Learn how Bamba contains palm oil, saturated fat and salt, and how Ready, Set, Food! offers a 100% organic, all-natural alternative with no additives.
Many parents wonder how to best prepare allergenic foods for their infant and have considered a popular Israeli peanut-based snack called Bamba. However, here’s what parents need to know first before offering Bamba to their baby.
Learn more about why Bamba may not be the best option for early allergen introduction from our Chief Allergist and Board Certified Allergist Katie Marks-Cogan M.D:
Bamba only contains one allergen --- peanut.
Bamba only contains one common food allergen --- peanut. Peanuts only comprise 22% of childhood food allergies.
Bamba does not contain egg or cow's milk, the other two most common childhood food allergens. Milk allergies are even more common in young children than peanut allergies, and egg allergies are about as common as peanut allergies.
Ready, Set, Food! covers over 80% of childhood food allergies with peanut, egg, and milk --- all three of the most common food allergens.
Bamba contains palm oil and salt
Bamba is more than one-thirds fat (by grams). Also, it contains saturated fat because the third ingredient is palm oil. Notably, palm oil production is highly controversial. Many palm oil producers destroy large areas of tropical rainforest for their oil plantations. This deforestation releases large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and threatens many endangered plants and animals.
Additionally, Bamba was not designed for babies; instead, it’s a snack food that includes other ingredients such as palm oil and salt. This doesn't meet the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommendations to: "Offer simple foods made for babies."
To introduce your baby to the amount of peanut protein recommended by the NIH and AAP, you would need to feed your baby 70 calories of Bamba per day.
Furthermore, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns against adding salt to your baby's food: "There is no need to add salt or sugar to your child’s food." After all, breastmilk already provides the exact daily amount of salt that babies need, and baby formulas contain similar amounts of salt.
Ready, Set, Food! contains only organic, non-GMO peanut, egg, and milk --- nothing else. Each daily maintenance packet of Ready, Set, Food! contains the highest quality peanut, egg, and milk powders, with no added sugar, salt, preservatives, or artificial additives. So, you can feel confident that Ready, Set, Food! is an all-natural choice for your baby.
Bamba is a snack food
The USDA-HHS Scientific Report of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee states: "Strong evidence suggests that introducing peanut in the first year of life (after 4 months of age) may reduce risk of food allergy to peanuts.” However, many babies are not ready for solid foods at this early age. (In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends waiting to start solid food introduction until baby is at least 6 months old.)
Bamba is a snack food, and therefore, families will have to wait until their baby is developmentally ready for solid foods to introduce Bamba. That may delay introduction and therefore, put your baby at a greater risk of developing food allergies.
In contrast, Ready, Set, Food! easily dissolves into a bottle of breastmilk (or formula), making allergen introduction simple even if your baby is not ready for solid foods.
Preparing Bamba requires frustrating guesswork.
It's time-consuming to calculate and measure out the right amounts of Bamba to match the peanut dosage used in the landmark studies. One gram of Bamba doesn't equal one gram of peanut, because Bamba contains other ingredients such as corn. (And you'll need to prepare enough correct Bamba doses for multiple times per week, over several months, to follow the landmark studies' protocols.)
In addition and according to the PETIT study, starting with a lower dose of an allergy-causing food and gradually increasing the amount is a safe and effective way to introduce allergens. When measuring out Bamba, there's the concern that you may give baby too little --- or too much --- of peanut all at once.Also, since Bamba only contains peanut, if you want to introduce baby to the other two most common allergens, you'll have to prepare egg and cow's milk snacks as well. This will take even more guesswork and time.
But Ready, Set, Food!'s pre-measured doses eliminate the need for guesswork. Each daily packet of Ready, Set, Food! contains the exact amounts and frequencies of peanut, egg, and milk used in the landmark studies. The system starts with a lower dose of each allergen, and then safely increases the amount over time.
So, skip the Bamba. Instead, turn to Ready, Set, Food! -- the simple, all-natural and evidence-based way to introduce allergens.
Ready, Set, Food! can help you introduce allergens safely and easily. Plus, it’s recommended by over 1,000+ pediatricians and allergists.
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All health-related content on this website is for informational purposes only and does not create a doctor-patient relationship. Always seek the advice of your own pediatrician in connection with any questions regarding your baby’s health.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. If your infant has severe eczema, check with your infant’s healthcare provider before feeding foods containing ground peanuts.