Children don’t usually snack on fresh fruit for long. That’s why parents resort to snacks in the form of bars or compotes, which are more convenient. A study by Foodwatch, an international consumer NGO, found that these supposedly healthy snacks, almost all of which carry the EU organic label, contain about a third sugar on average.
The study focused on 77 fruit snacks sold in German drugstores from which German-speaking households also obtain their supplies. The brands Freche Freunde and Alete bewusst stand out with negative results: the products Rosinchen and Obsties strawberry banana in yogurt even contain almost 75% sugar.
However, if we only rely on the statements on the packaging (“No added sugar” or “Contains naturally occurring sugars”), these products intended for children seem perfectly healthy. And the snacks analyzed by Foodwatch do indeed all contain naturally occurring sugars. But glucose, fructose and sucrose are not healthier just because they come from fruit.
According to WHO recommendations, the sugar content in fruit snacks for children should not exceed 12.5%. However, of the 77 snacks analyzed by Foodwatch in its recent study, only 14 complied with the recommendations. The NGO also calculated the Nutriscore of the products, of which only two fruit snacks received a Nutriscore A (green). 43 of the 77 products received the second worst score (D) and four fruit bars received the worst score (E).
As Stefan Kabisch, a research physician at the Clinic for Endocrinology and Metabolic Medicine at the Charité Hospital in Berlin, explains to the magazine “Spiegel”, fresh fruit is healthier because it contains not only sugar, but also essential micronutrients, fiber and vitamins. Eating fresh fruit also prevents blood sugar spikes, which provides a longer-lasting feeling of satiety.
In contrast, the opposite is true for packaged fruit snacks, in which the molecular structure of the carbohydrates has been broken, leading to cravings and excessive snacking, which in the long term can lead to high blood sugar, obesity, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and even cancer.
