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Kurt T. Schmidt, Head, Nestlé Nutrition, North America, and Chris Falak, Senior Buyer, Nestlé Infant Nutrition, harvest peas in western Michigan.

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I joined Nestlé in 2007 after three years at Gerber Products Company as President and CEO. Since then I’ve witnessed remarkable and exciting changes in infant nutrition.

With the acquisition of Gerber in September 2007, Nestlé extended its leadership across key categories of Infant Nutrition. This brought significant business opportunities for us, but also tremendous responsibilities and challenges rooted in the nutrition gaps and poor eating habits of many infants and young children in the United States.

Start Healthy, Stay Healthy™ is our response to the nutritional needs facing babies today. It’s our commitment that Nestlé Infant Nutrition products, resources, and services will nourish the healthy growth, development, and eating habits of children from infant to preschooler. Start Healthy, Stay Healthy serves parents who are looking for a trusted resource to help them make the best nutrition choices for their babies.

Why is this so important? Because food and nutrition choices made for babies today have long-lasting implications for their future growth, development, and health. In recent years the implications of children’s poor diets have become ever more dire. We face the significant issues of childhood obesity and diabetes.

The primary objective of this report is to familiarize you with Start Healthy, Stay Healthy—why we developed it, what it is, whom it serves, and how—and to introduce you to the cutting-edge nutritional science that underlies every aspect of this innovative system.

As a leading nutrition, health, and wellness company, Nestlé is uniquely qualified to take on the urgent challenges of early childhood nutrition. But meeting these challenges takes strong partnerships at every level: partnerships with parents, growers, ingredient suppliers, health professionals, and the communities in which we live and work.

We’re asking you to join us now in our unwavering commitment to nourishing a healthy generation, one baby at a time.

Dear partners for progress,

Sincerely yours,

Kurt T. SchmidtHead, Nestlé Nutrition, North America

table of contents

the neeD for a nutrition revolution ....................... 2

leaDers in early chilDhooD nutrition ........................ 4

What is start healthy, stay healthy™? ......................................... 6

science & research behinD start healthy, stay healthy ......... 8 NESTlé—AN INNOvATIvE lEAdEr IN rESEArCH

WHAT CHIldrEN NEEd fOr HEAlTHy GrOWTH & dEvElOPmENT

the impact on nestlé proDucts ..................................11

resources to nourish babies as they groW ...........................13 rESOUrCES fOr PArENTS

rESOUrCES fOr THE mEdICAl COmmUNITy the future of start healthy, stay healthy ............................................17

If you’re interested in learning more about Nestlé’s Start Healthy, Stay Healthy or joining our commitment, please contact our Corporate Communications Department at (973) 593-7500.

©2009 Société des Produits Nestlé, S.A., vevey, Switzerland.

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T he simple truth: A baby who receives the right nutrition during the first five years is much more likely to be healthy for the rest of his life.¹

yet in 2002 the groundbreaking feeding Infants and Toddlers Study (fITS), an initiative sponsored by Gerber Products Company, revealed poor eating habits at shockingly early ages:

Nearly 25% of 9- to 24-month-olds don’t eat any fruits or vegetables on a given day.

Babies as young as 7 months old drink soda.

french fries are the most commonly consumed vegetable for toddlers 15 to 24 months.

90% of toddlers don’t get the recommended amount of fiber or potassium, and 50% don’t get enough vitamin E.

According to the Centers for disease Control, over the past 35 years the prevalence of obesity among children 2 to 5 years old has more than doubled, and obesity among children 6 to 11 years old has quadrupled. food choices, genetics, activity levels, and lifestyle changes each play a role in this trend. With this stunning increase in childhood obesity, it’s no surprise that childhood diabetes

is also on the rise, and an increasing number of children are at risk for cardiovascular disease later in life.

What are parents asking for?Parents want to do the best they can to

nourish their babies, but they’re faced with a multitude of feeding decisions every day. Parents are bombarded with conflicting and often confusing information, and they’re pressed for time by increasingly busy schedules.

