Five-a-day claims on children’s snacks are rarely a full portion

THREE in four children’s snacks that claim to be “one of your five a day” do not contain a full portion, a study has found.

Researchers said parents who were trying to find healthy fare were con- fused by labels that portrayed foods as nutritious when in fact they were loaded with sugar or salt.

The study by the University of Glasgow analysed 322 products marketed to children, including juices, yogurts, cereals, cereal bars and fruit snacks.

Almost half made claims about contributing to a child’s “five a day” requirements, but most did not stack up, the study found.

Among those that claimed to contain at least one portion of fruit or vegetables, three in four did not have the recommended 80g portion size.

Calling for stricter regulation of labelling and marketing, researchers warned such claims created a “health halo”, distracting parents from the fact many such snacks were full of sugar.

They warned that the heavy use of cartoons, designed to appeal to children, and misleading health claims aimed at parents, is fuelling Britain’s obesity crisis. One in three children are overweight or obese by the time they leave primary school, along with two in three adults.

The study, published online in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood, found that two in five products marketed at those aged over the age of one scored poorly for nutritious content.

The researchers said: “Stricter regulations on product composition, food labelling, and marketing techniques are required.”

They added that the focus on one positive aspect of a product was likely to distract parents from the fact it was in many ways unhealthy.

This included claims that “no added sugar” ignored the fact that a product was still packed with natural sugars which can still lead to weight gain.