COPENHAGEN: Commercial baby foods often contain too much sugar and display confusing ingredient lists, according to a UN report that proposed new guidelines Monday to improve infant diets.

The World Health Organization (WHO) examined nearly 8,000 products from more than 500 stores in Austria, Bulgaria, Israel and Hungary between November 2017 and January 2018.

“In around half of products examined… more than 30 percent of calories were from total sugars and around a third of products contained added sugar or other sweetening agents,” the European branch of the WHO stated.

The WHO noted that while foods that naturally contain sugars, such as fruits and vegetables, can be appropriate in young child diets, “the very high levels of sugars present in commercial products is a cause for concern”.

A high sugar intake can increase the risk of overweight and dental cavities, the organization warned.