I’m always asking myself two questions:

1. Will my children even eat this thing if I pack it in their lunchboxes?Ìý

2. Is it actually good for their growing bodies?

The second question is often more difficult to answer.Ìý

At ÌÇÐÄVlog, we’ve spoken about the issue of added sugars in children’s snacks at length. Huge swathes of pre-packaged foodstuffs use on-package messaging to convince parents they’re “healthy” or “natural” but the reality is often different.Ìý

Many of the snacks advertised as such are actually packed with sugar, and not the naturally occurring kind. A ÌÇÐÄVlog review of 78 packaged meals and snacks marketed specifically for toddlersÌýfound that over half contained large amounts of added sugar.Ìý

That’s worrying to say the least. In fact, many foods marketed as being “healthy” actually contain more sugar per 100 grams than jelly snakes. Allen’s Snakes Alive are made up of roughly 44% sugar. All of the snacks we’re about to list are hitting 60% at least and, worse, they’re being marketed to parents of toddlers as a healthy option, not a one-off treat.

The kids foods with the highest levels of added sugars

Here are some of the worst offenders we uncovered in our review.

2. Kiddylicious Smoothie Melts Strawberry & BananaÌý

67% sugar
The Kiddylicious brand is a repeat offender here. This snack comes a close second to the Fruit Wriggles in terms of sugar content.Ìý

3. Kiddylicious Crispy Tiddlers RaspberryÌý

63% sugar
Noticing a theme? The Kiddylicious Tiddlers Raspberry snack has 19% more sugar than the Allen’s jelly snakes.

4. Rafferty’s Garden Mixed Berry Yoghurt Buttons

62.9% sugar
Finally we’ve got a non Kiddylicious brand snack on this list. While yoghurt can be a healthy option for kids, these “yoghurt” buttons are mainly sugar.Ìý

5. Rafferty’s Garden Strawberry Yoghurt Buttons

62.3% sugarÌý
And the last offender on this list is another Rafferty’s Yoghurt Buttons product, just in a different flavour.

Now, we’re not saying kids shouldn’t be allowed to indulge in a sugary snack every now and then – that’s the stuff memories are made of. But if the snacks you thought were healthy are, in fact, packed full of sugar, you might as well give your kids the jelly snakes they’re begging for!

Another thing to be aware of: there’s an incredible amount of trickery involved in actually identifying sugar in an ingredients list. ÌÇÐÄVlog has identified a ludicrous 60 different names that essentially amount to added sugar.ÌýEverything from panocha to rapadura to [checks notes] turbinado? Are these sugars or Pokemon?

When it comes to added sugar, you definitely don’t wanna catch ’em all.Ìý

How to choose healthy kids’ snacks

So what should you give your kids as snacks? The answer may not be exciting, but it’s fairly simple –Ìý good old-fashioned whole foods. I try to stick to the stuff I know they’ll actually eat and is relatively easy to chuck in a lunch box – like grapes, blueberries or bananas.Ìý

But, as we all know, kids will complain. And sometimes it does make sense to grab some pre-packaged snacks. On those occasions it pays to scan the ingredient list.

Here are a few quick tips when you’re shopping for kids’ snacks:

• Smaller ingredient lists are typically better. It’s also worth noting that ingredients are always listed in order of greatest to smallest quantities. If some form of sugar is near the top of that list, beware!
• Look for whole food ingredients. Essentially, if an ingredient is a food you could easily identify in the fresh produce aisle (like apples, oats or nuts), it’s probably pretty good. Try to avoid foods with ingredient names your grandmother wouldn’t recognise.
• Try to avoid snacks with fruit concentrates, pastes, purees or powders in their ingredient lists if you want to keep sugar intake low. You’ll probably be surprised by how many kids’ snacks contain one or more of these sneaky ingredients that sound healthy but are actually added sugars.
• Health star ratings are a quick and useful guide if you’re busy and time is short. Just be aware that the star ratings are designed to compare food products within their category. You can’t compare biscuits to yoghurts, for example.

