New Beech-Nut Baby Food Offers Breakthrough Infant Nutrition Program

20/04/07 Beech-Nut Nutrition Corporation, a leader in infant nutrition, announced an innovation that will help parents feed their babies in a whole new way. The company is introducing Good Morning and Good Evening baby foods, a new line of products that offers key ingredients to infants already eating solid baby foods, based on the time of day that they are fed and the associated nutritional needs.

Just as adults need a healthy start to the day, infants benefit from a breakfast made with ingredients such as whole grains and proteins to encourage a steady release of energy throughout the morning and keep them alert and ready to learn and play. At night, because babies grow most when they are resting, they need a diet containing high quality protein to help build muscles and help keep them calm and relaxed during the evening.

In addition to high quality protein, Good Evening includes another beneficial ingredient that can help babies' digestive health -- a prebiotic called inulin found naturally in some foods, like chicory root. Prebiotics help digestion by stimulating the growth of "good" bacteria in a baby's digestive system. Beech-Nut Good Evening is the first major jarred baby food and cereal line to include prebiotics.

Beech-Nut food scientists applied these principles and created Good Morning and Good Evening, the first line of baby food that's specially formulated to provide babies with the nutrients that they need, when they need them in the morning and in the evening.

Beech-Nut Good Morning products give babies the right nutrition for breakfast:

--One gram of soluble fiber -- soluble fiber gives Good Morning a low glycemic index which enables a steady release of energy and balanced blood-sugar level throughout the morning. This helps to keep babies satisfied, alert and happy, and contributes to better attention span, concentration, word recall and memory -- all essential to good learning.

Beech-Nut Good Evening products give babies the right nutrition for dinner:

--Whey protein -- a high-quality, easy to digest protein that helps build muscles when baby grows most -- at night.
--Prebiotic -- nutrients that stimulate the growth of "good" bacteria in the digestive system.

According to Dr. Christine Wood, pediatrician and author of "How to Get Kids to Eat Great & Love It!", the need for foods that promote healthy eating by children of all ages has never been greater.

"Childhood obesity has become an epidemic, and parents need to pay attention to what children are eating -- starting from the beginning," said Dr. Wood. "While parents are training their infants to eat with baby food, they must also make sure that they are training them to eat right."

By offering parents a variety of products that are free of preservatives, artificial flavors and colors, trans fat, soy and added refined sugar, Beech- Nut hopes to help parents do just that.

"This new line of products makes choosing what to feed baby a whole lot easier, and more importantly, provides babies with the nutrition that they need to learn and grow at just the right times," said Christoph Rudolf, President and CEO of Beech-Nut Nutrition Corporation. "Good Morning and Good Evening represent Beech-Nut's commitment to drive innovation and nutrition in infant food, and to provide more choices to parents."

The new line includes two 8 oz dry cereals, and five varieties of 4 oz jarred food each in Good Morning and Good Evening. Dry cereal flavors include Good Morning Oatmeal with Mixed Fruit and Whole Grain Oatmeal & Chiquita Bananas, and Good Evening Brown Rice and Whole Grain Mixed Grain. Good Morning jar food varieties include Peach Oatmeal Banana, Rice Cereal & Apple with Egg, Cinnamon Raisin Granola, Mixed Fruit Yogurt, and Country Breakfast, and Good Evening jar food varieties include Turkey Tetrazzini, Hearty Vegetable Stew, Ginger Chicken & Veggies, Creamy Chicken Noodle, and Ham, Pineapple & Rice.