Across the United States, parents want the peace of mind that comes with knowing they’re doing the best for their children. They seek the right nutrition information to help them make choices to ensure their children’s healthy growth and development. Parents are hungry for easy-to-understand and practical resources to develop their children’s healthy eating habits. It’s easy to be overwhelmed by all the nutrition information available, and parents are looking for a trusted partner to guide them through their child’s journey from birth to preschool.

Desire to ignite healthy changeAs a leading nutrition company we’re

committed to nourishing a healthier generation. That’s why we’ve developed the Start Healthy, Stay Healthy™ Nutrition System: an innovative, science-based system that helps simplify parents’ feeding decisions, making it easier to make good nutrition and feeding choices, and providing a strong foundation for baby’s future health.

the neeD for a nutrition revolution

over the past 35 years the prevalence of obesity among children 2 to 5 years old has more than doubled, and obesity among children 6 to 11 years old has quadrupled.

¹ UNICEf. “The State of the World’s Children, 1998”.

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Prevalence of Obesity* Among U.S. Children and Adolescents(ages 2–11 years) national health and nutrition examination surveys

1971-1974 1976–1980 1988–1994 2003–2006

5%

15%

10%

20%

0%

2-5 years 6-11

years

6-11 years

6-11 years

6-11 years

2-5 years

2-5 years

2-5 years

*sex-and age-specific bmi ≥ 95th percentile based on the cDc growth charts. source: centers for Disease control and prevention

Parents are looking for a trusted partner to help them navigate through all

the nutrition information available.

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W e will achieve this mission by offering integrated nutrition solutions with products, educational resources, and

services—all backed by rigorous science and research.

At Nestlé it’s our vision to be the global leader in early childhood nutrition. We want to be recognized as a trusted partner among parents, health care professionals, and opinion leaders in fostering healthy growth and development and establishing healthy eating habits for children from birth to preschool.

Creating shared valuefor a business to be successful in the

long term, it must create value not only for its

shareholders but also for society. At Nestlé we recognize that our success means creating value for everyone we reach—parents, health care providers, farmers, our own employees, and the communities in which we live and work.

We call this commitment Creating Shared value: value for Nestlé as a company (bringing long-term growth, market share, and profitability) and value for society. Creating Shared value is not philanthropy or an add-on; it’s a fundamental part of the Nestlé business strategy. Creating Shared value focuses on creating positive change in three key areas: nutrition, water, and rural development. These areas are essential to creating a healthier world in the 21st century.

As a leading nutrition, health, and wellness company, our goal is to enhance young children’s quality of life through good nutrition. By leading positive change and proactively addressing

critical nutrition issues, Start Healthy, Stay Healthy™ aims to improve the state of early-childhood nutrition and feeding through rigorous science, product innovation, and superior education.

History of Start Healthy, Stay HealthyNestlé and Gerber have long, rich

histories of supporting the healthy growth and development of infants and toddlers.

In 1867 a pharmacist named Henri Nestlé was asked to look in on a neighbor’s child who couldn’t breastfeed. The baby thrived on the special mixture Henri created: the world’s first infant food. Soon Nestlé’s baby food was being sold in much of Europe, and the first infant food company, farine lactée Henri Nestlé, was launched.

Gerber Products Company started in the summer of 1927—in the kitchen of daniel and

leaDers in early chilDhooD nutritionThe mission for Start Healthy, Stay Healthy™:Our unwavering commitment to nourish a healthier generation, one baby at a time.

Farine Lactée, the world’s first infant food Early Gerber advertising campaignFirst Nestlé logoHenri Nestlé

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dorothy Gerber. following the advice of their pediatrician, dorothy and daniel hand-strained solid foods for their 7-month-old daughter, Sally. Then, discovering an innovative way to save time, they started to strain fruits and vegetables at the family’s fremont Canning Company. Soon workers in the plant requested samples for their babies, and the legacy of GErBEr® baby foods began. By late 1928 strained peas, prunes, carrots, spinach, and beef vegetable soup were ready for the national market.