The post These ‘healthy’ kids’ snacks have more sugar than jelly snakes appeared first on ÌÇÐÄVlog.

On investigation, we found that this type of damage is not unheard of. A number of years ago the UK Food Standards Agency even issued a warning to parents about a possible risk to children from particular sour novelty sweets after receiving reports of them causing blisters, burns and bleeding to the tongue and mouth.

Similar sour novelty sweets are readily available in Australia through dedicated lolly shops, convenience stores and service stations. Many mainstream confectionery favourites (Skittles and Haribo gummy bears, for example) have a “sour” version too, and even the major supermarkets sell sour lollies under their own brands.

But how much harm can they really cause?

Sour lolly stories

We reached out to our Facebook community about sour lollies and the response was astounding. Alongside nostalgia for the pleasure and pain associated with eating sour lollies as a child, parents shared reports and images of their children’s symptoms after eating them.

“Virtually straight after my daughter ate a couple of the lollies she told me her tongue felt funny. She showed me and to my horror about a 1–2mm deep layer of the surface of her tongue had come away. She had about a week or so of painful healing,” says Kylie.

“[My son] went for a sleepover and after having these he ended up with massive mouth ulcers and off to the dentist!” says Bec.

“My daughter had bleeding of the tongue and at least a layer was removed,” recalls Jessi.

So how are sour lollies causing this damage?

Sour lolly acidity – how we tested

We sent 20 different sour lolly products off to the lab to analyse their acidity. Each product contained between one and four different food acids, most commonly citric acid and malic acid, which give the lollies their ‘sour’ taste. We also included samples of orange juice and cola – both commonly considered to be acidic – and several popular non-sour confectionery products for reference.Ìý

Our tester measured titratable acidity (TA), which is the total amount of acid present. The higher the TA, the more difficult it is for saliva to neutralise the acid.Ìý

Our tester also measured the lollies’ pH, which indicates the strength of the acid. A neutral pH is 7 – and the lower the number, the more acidic a product is. We’ve listed the pH of all products tested in the results table, but in summary:

• The orange juice was the least acidic with a pH of 3.81, followed by Trolli Brite Crawlers and Trolli Sour Cola Bottles at pH 3.28 and 3.12 respectively.Ìý
• The remaining 18 sour lolly products all had a pH less than 3.
• TNT Mega Sour Grenade (pH 1.83) and Brain Licker Sour Candy Drink (pH 1.94) recorded the lowest pH values.Ìý
• To put these numbers in context, vinegar has a pH of 3, and stomach acid has a pH of 1. See our pH scale chart for reference.

If you’re sucking and holding a lolly against your tongue, cheek or gums for extended periods of time, and its pH is very low, it’s hardly surprising that it might damage these soft tissues. Ìý

Sour lollies and teeth – the potential for dental detriment

Symptoms like bleeding, ulcers and layers of skin peeling away are very unpleasant. Kids might find this kind of damage painful for a number of days, particularly when drinking or eating. But the symptoms tend not to be permanent and the soft tissues of the mouth will usually repair without much problem. The more insidious issue with sour lollies is their increased potential for irreversibly damaging teeth.Ìý

It’s well known that added sugars are a key dietary factor in causing tooth decay (dental caries). Less well known is that acidic foods and drinks are also harmful to teeth, causing dental erosion where the tooth enamel essentially dissolves. Even sugar-free soft drinks and sugar-free confectionery (particularly fruit-flavoured varieties) can damage teeth, as they’re often still highly acidic. Ìý

Drinks and foods that combine both a lot of sugar and high acidity have the potential to cause the most harm.Ìý

Every sour lolly product we tested:

• is full of sugar (they’re lollies after all)
• has a pH of less than 3.3 (a pH 5.5 or less is the danger zone for enamel erosion)
• has a higher TA than the reference products we included. This means it’s harder for saliva to neutralise the acid, so the teeth are exposed to it for longer.Ìý

TNT Mega Sour Grenade, Toxic Waste Hazardously Sour Candy, Toxic Waste Sour Smog Balls and Warheads Juniors Extreme Sour stood out as particularly bad, ranking among the worst for pH and TA as well as sugar content.

