Abbott sued over its marketing of potentially harmful toddler milk

Source: Aol/CBS News

Updated January 15, 2025 at 7:36 PM


A year after the American Academy of Pediatrics flagged what it described as "questionable marketing practices" by makers of formulas for older infants and toddlers, Abbott Laboratories is being sued over how it pitches such products. Abbott, a health care products conglomerate based in Illinois, is misleading parents and other caregivers about the nutritional value of its sugar-laden toddler milks, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday by the Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI) against the maker of Similac formulas.

Marketed for consumption by children ages 12 to 36 months, toddler milk is portrayed as the next step for little ones after they have outgrown infant formulas approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Yet unlike baby formula, the toddler milk products are not regulated by the FDA and are potentially harmful, according to PHAI, a nonprofit legal research center located at Northeastern University School of Law.

Sales of toddler milk nationwide have averaged more than $500 million a year, according to PHAI's suit, filed in U.S. district court for the Northern District of Illinois.

"More than just unnecessary, toddler milk products can actually be harmful to a child's nutritional health," said George Fuchs, a medical doctor and professor of pediatric gastroenterology at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine Department of Pediatrics. "The added sugars can increase a toddler's preference for sweetened foods, contributing to obesity and other health risks throughout their lives," noted Fuchs, who led the AAP report on toddler milks.

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