Throughout the years, Nestlé and Gerber continued to provide innovative and nutritious foods. In 2002 Gerber sponsored the feeding Infants and Toddlers Study (fITS). With the research from that landmark study, we began to develop a program to help children start and stay

healthy. When Gerber joined the Nestlé family in 2007, the Start Healthy, Stay Healthy Nutrition System was created to take advantage of the combined research, knowledge, and expertise of both companies. Nestlé and Gerber bring the very latest in nutrition science to babies, parents, caregivers, and health care providers. With more than 200 years of combined experience, we provide nutritious feeding solutions that span children’s important first years (from birth to 4 years).

Jill Wegner, Director of Global Innovation Toddler Meals & Drinks, measures the puree’s consistency to make sure it’s

just the right texture for a baby learning to eat solid foods.

FITS: foundation of Start Healthy, Stay Healthy™

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S tart Healthy, Stay

Healthy™ is a stage-

based nutrition system

of products, education,

support, and services

that fosters healthy growth and development

and the early establishment of healthy eating

habits in children from birth to four years.

Nestlé believes that good nutrition starts with

breastfeeding1 followed by developmental,

stage-appropriate feeding choices.

Start Healthy, Stay Healthy delivers

on Nestlé’s promise to nourish a healthier

generation, one baby at a time. five core areas

form the foundation of the Start Healthy, Stay

Healthy system, and each one is supported by

nutrition science and sound feeding guidance:

What is Start HealtHy, Stay HealtHy™?

¹ Breastmilk is best. It is the ideal food for babies. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding for the first year of life.

1. dEvElOPmENT-BASEd mIlESTONE SymBOlS™

These color-coded icons help parents quickly identify which of our products, services, and information are appropriate for their children at each developmental stage. The milestone Symbols are used on our product packaging and throughout our consumer and medical communications to direct parents and health care professionals to the relevant information regarding baby’s current stage of development. The developmental stages used for our milestone Symbols: Birth+, Supported Sitter, Sitter, Crawler, Toddler, and Preschooler. The developmental milestones Symbols indicate products within our portfolio that may be appropriate to add to a child’s diet.

2. SCIENCE-BASEd PrOdUCTS All Nestlé Infant Nutrition products fit into the

Start Healthy, Stay Healthy system. We continually evaluate and improve the nutrition of our products, and seek science-based nutrition benefits that complement each other within each stage and evolve as baby grows. Stage-based products help parents feel confident that they’re giving their child what he needs for healthy growth and development.

The Nestlé brands in the Start Healthy, Stay Healthy portfolio include: GErBEr® GOOd STArT® formulas, GErBEr® baby foods and juices, and GrAdUATES® snacks, beverages, and meals.1

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5. IN-STOrE CHIldHOOd NUTrITION SECTION

An in-store Nutrition Section provides the right mix of products and education at-shelf to help parents choose the right foods and beverages at each stage of baby’s development, from birth to preschool.

lots of moms call and ask, ‘how do i know that my baby is eating enough?’ or we have calls in the middle of the night from moms who have lost their formula scoop and want to know how much powder to use. it’s great to be able to relieve parents’ concerns. —Robyn Wimberly, RD, LD, Manager of Consumer Services

3. NUTrITION GUIdEThe heart of Start Healthy,

Stay Healthy is the Nutrition Guide. The Nutrition Guide is a feeding plan based on healthy eating guidelines, including the appropriate amount of calories, food groups, and nutrients young children need. It contains nutrition and feeding guidance, product choices, and healthy menus for each developmental stage. The Nutrition Guide also provides information about baby’s hunger and fullness cues and examples of appropriate food choices by milestone Symbol. Parents can find the Nutrition Guide on our website, or receive it through our direct mail program or their health care professional.

4. rESOUrCE CENTErIn-depth knowledge about early childhood

nutrition and development is made available through our Start Healthy, Stay Healthy resource Center. The resource Center comprises direct mail, StartHealthyStayHealthy.com, and our 800 line for parents and health care professionals. Early childhood nutrition experts are available 24/7 every day of the year.