Not surprisingly, all of the sour lollies would be considered high-risk for teeth.

Sour lolly safety – what’s the issue?

Teeth are made up of thousands of tiny crystals of calcium phosphate that are in a constant state of flux as calcium and phosphate ions move back and forth between the tooth enamel and saliva. Under acidic conditions (pH less than about 5.5), there is a net loss of calcium and phosphate ions from the tooth (a process known as demineralisation).

Tooth decay is caused by bacteria in plaque, which forms as a layer on the surfaces of teeth. These bacteria use sugar for energy, and produce acids as a by-product that can damage the crystals of the teeth. The more often you have sugary foods or drinks, the more acid the bacteria can make and the more damage that occurs.

Dental erosion is the irreversible loss of the outer crystals of the tooth caused by acids that come directly from foods or drinks (or from stomach acids regurgitating into the mouth). Every time an acidic food or drink passes your teeth and drops the pH in the mouth below 5.5, there is a chance the outer crystals are dissolving and reducing the amount of tooth that you have left.

Fortunately, your teeth are constantly bathed in saliva, which can help dilute and neutralise acids. However, if salivary flow is poor, or if sugary or acidic foods are consumed too regularly, damage is more likely to occur.Ìý

Safe for consumption?

Of course we all know that lollies are bad for us, but are lollies that cause blisters, burns and bleeding to the tongue and mouth taking it a step too far?

Granted, some of the more acidic products such as Warheads, TNT and Toxic Waste carry warnings. For example: “Eating multiple pieces at the same time or within a short time of each other may cause an irritation to sensitive tongues and mouth. This may vary from a slight irritation to a severe reaction depending on the individual.”Ìý

With a product like Toxic Waste Hazardously Sour Candy, which recommends a serve size of five pieces and challenges you to see how long you can keep one in your mouth (60 seconds and you’re crowned a “full toxie head”, just 15 seconds and you’re branded a “total wuss”), the caution in smaller print at the bottom of the pack seems little more than a token gesture. Our guess is that children are more likely to accept the challenge than heed the warning.

Alarmingly, TNT’s Mega Sour Grenade even warns: “In case of eye contact, flush with clean water.”

They’re never going to be healthy, but at the very least we think the lollies that kids have access to should be safe. If they’re acidic enough to warrant a warning about the potential for causing a severe reaction, or require that you flush your eyes with water if they come into contact, we think this is a cause for concern.

There’s currently no general safety provision under Australian Consumer Law (ACL) that companies have to comply with, and we think one is needed.

Vitamin C supplements

Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) has a low pH and high titratable acidity. Regularly chewing vitamin C tablets has been associated with the development of tooth wear. Our test returned a pH of 3.28 for popular children’s supplement brand Nature’s Way Kids Smart Vita Gummies Vitamin C + Zinc. To avoid damage to teeth it’s recommended that kids rinse their mouth out with water after having these types of vitamin C supplement, and have them with a meal rather than just before bed.

pH test results

pH is a measure of the acidity of a product. Foods or drinks with a pH below 5.5 can cause erosion of the tooth enamel.

The post Sour lollies: the acid test appeared first on ÌÇÐÄVlog.

On this page:

• Cheese and crackers
• Cheese
• Savoury, crunchy snacks
• Dried fruit pieces, strips, straps and strings
• Fruit tubs and pouches
• Grain-based bars
• Sweet biscuits
• Better choices: the healthiest lunchbox snacks
• What are Health Star Ratings?
• The balanced lunchbox

While most parents want a balanced lunchbox, it has also become the norm to include some kind of processed treat – a muesli bar, a little bag of chips, some Tiny Teddies.

