Healthy Snacks Worse Than Ice Cream When It Comes To Sugar

Tue, 11 May 2010

 
Get the latest prices, codes, vouchers & deals fortnightly.
Healthy food snacks sold in UK supermarkets contain up to 69 per cent sugar – more than three times the level of sugar found in ice cream – a new study has revealed.

Researchers from the Faculty of Public Health (FPH) found that many so-called healthy snacks – popular with office workers and in children’s lunchboxes - are being sweetened with extra sugar and glucose syrup.

They found that products such as Fruit Bowl Apple and Strawberry Fruit Flakes, which are sold in many supermarkets, have more than 69 per cent sugar, while Tesco’s own-brand Healthy Living Forest Fruit and Raisin bars have 50 per cent sugar with two spoonfuls in every bar.

Kellogg’s Fruit Winders Doubles have 37 per cent sugar, while the brand’s Special K Fruits of the Forest bars are 39 per cent sugar-based.

By contast, a tub of Haagen-Dazs chocolate ice cream contains just 20 per cent sugar.

The study also showed that many low-fat products have significantly higher sugar content than the standard options. For example, the baked low-fat version of Walkers ready salted crisps was found to have 16 times more sugar than the regular version.

Health experts are now urging food manufacturers to lower the levels of sugar and glucose syrup in processed foods, especially those that are marked as being "Healthy".

They warn that people who have too much sugar in their diet are more likely to become overweight and have lower levels of good cholesterol, increasing the risk of heart disease and diabetes .

Professor Alan Maryon-Davis, president of the Faculty of Public Health, said: "Sugar is a cheap commodity and is used in bulk in a lot of foods . There needs to be pressure on the industry to produce foods which have a lower sugar content."