- Mars Foods announced sauces would be labelled with health warning
- Dolmio Original Tomato Sauce for Lasagne has 6.3g sugar per portion
- Campbell’s Cream of Tomato Soup has twice as much
- Innocent strawberry and banana smoothie has four times more sugar
Last week Mars foods announced that popular Dolmio and Uncle Ben’s sauces will be labelled as a ‘once a week’ treat, because of high sugar, fat and salt content, but are there other products in your trolley that should come with a health warning?
FEMAIL compared healthy sounding foods such as muesli and soup, and found products that are far higher in sugar than any of the pasta sauces Dolmio has placed a health warning on.
The highest sugar Dolmio product is their Original Tomato Sauce for Lasagne with 6.3g per portion, however Campbell’s Cream of Tomato soup has twice as much as 12.8gm per serving and a healthy BOL Mexican Sweet Potato Chilli veg pot has 13.7g per pot.
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Last week Mars foods announced that popular Dolmio and Uncle Ben’s sauces will be labelled as a ‘once a week’ treat, because of high sugar, fat and salt content, but are there other products in your trolley that should come with a health warning?
Louise Johnson, Head Nutritionist at Results with Lucy told FEMAIL: ‘I think it is really important that other products follow suit and come with a warning in relation to the high sugar content in their products.
‘Consumers need to be able to make informed decisions of what they are buying and eating not only for themselves but for their families.
A 295g serving of Campbell’s Cream of Tomato soup contains 12.8g of sugar – twice the amount of the Dolmio sauce that now comes with a warning to enjoy only occasionally
BOL’s Mexican Sweet Potato Chilli contains 13.7g of sugar per pot, more than twice the Dolmio sauce
A half a can serving of Heinz Beanz contains 9.8g sugar, which is over a third more than the Dolmio sauce
There’s 13g of sugar in Sweet & Sour Pot Noodle, more than twice the content of the Dolmio lasagne sauce
Alpen’s Raspberry & Apple Muesli contains 11g of sugar per 45g serving before you add milk, making it almost twice as Sugary as Dolmio.
At 21.3g of sugar, a 160g serving of Activia’s Breakfast Pot with vanilla yogurt and cereal has more than three times the sugar content of Dolmio sauce
Innocent’s strawberry and banana variety contains 26g per 250ml glass. That’s four times as much sugar as the Dolmio sauce
A 40g serving of Sun Maid raisins contains 29g of sugar, which is 4.6 times more than Dolmio sauce
Daniel Herman, a nutritionist with Bio Synergy told FEMAIL that consumers should consider their total diet when making choices.
‘It’s a really fine line between demonising food and helping people make healthy choices.
‘If you’re eating something and you know the sugar has come from here and then you add it to the other sugar you’re eating and all that together doesn’t exceed what’s recommended then that’s fine.
‘People assume there’s no sugar in something such as yogurt. They see low fat and don’t realise there’s lots of sugar in there. It’s education that’s needed.’
| PRODUCT | SUGAR PER SERVING |
|---|---|
| Dolmio Lasagne Tomato Sauce | 6.3g |
| Heinz Beanz | 9.8g |
| Alpen Raspberry & Apple Muesli | 11g |
| Campbell’s Cream of Tomato Soup | 12.8g |
| Sweet & Sour Pot Noodle | 13g |
| BOL Mexican Sweet Potato Chilli Pot | 13.7g |
| Eat Natural Dark Chocolate with Cranberries and Macadamia | 18.4g |
| Activia Vanilla & Clusters Pot | 21.3g |
| Innocent Strawberries & Bananas | 26g |
| Sun Maid Raisins | 29g |
Daniel pointed out that if a warning were to be put on smoothies and juices because of the sugar content, for instance, then there are other factors that should be taken into consideration.
‘I think putting a warning on fruit juice would be a step too far. However, there are other associated problems.
‘Fruit drinks lead to increased calorie intake and can lead to dental health issues.’
He added: ‘A smoothie isn’t something you should have every morning because you shouldn’t start the day with a high sugar food.
Covering something bad with something good doesn’t make it better. It’s like having a Mars bar with some lettuce
‘I used to have orange juice every day and, I should have known better. It was pointed out to me that you need to water it down ten to one to make it reasonable to drink – and I exercise regularly.
‘However, if you have a juice or smoothie and that’s the only sugar you’re going to consume all day then it’s fine.
‘But if you’re not going to keep an eye on your intake then it’s best to go easy.’
As soon as you take any fruit product from its natural state and make it into a drink or dry it, in the case of raisins, the sugar content increases.
‘You need to use lots to get the flavour and consistency the consumer will want,’ he explained. ‘But you wouldn’t eat the ten big ripe tomatoes and there could be 20 in a can of soup.
‘And if you had fresh grapes you’d probably eat about six, whereas you’d have more raisins. Try to eat fresh fruit instead.’
He also advised against starting the day with the Activia pot and other high sugar dairy products in favour of a high protein breakfast.
‘That’s just off the clock,’ he said of the 21.3g sugar content. ‘It’s going into coca cola territory.’
Although yogurt is a source of protein, Daniel said: ‘Covering something bad with something good doesn’t make it better. It’s like having a Mars bar with some lettuce.’
Commenting on the Eat Natural cereal bars, Daniel pointed out that customers shouldn’t be fooled by a label that says natural or organic.
‘It’s not about the health value of the product, although it might be better for the environment.
‘But if you need to have something then it’s the “least worst” option. It’s better than having most bars of chocolate that are going to be much higher in sugar.’
Daniel said that the Heinz beans would be a good option despite the sugar content, because they contain protein and fibre.
‘They’re not too bad, but you’d be better to opt for one of the reduced sugar varieties you can get, but check that they haven’t added loads of salt to compensate,’ he said.
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