Easter is just around the corner.
And as we all plan to indulge in some sweet treats, experts are advising people to check the package labelling for large quantities of sugar ahead of tucking in.
Many of our favourite brands “supersize” eggs contain over 250g of sugar, when one teaspoon of sugar is 4g.
For women, the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends no more than 25g of sugar a day, which equals about six teaspoons.
For children, this number is much lower, with children aged four to six advised to eat no more than 19g a day and so, these eggs loaded with sugar pose a real threat to our health.
Maltesers Crunchy Egg Easter Egg, which contains an egg, a bag of sweets and two small Maltesers bunnies contains a staggering 271.5g of sugar meaning that it would contain your daily sugar intake for 10 days if you were to eat the full thing – which is often done without knowing.
The Nestle Smarties Easter Egg is another one to watch out for, containing 261g of sugar, experts are now warning that supersize eggs should be avoided, especially for young children.
Speaking about what to look out for checking nutritional labels, senior dietician, Pauline Dunne at Diabetes Ireland said:
“The higher up on the ingredients list any of these sugars is then the more it contains in the products. Look for the carbohydrate on the label, and the words ‘of which sugars’. That will tell you how much sugar the item contains per 100g.
“More than 15g per 100g is considered high.”
You can check out more information to get “sugar smart” here.
