Introduction to the Baby Foods List

This list is an adjunct to the Low Protein Food List for PKU. Use it when your child begins to eat solid food, then refer to the Low Protein Food List for PKU (Third Edition, 2010) when you are ready to introduce table foods.

Introducing Your Baby to Solid Food

Introducing solid food to your infant is an exciting time for both children and parents. It also can be a time of some anxiety for new PKU parents. Parents tell me that while it was "scary" at first to introduce foods because of the phe restrictions and the responsibility of "protecting my baby’s brain" through careful control of the diet, they soon became more comfortable with all that this entails, especially as they saw how well their baby grew and developed --and you will too! I recommend that you consider joining the PKU Listserv (to join, e-mail the group coordinator, Lin, at macpku@verizon.net). This is a very large internet group of more than 1500 sympathetic and knowledgeable parents who can support you as you go through all stages of diet management.

Please use the Baby Foods list as your PKU treatment program staff advises, introducing cereal, fruits, vegetables, and other items according to their recommendations. You must have an individual diet prescription from a treatment program in order to choose items from the list that are appropriate for your child’s phe tolerance and other diet needs. Each child’s tolerance and needs are different. Also please be aware that some foods in this list may be too high in phe for your child’s diet as the list is designed for children with a wide range of phe tolerance. If you have any questions, please consult with your PKU treatment program about which items are suitable or not suitable for the diet you are managing. Blood phe monitoring at regular intervals as recommended by your PKU treatment program is crucial to ensure that your baby is getting the right amount of phe from food.

A Shout-Out to Parent Jen Crowe

I want to thank parent Jen Crowe (Philadelphia, PA), mother of Phoebe, age 2, for obtaining much of the basic information found in this list. Contacting the baby food companies did not always yield the information we wanted (see notes below about Earth’s Best, Heinz, and Plum Organics brands), but Jen’s diligence and persistence over a period of many months, with countless follow-up communications, is the reason we have information from Gerber, Beechnut, Sprout, Ella’s Kitchen, and a few items from Earth’s Best brand baby foods. Jen says, "Phoebe, at almost 2 ½ years, is a healthy, smart, funny little girl. She is what brings me passion and drive to keep calling companies, in hopes of adding more dietary options for families, especially those at the start of their PKU journey." Both Jen and I have spent many, many hours collecting and confirming data and we both hope that you find the list to be a good guide. Phe Data and Phe Data Changes Please see my comments below for information about the origin of the phe information in this list. I have done my best to estimate the phe based on protein information provided by the baby food companies when phe was not directly available. If you use this list conscientiously and feed your child a variety of foods, any minor inaccuracies in the data should not prevent you from managing the PKU diet extremely well, whatever the nature of your baby’s phe tolerance. Please watch the website for any changes (corrections, additions and deletions) to the Baby Foods list Go to the Diet Related Information section at www.pkunews.org for a list that I will start as I find changes need to be made. Also, because food companies frequently change their products, I would appreciate hearing from anyone who becomes aware of product additions, deletions, or reformulations. Please contact me at schuett@pkunews.org so that I can keep the list as updated as possible. Good luck with diet management for your precious baby! Virginia Schuett Nutritionist and Director National PKU News March 2011

Jen Crowe with her daughter, Phoebe, at age 10 months.

Notes about the Baby Foods List Data

Gerber® Brand Foods

Nestle Nutrition/Gerber have kindly provided data found in this document on their products. Gerber states, "Please be aware that all phe values are based on analytical values or calculated values or both; values are not precise, both because recipes may change or ingredients may vary in their protein content; consumers can always check for updated values by contacting the manufacturer directly."

The protein values in the list were not specifically provided by Nestle Nutrition/Gerber, but were imputed from the phe values provided by the company, by Virginia Schuett, nutritionist.

We are still waiting for phe data on a number of Gerber items and will add those as soon as possible. These include a number of snacks and juices.

Earth’s Best and Heinz Brand Foods

Heinz failed to provide us with any new data for this list. All of the protein data are from the second edition of the Low Protein Food List for PKU (2002). Earth’s Best provided us with a limited amount of new protein information, on only a handful of items in their product line.

For these two brands, all of the items for which we have no new protein information are shown in blue (items with new protein data are shown in black).

Despite the lack of new protein data for many of the items in the Earth’s Best and all of the Heinz baby food, each item was still carefully reviewed and changes in phe estimates were made as appropriate, based on data found in USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 23, 2010.

Beechnut, Sprout, and Ella’s Kitchen Brand Foods

These three companies kindly provided accurate protein data for this list, but as is typical of food companies (with the exception of Gerber) they do not have phe analysis on their products. Phe values were estimated by Virginia Schuett, nutritionist, based on ingredients in each food and the ratio of phe to protein in those ingredients (from USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 23, 2010).

Beechnut provides the following caveat about the nutritional data they provided: "Please understand that this information is a compilation of calculated and data based values, and is offered as guidance only, and not intended to comply with any applicable labeling regulations or standards. Our product mix, formulas, and processing techniques are constantly changing as we seek to improve our products, and this may cause the actual packed product to vary from the information we share with you in this spreadsheet. Ingredient sources also vary in nutritional content, both seasonally and geographically, which also imparts some variability to our product catalogue."

There are some Beechnut items for which the company provided no unrounded protein figures, but I have estimated phe based on rounded protein plus 0.5 gm which may or may not be as accurate as phe based on unrounded protein, and noted these items in red.

Also, there are a number of newer Beechnut items (from the New Products from Beechnut section of their website) for which we are still trying to obtain data.

Plum Organics Brand Foods

We tried very hard to get accurate protein information for this brand of baby and toddler foods but were ultimately unsuccessful. I have included a few plain fruit items from this brand because of interest from families. I based phe estimates on the ingredients and USDA data and believe these to be very good estimates because the items are single fruits. I have noted these items in green.

Accuracy of Phe Data in the Baby Foods List

Keep in mind that, with the exception of the phe data provided by Nestle Nutrition/Gerber, the phe data provided in this list are estimates only. These phe estimates are based on the protein content provided by the food companies or from the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 23, (2010), on the ingredients in each food, and on phe data for these ingredients found in the USDA database.

I have no way to verify the accuracy of the protein data provided to me by the food companies, other than questioning anything that looks really inappropriate, and trying to confirm the data with the company; thus I don’t know whether significant variations in stated protein content between brands for the same type of food (such as a certain fruit or vegetable) are due to variations in the "recipe" for that item or something intrinsic to the analysis itself. For example, I cannot explain why one company’s baby carrots are much higher in protein than another company’s carrots. One would expect to have similar protein/phe content for similar items, especially when there is only one main ingredient. Is the difference found in the ratio of carrots to water added in the product, or to flaws in the analysis itself? We have no way to know.

So keep in mind that the phe estimates are only as accurate as data provided by the company. Ultimately, your baby’s blood phe level is your only true gauge of phe intake and so it is especially crucial that you monitor the blood level frequently in the early months and years of life.

In estimating phe for mixed ingredient items, when available, the percentage of the ingredient in each food was also considered (such as for Ella’s Kitchen items where the company provides a breakdown of ingredient percentages); otherwise, for mixed ingredient items, assumptions were made about the relative contribution of each ingredient to the total protein/phe. These assumptions may or may not be completely accurate.

Please see the introductory material to the Low Protein Food List for PKU for further explanation of phe estimates.