Revealed: the high street’s sugar secrets

A NEW book that tells consumers the sugar content of items on menus at coffee shops, restaurants and fast-food chains is helping shoppers make smarter choices.

As well as the number of teaspoons of sugar in each item, the Sugar Snub Eating Out Guide lists fat, saturated fat, salt and calories in everything from Carluccio’s starters to Wagamama desserts.

Written by nutritionist Claire White, author of The Sugar Snub Food Guide, which ranked supermarket-bought products, the new book lets diners quickly compare and contrast when making menu choices. It also exposes the hidden sugar in many savoury dishes: Nando’s medium Grilled Chicken wrap contains four-anda-half teaspoons of sugar, and its sweet potato wedges a whopping nine-and-a-half teaspoons per serving.

In 2015, the Government drastically altered its guidance, advising adults to consume no more than seven teaspoons of added sugar a day, and children no more than five.

Other shocks listed in the guide include Pizza Express’s Leggera pizzas, advertised as the chain’s ‘healthy, lower-calorie range’, but which include sevenand-a-half teaspoons of sugar, while a classic American Hot has just twoand-a-half. Similar offerings can differ between the chains: a Tall Skim Chai latte at Starbucks has eight teaspoons, while at Costa a medium Skim Chai Latte has 12½ teaspoons.

Paperback £8.99, from sugarsnub.co.uk; e-book editions £3.99.