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Start Healthy, Stay Healthy™ is backed by Nestlé’s leading nutrition research and product development. At Nestlé we believe that research can help us make better food so people

can live better lives. The Nestlé research Center, based near

lausanne, Switzerland, is the world’s largest private facility for nutrition-related research and employs more than 300 research scientists. With 24 r&d and Product Technology Centers (PTC) worldwide, Nestlé has the largest research and development network of any company.

fremont, michigan, is home to one of Nestlé’s Product Technology Centers and is the global center of excellence for all Nestlé baby food, meals, and drinks. The fremont PTC leads Nestlé’s innovation as we develop nutritious solutions for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. In the United States, consumers can see these innovative solutions in the GErBEr® and GrAdUATES® product lines.

research is the foundation of all we do, and the resources devoted to research have continually grown over the past decade.

Developmental sciencefor many years we’ve worked closely with

speech therapists, occupational therapists, pediatric psychologists, and pediatricians to develop comprehensive knowledge of what’s developmentally appropriate for young children to eat. In 2003, in concert with our team of therapists and clinicians, we established the Gerber feeding development model to guide our product development and ensure that our baby foods are the right sizes, textures, and shapes for young children at each developmental stage. We continue to modify and revise this model based on new information and further learning, and we use external experts to test for textural appropriateness.

As we develop products, we test them quantitatively and qualitatively with a panel of more than 3,000 babies. We want to know how well they like our foods, because no matter how healthy a baby food is, it won’t be eaten unless it tastes good. We also use observation research to understand how young children interact with and eat our foods, and this helps us confirm the developmental appropriateness of our products.

Innovation with NestléAt Nestlé we continuously innovate and

renovate products to meet consumer needs for health, wellness, and enjoyment. research has been essential to our product innovations.

To increase the speed and impact of our innovation efforts, Nestlé’s philosophy is to build an open research and development system. In addition to our own important endeavors in science and research, Nestlé recognizes that universities, academia, small start-ups, biotech companies, and large industrial suppliers are significant sources of innovation. Together these investments open the doors to promising advancements and bring partners on board when a business case exists. Through our Corporate venture Program we plan to invest $1.5 billion over the next 10 years in start-up and growth-phase food, nutrition, health, and wellness companies. We always look for new technologies and products and we’re always open to new and innovative ideas.

Nestlé’s Worldwide research & development network addresses three areas of benefits for consumers:

Safety and quality, which underpin all Nestlé products

Nutrition and health Taste, texture, and convenience

Areas of focus in nutrition and health: Energy and weight management Growth and development

science & research behinD Start HealtHy, Stay HealtHy™

Nestlé—aN INNovatIve leaDer IN researCh

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Physical and mental performance digestive comfort Protection

What this means for consumersWe make sure our commitment to science

aligns with practical nutrition solutions. The Nestlé research network has helped achieve many nutrition breakthroughs. for example in 2007 in the United States, Nestlé introduced the first infant formula with probiotics—beneficial B. Lactis cultures like those found in breastmilk—designed to support baby’s healthy immune system.

more recently Nestlé research solved the problem of probiotic fragility. Nestlé scientists developed a system that protects fragile probiotics during processing, transport, and storage. This

means consumers can now benefit from a greater choice of product formats, including infant formulas and milks that contain viable probiotic strains.

Nestlé continually adapts products to meet consumers’ changing preferences, and we invest in the development and renovation of our products to enhance the quality and nutritional value. for example we renovated our GrAdUATES® products for toddlers by removing trans fats, reducing the sodium content, and using healthier fat sources.

research is a key part of our heritage and an essential element for our future. We know there’s still much to discover about the role of food in our lives, and we continue to search for answers that deliver Nestlé’s promise of Good food, Good life™.

