Popcorn and crushed fruit might seem better for you than crisps, but ... ARE TREN DY SNACKS HEALTHY?

The average Brit eats crisps, nuts or popcorn seven times a week, according to a recent survey.

But there’s never been a wider selection of snacks, with everything from processed fruit to dried pulses and ‘ air- popped’ crisps flooding the market.

Such is the variety available that we could graze morning, noon and night on different snacks for weeks if we wanted to — a situation that many experts believe could be contributing to the obesity crisis.

The World Obesity Federation has previously warned that threequarters of adults will be overweight or obese by 2025, with the finger pointed at snacking as one of the main culprits.

Meanwhile, a study by the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam in 2014 found that snacking, especially on fatty and high- sugar foods, is worse for the liver than consuming larger meals, and is associated with a higher amount of abdominal fat.

The theory is that snacking keeps our insulin levels raised, which encourages fat storage.

And yet snacks aren’t in themselves bad news, suggests GP David haslam, head of the National Obesity Forum.

earlier this year he claimed that the concept of three square meals a day is outdated and that feeding the body little and often with healthy, nutritious snacks ‘ ensures your metabolic system is steadily stimulated and provides a continuous supply of nutrients which is particularly important for today’s busy lifestyles’.

Many of the new offerings lining the supermarket snack aisle might seem healthier.

But do they really provide a valuable and nutrient-rich source of energy between meals?

here we take a look at some of the new generation of snacks on the market and rate them for their real health value . . .