A new national survey in Kenya has found that 47 per cent of children aged 6 to 23 months are given sweetened drinks, according to KBC Digital. The same survey reports that 23 per cent of children in this age bracket ate no fruits or vegetables at all, and 18 per cent were fed foods heavy in sugar, salt or unhealthy fats.
The findings come from the Kenya Mini Demographic and Health Survey, conducted by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS). They point to weaknesses in complementary feeding — the stage when breastfed children begin taking solid foods, typically from around six months.
Why it matters
The first two years of life are when eating habits take shape, and the survey's figures suggest many Kenyan infants are being introduced to drinks and foods that public health guidance advises against. The KNBS survey warns that poor infant and young child feeding practices should be avoided because they can push out nutritious foods from a child's diet.
KBC Digital reports that the survey ties these patterns to dental decay, obesity and inadequate nutrition. The World Health Organization's 2023 complementary feeding guidelines say children aged 6 to 23 months should not be given sugar-sweetened beverages or foods high in sugar, salt and trans fats. The WHO notes that this period is critical for building healthy eating patterns, supporting growth and lowering the later risk of overweight and noncommunicable disease.
Sweet drinks become more common with age
The survey shows a steady climb in sweet beverage consumption as children get older. Among children aged 6 to 11 months, 32 per cent had been given these drinks. That share rose to 49 per cent among those aged 12 to 17 months and reached 61 per cent among children aged 18 to 23 months, according to KBC Digital.
Household income appears to shape the picture, though not in a single direction. Thirty-nine per cent of children from the poorest households had consumed sweet drinks, compared with 53 per cent of children in better-off families. Unhealthy foods followed a similar pattern: 8 per cent of children in the poorest homes had eaten them, against 25 per cent in wealthier households.
Maternal education cuts both ways
The mother's level of schooling was closely linked to whether children ate fruits and vegetables. More than half of children whose mothers had no formal education went without any fruits or vegetables on the day before the survey. That figure fell to 29 per cent for children of mothers with primary education, 17 per cent for secondary education and 10 per cent for mothers with schooling beyond secondary level.
Sweet drink consumption moved in the opposite direction. It was 41 per cent among children whose mothers had no education and 53 per cent among those whose mothers had more than secondary schooling. KBC Digital reports that this suggests more maternal education does not automatically mean fewer sweet drinks, even though it is associated with better fruit and vegetable intake.
Geography also mattered. In rural areas, 27 per cent of children aged 6 to 23 months had eaten no fruits or vegetables, compared with 16 per cent in urban households. Sweet drink use was nearly level across the two settings — 46 per cent in rural areas and 47 per cent in urban ones. Unhealthy food consumption was somewhat higher in urban areas at 20 per cent, against 16 per cent in rural areas.
The survey offers no single explanation for the overall pattern, and its findings describe what children were fed rather than why. What it does show is that a large share of Kenyan infants are exposed to drinks and foods that health authorities advise keeping out of their diets during the first two years.
Watch for how Kenya's health authorities respond to the survey, particularly whether the findings feed into infant feeding guidance or nutrition programmes aimed at the 6-to-23-month age group.