0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0Nestlé Worldwide Research & Development

1998 20021999 20032000 20042001 2005 2006 2007

*CHF billion Source: Nestlé

INveStmeNt1998-2008*

0.810.90

1.431.50

1.73

1.21

1.88

1.04 1.16

1.21

1.98

2008

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™

Consistent with the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Start Healthy, Stay Healthy™ starts with breastfeeding, because

breastmilk is the ideal food for babies. developing ideal foods outside nature takes

some doing. A first step is to understand the nutrient needs and gaps, as well as provide the best functional and nutritional formula alternative for those infants who do not receive all the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding. To identify nutrient gaps and help form desired eating behaviors and food relationships, the Gerber-sponsored feeding Infants and Toddler Study (fITS) in 2002 was a dietary survey of approximately 3,000 infants and toddlers from 4 to 24 months old. It was the first study of this magnitude for infants and toddlers, and it significantly increased our knowledge and understanding of the nutrient intakes and feeding behaviors of young children—providing a snapshot of what infants and toddlers were really eating.

The results of the fITS study in 2002 highlighted key issues in toddlers’ diets such as many toddlers not getting adequate amounts of several important nutrients, including vitamin

E, calcium, iron, potassium, and dietary fiber. In addition many toddlers weren’t eating a single fruit or vegetable serving on a given day. These findings inspired us to add the vITABlOCKS™ nutrient blend to many of our finger foods. Snacks with vITABlOCKS provide a good source of vitamin E, zinc, and iron. We also developed fruit snacks that provide between ½ to 1 serving of fruit per serving, and entrées that each provide a serving of vegetables.

Nestlé conducted a subsequent fITS study in 2008, adding to our understanding of eating patterns and feeding issues among infants and toddlers from birth to 48 months. The study updates our information about children 4 to 24 months old and provides new information about the feeding patterns of newborns (birth to 4 months) and older toddlers (25 to 48 months). The 2008 fITS study is providing important data for the development of public health and labeling policies for infant, toddler, and preschooler foods.

Start Healthy, Stay Healthy incorporates guidance from many external scientific resources as well. We rely on health and nutrition guidance developed by key government groups, including the United States department of Agriculture (USdA), food and drug Administration (fdA),

National Academy of Sciences (NAS), Institute of medicine (IOm), and Centers for disease Control (CdC). Expert guidance provided by professional organizations, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), American dietetic Association, and National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of medicine, is also taken into consideration. In return, through publications we share our extensive early-childhood nutrition research with many of these same groups.

Nutritional framework for Start Healthy, Stay Healthy

When establishing our guidelines for product development, we focus on the nutritional needs of young children, plus nutrient and food group intake recommendations from important sources, including: the Institute of medicine’s dietary reference Intake reports, previous recommended daily Allowance publications, dietary recommendations from the AAP and American Heart Association, and the recommendations from the USdA’s myPyramid. Based on these external recommendations—and the findings from the fITS study—we developed foods and feeding guidance that we believe support healthy growth and development as well as the early establishment of healthy eating habits.

What ChIlDreN NeeD for healthy groWth aND DevelopmeNt

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Our guidelines revolve around five major areas critical to developing nutritious products and healthy diets:

Nutrients that young children need for healthy growth and development

Nutrient gaps and hard-to-get nutrients in children’s diets

recommended food groups for healthy eating Emerging beneficial ingredients such as

probiotics developmental appropriateness, feeding skill

development, and safe feeding advice

Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Nutrition Program

In the United States WIC provides federal grants to states for supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education. These are received by low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and nonbreastfeeding postpartum women, and by children up to age 5 who are found to be at nutritional risk.

Nestlé science played an important role in changing the composition of the WIC program food packages. data from the 2002 fITS study showed a compelling need for fruits and vegetables in infant and toddler diets. These results influenced the addition of fruit and vegetable purees to the new WIC food package. While products are authorized state-by-state, GErBEr® infant cereals and fruit and vegetable purees, and GErBEr® GOOd STArT® formulas are eligible to be part of a WIC participant’s food package.

the impact on nestlé proDucts

N estlé and Gerber are fully committed to product safety and quality. We back this commitment

with strict ingredient specifications, multiple sample tests, and strict safety programs to ensure that our products comply with regulatory requirements and are unquestionably safe for babies.

