth and who are up and running about, research has shown that if you provide them with a healthy variety of foods, if you eat family meals with them and encourage them to eat the same foods that you're eating as adults at the table, that they will, indeed, choose a variety of foods that meet all their nutritional needs over a week or a month time. one day it may seem like they are only eating chicken fingers but if you continue to offer them the variety they will pick and choose and learn to accept new foods. when you fall back on these formulas even if they are medically necessary, we usually do see children begin oselect away from certain foods or have trouble developing

eating habits and they also develop food aversions as well. it's a balance between encouraging them to develop healthy eating habits and maintaining the nutrition and growth or maintaining the nutrients that they need to fight off some of their chronic diseases. >> melissa is that something you're concerned about, these products preventing kids from learning how to have healthy eating habits? >> i definitely do. and i think a lot of times you need to introduce something to a child at least ten to 15 times before they may accept it. and offering these foods to them, and if they're not accepting it, you have to continue to do it. and i also think that especially as a parent, i'm constantly trying to come up with new ideas and different things. but we have to remember that toddlers are small so this age group one to three years of age, we might think that they're picky eerts and they are not eating ooshes

-- eaters and they are not eating enough but they are eating substantially less than we are so we have to remember this here. >> nutritionally aring dense ingredients, another company promises to support growth in the first three years, reduced risk ofi neskses in addition to-- infections, in addition to optimal eye development. waj mentioned pre dirvetiono-3. what kind of regulatory oversight is there and what kind of independent scientific testing that backs up any of these claims? >> well, that's one of the problems with toddler milk. with infant formula, formulas that are developed for children under one year of age, they have to meet much more strict food and nutrition guidelines. because they are the major source of nutrition for children. so they have a lot of guidelines

that they have to meet. but with the toddler formulas, they're just marketed as a supplement, so there's a lot less regulation, a lot less oversight. none of these claims have been proven in scientific research. we know even from adult studies that simply providing these nutrients in a supplemental format doesn't always helpful -- is not always helpful and sometimes can be harmful. so just adding these things like dha and taurine and all these things to these formulas doesn't guarantee that your child is getting the nutritional benefit from these things. it's better to get them through breast milk or regular cow's milk or variety of foods. >> toddlers are of an age they can school whole food right? >> yes, of course. they can have a normal diet, not special supplements other than a few cases that were referred to earlier by parents.

if you have children with certain medical conditions or special nutritional needs that is a totally different situation and they need to be seen by a pediatrician or prescribed a diet by a pediatrician or some specialist but for average toddlers they don't need these treatments. and we don't know what effect these supplements have because there's no research to back up the claims or even look at any kind of negative benefits. >> maria, you have foresight. toddler milk also contains high levels of add he sugars at a time when we are concerned about childhood obesity. doctor tas ta sha says, in info around the

product, melissa, i want to ask you what is your biggest concern? >> i think one of my biggest concerns is that these companies are targeting picky eerts. eaters, and that leads parents to be more concerned. they are taking that, that their child isn't getting enough nutrition and going to continue to give their child even more formula. someone said that these products have more sugar and corn syrup and flavored with vanilla, some children may not be getting that in their normal well plans whenned varied diet but they wir will be consuming them in these diets. oversupplementation, could lead to obesity. >> you have actually a sample of you? >> do i, here we go. it's infagro.

>> i was interested in the giant ingredient list on there tiff tiffany. >> it is huge. i doubt you can pronounce all those ingredients that are on there as well. i agree completely with both marie and melissa. part of the reason why these toddler milks gained popularity in other parts of the world first was because of the lack of regulation. even though fda does not regulate the toddler milks here in this country, it is still perceived as more difficult and going to put up more challenges. you have to request and provide detailed scientific evidence to support a claim in this country. and that's probably why it was easier for them to go in the world market first. >> yeah and what's interesting is those world markets are starting to push back. coming up next what countries like hong kong are doing to fill in that loophole that she was

just mentioning that some formula companies are using to advertise toddler milk. keep tweeting us. we'll be right back.

>> this is the real deal man... >> i'm castie kissell, i'm a stay at home mom and i'm in "the stream." >> the philippines and hong kong are considering tough legislation, many marie, what sort of impact do you think this would have on the market? >> i think it would substantially reduce the advertising. you can see certainly around hong kong and china you can see advertisements everywhere for these formulas. so it would certainly curb all of that promotion and advertising and it would

probably have some impact on sales as well. >> alyssa community member are agrees, they do not need this if they are taught healthy eating practices. stop with the supplements already. melissa, you are a mom. talk to us about consumer responsibility. what should moms be doing to ensure their kids are eating health? >> what you have to do, what was mentioned before, you have to eat with them, you have to offer them healthy foods. you have to give them a variety of foods. make it fun, make it enjoyable. make them want to eat the food. sometimes we mistake these picky eaters, all children go through a picky eater phase. sometimes, their dietary guidelines are not to school as much as an adult. sometimes that's mistaken and we tend ooversupplement that.

>> if you find helpful resources for parents out there, ellen satt everythingr has given many talks across the cub on needing practices, her books, such as how to get your child to eat but not too much. or a child of mine, i've been recommending them for 20 years, i find them extremely helpful and they are written for the layperson. >> good resource. 30 seconds left, tiffany, do you think these toddler formulas oar fad or here to stay? >> they're probably here to stay. >> so it gets back to parentsal responsibility and consumer responsibility. >> it does and taking the time that's needed to teach children healthy eating. >> all right. thanks to all of our guests tonight, tiffany, melissa and marie. until next time waj and i will see you on aljazeera.com/ajamstream.

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