More Sugar In Fruit Snacks Than Sweets?

A campaign group claimed that many fruit snacks contain more sugar than sweets.

18:44 29 May 2015

Campaign group Action on Sugar has assessed 94 products, which were supposedly “healthy” fruit snacks that are aimed at children, and found that a third contained three or four teaspoons of sugar and 85per cent more sugary than Haribo Starmix sweets. 

 

Child health experts described the findings as “frightening.” 

 

Katharine Jenner, campaign director at Action on Sugar, said: "Parents find it hard enough to know what 'healthy' is without food manufacturers confusing matters with misleading claims.

 

"Whole, unprocessed fruit is healthier than processed fruit snacks and fruit juice drinks, as it contains vitamins, minerals, water and fibre, and does not cause the devastating tooth decay we see in young children today."

 

Colin Michie, chairman of the nutrition committee at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said that the findings were “stunning.” 

 

He added: "None of us needs sugar in our diets at all. It is all completely unnecessary.

 

"Fruit contains fibre, which we all need to function properly, but in these snacks the benefits of fruit have been sacrificed by covering them in yogurt and other sugary coatings."