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‘Healthy’ snacks loaded with sugar
10th May 2010
Photographer: Suat Eman
So-called healthy low-fat snacks sold by Britain's supermarkets contain up to 69% sugar — more than three times the amount found in chocolate ice cream.
A range of foodstuff, bought as healthy options for children's lunchtime snacks, are being sweetened with extra sugar and glucose syrup.
Many low-fat options have a sugar content significantly higher than in the conventional products.
Health experts are now demanding the food industry reduce its reliance on sugar in many popular processed foods. They warn new research shows too much sugar not only makes you fat and causes tooth decay, but might increase the risk of heart disease.
They say savoury foods from tinned spaghetti to chilli con carne sauces are also being over sweetened with extra sugar.
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.'
Popular options for lunchtime snacks can contain as much as two-thirds sugar.
In recent years, the food industry has focused on reducing saturated fat in products because of its links to obesity and heart disease.
In many cases, sugar was used to compensate for the loss of taste and texture from lower fat content.
Soups, baked beans and chilli con carne sauce can also contain up to 6% sugar.
The Food Standards Agency classifies a high amount of sugar as more than 15g per 100g, and a low amount as less than 5g per 100g. Officials have urged the industry to reduce sugar, fat and salt in products.
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggested people who ate more added sugar were more likely to have lower levels of good cholesterol and higher levels of some blood fats, which are risk factors for heart disease.
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Sweeteners in processed foods account for nearly 16% of daily intake, the US study found. The study claimed the added sugars in prepared and processed foods are threatening America's cardiovascular health. Dr Miriam B Vos, an assistant professor of paediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, said: ‘We looked at a group of people representative of the US population and found a very strong correlation between cardiovascular risk factors and the amount of sugar that people are consuming.'
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