Colin the Caterpillar’s E numbers will make you crawl

CRISPS, CAKES AND BISCUITS CRISPS

NO ONE would call crisps a healthy snack. But while some have been processed so thoroughly that they bear no resemblance to the humble potatoes they began as, others are closer to whole foods than you might think.

UPF

Pringles Sour Cream

& Onion, 165g, €3.49 from Tesco UPF ingredients: Sour Cream & Onion Seasoning (maltodextrin, monosodium glutamate, disodium guanylate, disodium inosinate, dextrose, flavourings, modified maize starch, glucose syrup, sweet whey powder, citric acid, lactic acid, malic acid) maltodextrin,

E471, annatto norbixin

FLAVOURED snacks such as these are ‘almost always’ UPFs, according to experts, because they contain flavour enhancers such as monosodium glutamate, or MSG. They’re designed to make you want to eat more of them.

Pringles’ Sour Cream & Onion snack includes 13 UPF ingredients and Doritos Original has 14.

Prof Kuhnle says: ‘These things are added to keep them crisp and fresh.’

NON-UPF

Kettle Chips Lightly Salted, 130g, €2.99 from Tesco

UPF ingredients: None

THERE are several non-UPF options which only contain a handful of simple ingredients — as long as you opt for plain, salted crisps. But, again, we shouldn’t be eating too much of them.

‘Even if they’re just potatoes and oil and a bit of salt, they’re not good for you,’ says Prof Kuhnle.

BISCUITS

IT MIGHT be a well-honed instinct to reach for the biscuit tin as soon as the kettle has boiled, but if you’re trying to avoid UPFs then you may need to read the label.

UPF

McVitie’s Chocolate Digestives, 400g, €2.50 at Dunnes UPF ingredients: Dried whey, soya lecithin, E476, glucose-fructose syrup

McVitie’s Jaffa Cakes, 18 biscuits, €3.29 at Tesco UPF ingredients: glucosefructose Syrup, soya lecithin, E476, dextrose, glucose syrup, glycerine, citric acid, sodium citrates

THEY’RE a favourite teatime treat but both McVitie’s Chocolate Digestives and Jaffa Cakes are classic UPFs. They contain sugar syrups, which cause a faster blood sugar spike, while the Jaffa Cakes also add dextrose, another sugar. Both also contain soya lecithin as an emulsifier, which some have linked to digestion problems.

NON-UPF

Walker’s Shortbread Highlanders, 160g, €1.89 at Dunnes

UPF ingredients: None

There are biscuits which don’t contain UPFs, but these can have higher amounts of fat because butter replaces the emulsifiers.

CAKES

WHILE they look delicious, shopbought cakes are among the worst UPFs. Many have long shelf lives so need to be full of industrial preservatives and emulsifiers.

UPF

Mr Kipling 8 French Fancies, €4.49 from Morrison’s

UPF ingredients: glucose syrup, vegetable glycerine, whey powder, mono and diglycerides of fatty acids, soya lecithin, potassium sorbate, flavourings, cochineal, lutein

M&S Colin The Caterpillar Cake, 625g, Marks and Spencer

UPF ingredients: soya lecithin, dried whey, shellac, carnauba wax, dried glucose syrup, rowan extract, glycerol, dextrose, E471, E475, E481, flavourings

BOTH emulsifiers in the French Fancies are linked to gut inflammation. The E numbers in the Colin The Caterpillar cake are similar. ‘They’re high in calories and saturated fat and also contain artificial trans fats as well as refined sugars,’ says Prof Kuhnle.