Getting hidden sugars out of the closet

A recently released report from CHOICE finds that if consumers could identify added sugars on food packs they could avoid 26 teaspoons of sugar each day and up to 38.3 kilograms a year.

“Leading national and international health advice is clear — people should be reducing consumption of added sugars. But right now it’s nearly impossible to identify what products are laden with added sugar,” CHOICE Campaigns and Policy Adviser Katinka Day said. “It’s time added sugars were clearly labelled on processed food products so consumers can make more informed choices with their daily diet.”

CHOICE found that savoury processed foods and products claiming to be healthy are some of the worst offenders when it comes to added sugar. “Although McCain’s Healthy Choice Apricot Chicken presents as a healthy option, it contains more than six teaspoons of sugar, most of which is added sugar,” Day said. “Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain spruiks its credentials as an athletes’ breakfast, yet one small serve contains over 2.7 teaspoons of sugar — almost all of this is added sugar.

“With over 27 million 290-gram boxes of Nutri-Grain sold in 2014 alone, each laden with 77.43 grams of added sugar, Kellogg’s is serving up our little iron men a staggering 2.12 million kilograms of sugar each year.” CHOICE found that swapping Nutri-Grain to Uncle Toby’s Weeties for breakfast will save you 2.7 teaspoons of added sugar each day.

Flavoured yoghurts are also products to watch. Switching from Gippsland’s Raspberry and Coconut Yoghurt to Gippsland’s Organic Natural Yoghurt and adding your own raspberries and coconut can save you 3.8 teaspoons of added sugar.

“At the moment you have to be a food scientist to identify added sugars in processed foods. Consumers in Australia have no clear way of knowing how much sugar has been added to a food.

“That’s why we want food and health ministers to take action and require added sugars to be clearly labelled on food products,” Day said. “The fact is it’s all but impossible for the average shopper to make an informed choice about added sugar in their diet.”