Only the highest-quality infant formula ingredients

All of the ingredients in GErBEr infant formula are of the highest quality. As part of our Ingredient Qualification Program, we work with only a select group of suppliers who meet Nestlé’s rigorous standards:

Good manufacturing Practices audits Ingredient sample testing from each

supplier’s site that screens for Nestlé specifications and optimum natural nutrient levels

Ongoing plant trials to confirm ingredient performance in finished products

Plus, the Nestlé Quality Assurance Program tests for 29 essential nutrients in every batch of Nestlé infant formula. We ensure that nutrient levels are correct, appropriate, and meet all regulatory

standards before our products reach the shelf.

Our strict standardsWe work hard to make sure we meet

all the latest safety, quality, and regulatory standards for our products, ingredients, and packaging. To ensure that we meet our consumers’ expectations for quality and safety every time, we often set our internal standards even higher than those of the government.

Partnership with our key suppliers is important to assure safety and quality. We work closely with ingredient and packaging suppliers to communicate Nestlé’s high expectations—and to ensure that our suppliers conform to our strict quality and food safety guidelines. We also specifically outline transportation and delivery procedures to confirm the safety and quality of ingredients prior to use in our products.

When ingredients arrive at our manufacturing locations, they are carefully inspected to assure us that they meet our requirements. Once they are accepted into our facilities, we can trace their use through each step of the manufacturing process.

Gerber Agricultural Programfood quality and safety standards for

our fresh produce begin long before the

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manufacturing plant. They start in the fields and orchards across the United States, when the first seeds are planted in the soil. Gerber growers are full partners in producing the most trusted brand of baby foods in America. Our fresh produce products are purchased from U.S. growers, and Good Agricultural Practices audits are conducted on all of our suppliers.

Even before the seeds are planted, Gerber vegetable growers optimize the soil through crop rotation, making sure the ground is ready to grow nutrient-rich produce. To manage the quality and safety of our fresh produce, we track the specific fields where our produce is grown. And we know who grew it. In fact we’ve probably known them for a long time because Gerber has long-term relationships with the majority of our fresh produce farmers. Sometimes we’ve known them for generations.

At the beginning of each season, we meet with our growers and give them an annual crop report card. Our growers must provide spray history records and adhere to our pesticide restriction protocols. This process helps us know as

much as possible about the produce that’s coming from our growers’ fields and orchards.

Healthy foods begin with healthy ingredientsHealthy product design begins with healthy

ingredients, and limits or avoids ingredients that add calories but little nutrition. Nestlé uses both government and internal standards to help shape product design, and we assess our products annually to identify opportunities for further innovation and renovation. Our strict criteria guide all product development and are based on the research and recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Heart Association, food and drug Administration, United States department of Agriculture, and the National Academy of Science Institute of medicine.

We also evaluate every food to ensure developmental appropriateness—making sure it’s the right size, shape, and texture for each developmental stage. The world’s leading safety experts at Intertek test all of our baby foods in accordance with advanced safety protocols.

We’re able to maintain quality even though each year mother nature gives us something different to work with—dry weather, too much rain. Whenever the fruit is ready, we harvest and get the fruit to gerber in a timely manner so they can process it for the highest quality.

—Gerber grower Jim Horton, President, Peninsula Food Exchange, Inc.

Todd DeKryger, Senior Scientist, Global Product Safety, and Kathleen Reidy, Head of Global Regulatory and Scientific Affairs,

Meals and Drinks, examine Gerber peas before the harvest.

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W hile it’s critical to ensure that our information and educational services are accurate and science-based, we

recognize that no amount of science is helpful if it isn’t parent-friendly. Creating practical and easy-to-use tools increases the opportunities for the science behind Start Healthy, Stay Healthy™ to have a positive impact on the lives of young children.

On-package labelingOur packaging design helps parents make

good choices in the store. The consistent use of milestone Symbols™ on our infant, toddler, and preschooler product packaging helps parents find the foods that are right for their child by identifying products by developmental stage. Then our color-coded Benefit Band™ outlines each product’s key benefits.