To help parents make better choices, we analysed more than 260 snacks and calculated their Health Star Rating. The results were underwhelming – only three items received the top rating:

5 stars out of 5

• The Laughing Cow La Vache Qui Rit Light
• Tuckers Onion & Cheddar Snack Bites
• Tuckers Chilli Snack Bites

More than half the products earned just two and a half stars or less, and only 21% earned four stars or more and most of these were fruit-based snacks like sultanas.

All nutritional comparisons are per 100g. Using the star ratings we’ve explored the choices for your child’s lunchbox, and found that there are better and worse choices within each category.

We also explain how Health Star Ratings work, and how to get a well-balanced lunchbox between discretionary and core foods.

Cheese and crackers

The presence of calcium in cheese may lure parents into thinking a small box of crackers and processed cheese dip is a healthy snack. However almost all the products we looked at in this category earned just one star, with only Laughing Cow Cheez Dippers gaining more. Many products didn’t even list calcium on the nutritional information panel (NIP) and although some products (Kraft, Uncle Tobys) did offer a reasonable amount of calcium, all products are very high in saturated fat, salt and kilojoules.

• 1.5 stars – The Laughing Cow Cheez Dippers (1230kJ, 9.5g sat fat)

Cheese

For a better dairy snack ditch the biscuits and cheese “dip” or “spread” and opt for a cheese stick or wedge. Choose low fat or “lite” such as Laughing Cow la Vache Qui Rit Light which was the only brand that earned five stars. Compare calcium levels and keep an eye out for sodium levels as they can vary widely between similar-looking products. Cheese products reviewed include:

• 5 stars out of 5 – Laughing Cow la Vache Qui Rit Light
• 4.5 stars out of 5 – Bega Stringers Original (700mg sodium)
• 2 stars out of 5 – Kraft Strip Cheese (1100mg sodium)
• 1 star out of 5 – Cowbell (Aldi) Cheese Rockets (1600mg sodium)

Savoury, crunchy snacks

Fat in flavour?

Be cautious when buying different flavours of these snacks in a multi-pack. Although Arnott’s Shapes Under the Sea Cheddar scores three and a half stars (medium saturated fat and 9g fibre), the variety pack with traditional flavours BBQ, Pizza, Cheddar and Cheese and Bacon Shapes is high in sat fat and only gets one and a half stars. Unlike the Shapes Under the Sea, it doesn’t list fibre content.

Rice rates slightly higher

Ranging from two to three stars, rice-based crackers like Rice Wheels are slightly better than chips, tending to have fewer kilojoules and low saturated fat. But they don’t have much fibre and are also fairly high in sodium.

Popcorn’s better when it comes to the crunch

For something crunchy a better choice is popcorn. The pre-packaged ready-to-eat variety generally falls between three and four stars, but Sunbites Lightly Salted with its 18.5g of fibre gets four and a half. It’s wise to double check the label to see if you’re really buying popcorn. Smith’s Air Popped Potato Snacks packaging looks very similar to Sunbite popcorn but is made with potato rather than corn and gets only two and half stars.

Wide-ranging results

Of the 36 salty, crunchy snacks we looked at, most ranged between a 1/2 star and two stars, with some better choices in the mix. The snacks we looked at included:

• 5 stars out of 5Ìý– Tuckers Natural Snack Bites Onion & Cheddar (1650kJ, 3.8g sat fat, 420mg sodium, 20.1g fibre)
• 3.5 stars out of 5Ìý– Smith Grain Waves Sour Cream and Chives (2000kJ, 2.5g sat fat, 389mg sodium, 6g fibre)
• 2.5 stars out of 5Ìý– Ajitas Vege Chips Sweet & Sour (1890kJ, 1.6g sat fat, 670mg sodium, 5.4g fibre)
• 1.5 stars out of 5Ìý– Mamee Noodle Snack (2040kJ, 5.3g sat fat, 750mg sodium, no listing for fibre)
• 0.5 star out of 5Ìý– Top 20 Mixed Chips Cheezels (2220kJ, 14.9g sat fat, 1200mg sodium, 1g fibre)

Dried fruit pieces, strips, straps and strings

Watch out for sugar

Just because a package trumpets words like 65% fruit juice, “made with real fruit” or even 100% fruit doesn’t mean it can replicate the nutritional profile of real fruit. Usually made with a mixture of dried fruit and/or puree the sugar is concentrated to levels around 50% in strips, compared to a fresh apple which has about 12% sugar.

