I don’t know about you, but I am zero use at reading labels on food packaging at the supermarket. That, of course, is great for the marketing folk who want you to buy their product just because it comes in a shiny blue box (or whatever other sorcery they use to lure us in), but not so great for busy parents who want the best nutritional value for their kids.
So to help you out – and maybe freak you out a little bit (sorry) – we have sourced a breakdown of just how many teaspoons of sugar there are in your average daily snacks and treats. Some of them will leave you wide-eyed – we certainly are!
Item No. teasps of sugar (approx)
SWEETS:
Tube of pastilles (52.5g) 7
Bar of milk chocolate (100g) 11
Bag of jelly babies (215g) 32
Bag of natural jelly squirms (180g) 19
Mars bar (62.5g) 8
Lollipop 3
Raisins (50g) 7
Smarties (40g) 7 1/2
Ice cream (1 scoop) 2
BISCUITS:
Jaffa Cakes (3) 4
Chocolate snack bar (26g) 3
Farleys Rusk Original 1
DRINKS:
Coke (500ml) 11
Can of 7up 7
Lucozade (380ml) 7
Carton of blackcurrant (250ml) 6
Carton of tooth kind blackcurrant 1/2
Diluted orange juice drink (200ml) 4
1-litre bottle orange squash 35
1-litre bottle No Added Sugar squash 1
Pure unsweetened orange juice (200ml) 4
(Figures sourced from the HSE Dublin North East ‘Smart Start: Oral Health’)
(Tip: to figure out how many teaspoons there are in a given product, you can approximate that 5 grams of sugar = 1 rounded teaspoon of sugar)
Does this breakdown surprise you? Let us know in the comments!
