Organic Brown Rice Syrup (OBRS) is an important ingredient as it provides the carbohydrates necessary to meet energy needs and for proper growth and development. Carbohydrates are one of the crucial dietary sources of energy that support the brain, enable muscular contractions, and provide the fuel necessary for a young child's rapid growth, especially through the first few years of life. So it is important for a child to get adequate amounts of carbohydrates each day from good food and beverage sources.
Regarding organic brown rice syrup and the order of ingredients, Nature's One® lists Organic Brown Rice Syrup first in its ingredient declaration. This is because organic brown rice syrup represents the ingredient added to the formula with the highest weight. Per U.S. labeling requirements, ingredients must be listed on a label in descending order by weight. It may appear that Baby's Only Organic® contains more carbohydrate than is recommended due to the position of the ingredient on the label, but this is not true. Please note that naturally occurring ingredients are not declared on an ingredient statement; only added ingredients need to be declared.
The amount of carbohydrate in a formula is important to support a child's energy needs. Nature's One® does not add multiple sources of carbohydrates to the quantity of lactose that is naturally occurring from the cow's milk in Baby's Only Organic® formula. No other carbohydrates like table sugar (sucrose) or corn syrup are added. Rather, only one type of carbohydrate (organic brown rice syrup) is added to help meet the carbohydrate requirement, thus, due to its weight it is listed as the first ingredient. Baby's Only Organic® Dairy formula contains 35% naturally occurring lactose from the nonfat cow's milk and 65% added organic brown rice syrup. The carbohydrate source in Baby's Only Organic Plant Based Soy and LactoRelief(tm) formulas is 100% organic brown rice syrup.
We selected organic brown rice syrup to add to our formula to bring the carbohydrate level to the required amount versus other carbohydrates such sucrose (table sugar) or corn syrup because rice is one of the first solid foods introduced to a toddler and is less sweet than sucrose (table sugar) and some corn syrups. Rice is gluten free and is considered hypoallergenic because it is the least allergenic of all the grains. We chose not to add additional lactose to Baby's Only Organic® Dairy Formula because some infants may not be able to digest large amounts of this milk-sugar, especially after a gastrointestinal illness, causing gassiness, bloating and a very unhappy baby.