Extra additives

Uncle Toby’s Roll-Ups (which rated two and a half stars) may have “no artificial colours or flavours”, but this doesn’t mean they’re 100% fruit. Look at the ingredients list and you’ll see that maltodextrin is the largest ingredient, followed by about 30% concentrated fruit puree, plus sugar, starch, sunflower oil and vegetable gums.

And Nice&Natural Fruit Strings strawberry, raspberry and blueberry (two stars) is 62% reconstituted apple juice and 3% berries. The other 35% contains, among other things, glucose syrup and sugar, but also beef gelatine and bees wax!

Non-fruit ingredients can also up the kilojoule content compared to strips with more fruit, as in the snapshot below:

• 0.5 star out of 5 – Go Natural Berry Frugos (2037kJ)
• 4 stars out of 5 – Annies 100% fruit leather apricot and apple (1010kJ)

Some of these snacks have more fibre than others. Anything above 6g per 100g is considered high fibre, and good choices in the category are SVA 100% True Fruit or Golden Days Fruit Poles which have between 9g and 12g of fibre.

Dried fruit snacks can be a better option than most fruit sticks, although they still have significantly more sugar than fresh fruit. There can be big differences in the sugar content of different dried fruits, with sultanas having almost twice as much sugar as dried apricots:

• 3 stars out of 5 – generic sultanas (approx.)
• 4.5 stars out of 5 – Coles Sultana and Apricot

Fruit tubs and pouches

Tubs of fruit pieces are a handy sweet snack for kids and all the brands we looked at had at least three stars. However, the Goulburn Valley Diced Fruit range rates four stars because the fruit is in juice rather than jelly or syrup and had no added sugar.

Fruit pouches also averaged at three stars, but the products that came out with four stars like Whole Kids Frooshie, Rafferty’s Garden LB1Ìýand SPC Crush Ups were almost entirely fruit compared with SPC Fruity Jellys with only 10% fruit.

Grain-based bars

There are two types of grain-based bars: those that position themselves as healthy with names such as “oats and honey”, “cereal bites” and “muesli bars”. And those that don’t try as hard to look healthy, using words like “puffs”, “bubble bars” and “choc rainbow”. But chances are they’ll all be sweet, because the manufacturers rely on sugars of various kinds – but usually ordinary sugar (sucrose), glucose or glucose syrup – to hold them together.

Grainy goodness?

Cereal and muesli bars aren’t all created equal when it comes to wholegrain content. The Grains & Legumes Nutrition Council says foods must contain a minimum of 8g of wholegrain per serve in order to make a claim about wholegrain content, but many bars don’t even contain that.

Sweet biscuits

Made with predominantly flour, sugar and oil, unsurprisingly there is little to recommend in these bikkies. Only one product earned more than two stars:

• 2.5 stars out of 5 – Coles Koala & Friends

Better choices: the healthiest lunchbox snacks

We found it hard to recommend many of the snacks we looked at, but some are better than others.

• Dried fruit is a better choice than other high salt, high saturated fat products but they are very high in sugar. For fruit strips look for more than 90% fruit and no added sugar.
• Buy diced fruit in juice rather than syrup.
• Avoid crackers and cheese, and go for less processed cheese sticks.
• Choose popcorn over chips and sweet biscuits.
• Look for muesli bars which have whole grains, fewer additives, lower sugar and higher fibre levels.
• Rice cakes are not particularly nutritious but are also low in fat and sugar and can be used as a base for healthy toppings like cheese, avocado or hummus.

What are Health Star Ratings?