Start Healthy, Stay Healthy Resource Center: Website

StartHealthyStayHealthy.com is a dynamic consumer site that provides a comprehensive source of stage-based nutrition education, product information, and interactive tools designed to help parents make informed choices.

The website is designed to deliver content—

articles, nutrition and feeding information, expert Q&A, and product details—based on baby’s stage, as well as user interests and preferences. It’s a parent-driven, customized information delivery system.

At the heart of the Start Healthy, Stay Healthy site is an online tool called the Interactive menu Planner, which offers personalized, stage-based menus based on the Nutrition Guide. We continue to improve feeding guidance and develop the Interactive menu Planner to allow for even greater personalization. Other online tools on the site include:

Pregnancy Calendar Baby development Calendar Baby Growth Tracker Baby’s feeding Chart

Start Healthy, Stay Healthy Resource Center: Direct Mail

The Start Healthy, Stay Healthy direct mail program is a series of information-rich booklets that deliver relevant, stage-specific nutrition advice, product information, and product offers to moms beginning in the third trimester of pregnancy through 12 months postnatal.

The direct mail program educates moms about the Start Healthy, Stay Healthy system: milestone Symbols, Nutrition Guide, Contact Center, product choices, and In-Store Nutrition Section. The content provided in each direct

resources to nourish babies as they groWresourCes for pareNts

MEnu PLannERS

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mail package translates nutrition science into information and tools that are easily accessible and actionable for parents.

Articles inform parents about baby’s feeding readiness cues that signal when it’s appropriate to introduce foods from the next food stage. menus apply practical nutrition know-how to everyday life. Older-baby booklets feature “A day in your Baby’s diet”: stage-specific food suggestions that help parents visualize what foods, number of servings, and portion sizes represent a healthy daily diet.

Start Healthy, Stay Healthy Resource Center: Contact Center

The Contact Center provides one-on-one personalized support for parents with questions and concerns. It’s open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and is staffed with experts, including registered dietitians. The Contact Center supports parents by providing expert advice to their prenatal, infant, toddler, and preschool nutrition and feeding questions. It’s designed to function as a trusted and professional resource for information about prenatal and pediatric nutrition for parents with children up to 48 months old.

In-Store Childhood Nutrition SectionStart Healthy, Stay Healthy consumer

education continues in-store and at-shelf. Our Childhood Nutrition Section provides easy-to-understand guidance as to which products can be introduced at each stage of baby’s life, easing parents’ shopping decisions. All stage-appropriate products are located in one area, and shelves are arranged so that products progress according to age and developmental stages. As a result, parents can readily choose the right mix of products for their child.

StaGE-SPECIFIC nutRItIon bookLEtS

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T he Start Healthy, Stay Healthy™ promise for medical professionals mirrors our promise to consumers: Everything we do and everything we say supports

healthy growth and development for children from birth to 4 years.

The Nestlé Nutrition Institute: NestleNutrition-Institute.org

for more than 60 years, Nestlé has contributed to the continuing education of health care professionals and increased the nutrition information available to them through the Nestlé Nutrition Institute. Nestlé has built a rich tradition of having more than 500 opinion leaders serve on the Institute’s diverse advisory boards, where they evaluate nutrition and health issues and help identify future research directions.

The Nestlé Nutrition Institute is a multidisciplinary educational organization dedicated to the support and distribution of healthy nutrition science for people of all ages. We believe that innovative, science-based nutrition enhances the quality of people’s lives all over the world. That’s why we partner with the medical and scientific communities to provide enhanced access to the latest scientific research, enabling continual improvement to health care.

Since 1981 the Nestlé Nutrition Institute has hosted educational events, including a series of

more than 100 international workshops drawing on world-recognized experts. These events provide excellent opportunities to explore recent scientific advances in the field of nutrition and effective ways to apply them in clinical settings.