The Health Star Rating system is a voluntary scheme developed by consumer, health and industry groups in a government-led process. Participating companies apply a rating between half a star and 5 stars to the front of food products, giving consumers at-a-glance information. The rating is computed using the Health Star Rating calculator and is based on the kilojoules, saturated fat, sugars, sodium, protein and fibre in 100 grams or mL of the product, and its fruit, vegetable, nut or legume content. The scheme also includes information about key nutrients.

We used the information available on the products reviewed to estimate star ratings. Companies aren’t required to declare fibre or the percentage of fruit, vegetables, nuts and legumes. Some products didn’t declare some or all of this information, and the actual rating may be higher with the full information considered.

Getting the balance right

Too many snacks?

The types of packaged snacks or treats on review may seem relatively benign, but the problem with regularly including these foods in lunchboxes is that they tend to be high in unhelpful nutrients like sugar and sodium and displace other healthier alternatives such as veggies or fruit.

A 2010 study of NSW schoolchildren found that while 96% of primary school kids ate their suggested one serve of fruit per day, only one-third of children in years 4 to 6 ate the suggested serves of vegetables each day.

“It’s unlikely that kids would be able to eat all their daily veggies in an evening meal, so adding a couple of serves to a lunchbox is a good start,” says nutritionist Mandy dos Santos from Little People Nutrition.

The advises limiting what it calls “discretionary foods” – the nutrient-poor and energy-dense foods. And, says dos Santos, parents should be trying to get kids to eat the suggested serves of core foods (lean meat and fish, dairy, grains, veggies and fruit) each day before offering non-core treats.

What is a serve of discretionary food?

A serve should contain no more than 600kJ and is roughly equivalent to:

• Savoury: 30g salty crackers or 2 slices of processed meats or 2 thin sausages or 1/3 (60g) commercial meat pie or 12 (60g) hot chips.
• Sweet: 40g of lollies or 25g chocolate or 1 small doughnut or 1 small slice of cake or muffin or 2–3 sweet biscuits or 60g honey (about 2 tablespoons) or 2 scoops of regular ice cream or a 375ml can of soft drink.

Using the 100g column of the nutritional panel is the best way to compare products at the supermarket. When looking at kids’ snacks it’s also important to check the serving size of individual packets. For discretionary foods or treats, the smaller the serving size the better.

The balanced lunchbox

“It’s unrealistic to expect parents will achieve a perfectly balanced lunchbox every time, but it is possible to make gradual improvements over time,” says dos Santos.

Protein

One serve of lean protein (meat, dairy, eggs, nuts, seeds) is 100g. But as kids only need 1½ to 2½ serves per day, they don’t need to have a whole serve at lunch, says dos Santos. For the lunchbox don’t forget plant proteins in the form of baked beans or dips made with legumes such as hummus, tofu and seeds. (Nuts are also great but many schools have a no-nut policy).

Grains

Found in bread, wraps, rice, muesli and crackers, grains provide fibre and carbohydrates for energy. Look for wholegrain with around 6g of fibre per serve, although 4g is still considered a good source of fibre. Choose wholegrain (or wholemeal with added grains) bread and aim for 4 to 5 serves a day for primary school kids.

A serve of grains is: 1 slice of bread, ½ cup cooked rice or noodles

Fruit

A source of fibre, vitamins and minerals, kids should have one or two pieces of fruit per day.

A serve of fruit is: 1 piece of medium sized-fruit, 1 cup cooked, canned or diced fruit, or 30g dried fruit. Half a cup (125mL) of 100% fruit juice is also considered one serve but should only be used occasionally.

Vegetables

Kids should be eating 1½ to 2 serves per day. For lunchboxes try cherry tomatoes or carrot, cucumber and celery sticks.

A serve of veggies is: ½ cup veggies, 1 cup raw leafy greens, 1 cup starchy veggies (sweet corn, for example).

Dairy

Dairy offers calcium for bones and teeth as well as filling protein. Primary-aged kids need 1½ to 3 serves a day. Choose low-fat dairy, and for yoghurt check the sugars – look for less than 12g per 100g.

A serve of dairy is: ¾ cup of yoghurt, 1 cup of low-fat milk, or 2 slices of cheese (40g).

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