The Nestlé Nutrition Institute also: Produces a wide range of publications—more

than 3,000 since 1960 Publishes a pediatric journal titled Annales

Nestlé, developed to answer practical needs of pediatric health professionals

Offers practical and in-depth educational materials—both in print and online—about nutrition for health care professionals

Gives scholarships and research grants to professional societies and health care professionals

StartHealthyStayHealthy.com/medical and NestleInfantNutrition.com offer online resource centers for medical professionals. They can read articles about clinical and health topics:

Breastfeeding Nutrition and healthy eating Immunity development Allergy protection Obesity digestibility Organic foods food safety Brain and cognitive development

resourCes for the meDICal CommuNIty

Find nutrition and health information at StartHealthyStayHealthy.com/medical

Start Healthy, Stay Healthy™ education materials help medical professionals extend nutrition dialogue with parents.

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L ooking forward, we see Nestlé’s world-class nutrition science leading Start Healthy, Stay Healthy to play an even larger role in shaping the future of early-childhood nutrition in

the United States. Nestlé is committed to continuing its effort

toward improving nutrition and feeding choices for infants and children through science-based innovation. The results of the 2008 fITS study nutrient intakes further our understanding of early-childhood eating patterns and offer insights into behavior around beverage consumption and

snacking. The fITS results and the ongoing work of the Nestlé Nutrition Institute will continue to drive the science-based communication and education of Start Healthy, Stay Healthy to parents and pediatricians, help shape public policy, and provide a road map for product innovation and development.

We will continue to add to our integrated nutrition solutions and product portfolio, delivering science-based benefits, improved products, and feeding guidance.

The future also holds tremendous opportunities for Nestlé’s partnerships with public policy leaders and the medical community about important issues such as nutrition guidelines for

the future of Start HealtHy, Stay HealtHy™

We’re continually learning what we need to do to make our products even better, and we’re doing it. We have the opportunity to impact public health by providing innovative, nutritious products and giving parents the information they need to feed their children right.

As with our consumer education materials, the Start Healthy, Stay Healthy content available to medical professionals is solidly grounded in nutrition science. We provide access to the feeding Infants and Toddlers Study (fITS) publications, links to the Nestlé Nutrition Institute, and office tools such as growth charts and body mass index (BmI) charts.

The online education materials help medical professionals extend the nutrition dialogue with parents beyond the traditional first year, when the dialogue is concentrated mostly on breastmilk and formula. With a focus from birth to 4 years, we can give medical professionals more opportunities to guide parents toward establishing healthy eating habits for their child.

We’re continuing to develop and deepen the Start Healthy, Stay Healthy medical professionals partnership and website. We will continue to:

Expand product line information and online sample ordering

Extend access to clinical research abstracts and articles

Offer online videos about clinical and health care topics concerning key areas: healthy growth and development, healthy weight management, allergy protection, immune system support, and digestive health and comfort

develop educational materials for use during office visits Trusting and supportive partnerships with medical professionals are critical to achieving our mission to nourish a healthier generation, one baby at a time.

— kathleen Reidy, DrPH, RD Head of Global Regulatory and Scientific affairs, Meals and Drinks

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toddlers. We look forward to continuing our efforts to build medical advocacy and support, educate health care providers, and advance life-changing consumer education together with pediatricians and health care providers.

Taking Start Healthy, Stay Healthy worldwideStart Healthy, Stay Healthy is an important

part of Nestlé’s commitment to nutrition, health, and wellness. Start Healthy, Stay Healthy in the United States is the foundation for global rollout of the Start Healthy, Stay Healthy system—one that requires global solutions tailored to meet local conditions, tastes, and traditions.

As in the United States we will offer practical nutrition advice, services, and tools for parents and health care professionals by adapting the use of the Start Healthy, Stay Healthy Nutrition Guide and staged-based milestone Symbols™.

We will Create Shared value globally. Global expansion of Start Healthy, Stay Healthy is an important step toward increasing the number of parents who have access to safe and nutritious food products and increasing knowledge of the health issues that affect their children’s healthy growth and development.

Start Healthy, Stay Healthy™. Our unwavering commitment to nourish a healthier generation, one baby at a time.

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At Nestlé we believe that research can help us make better food so people live better lives.

Nestlé headquarters, vevey, switzerlandCB0709

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