| Your Health | | |  | Eating Well |
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| | Reading Between The Labels | | | | Sweet Treats | | | There are a number of good reasons why we should limit sweets and treats.
We have 300,000 children who are overweight or obese in Ireland, and that figure is expected to grow by 10,000 every year.
Also many sweets really stick to the teeth and cause tooth decay in children.
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Sweets also contain some not-so-nice food additives - such as specific colours which can cause behavioural problems and hyperactivity in children. They can also help to trigger allergic asthma.
A study published in 2007 by researchers at the University of Southampton showed evidence of increased levels of hyperactivity in young children consuming mixtures of the preservative sodium benzoate (found in many sugary soft drinks), and some artificial food colours:
| | |  | Sunset yellow (E110) |
| | | | Tartrazine (E102) |
| | | | Carmoisine (E122) |
| | | | Ponceau 4R (E124) |
| | | | Quinoline yellow (E104) |
| | | | Allura red (E129) |
| | | | | These colours are used in a number of foods, drinks, sweets, cakes, lollies and ice creams. Quinoline yellow appears in some of the sweets that we will be discussing today. These additives are banned in many countries such as Australia, Sweden and the US. Some of them are derived from coal tar. Coal tar contains 10,000 different chemicals, only 50% of which have been identified. Its origin is anthracite and it is used, among other things, in medication for head lice, psoriasis, soap and heating oil. Preparations with over 5% coal tar are classed as group 1 carcinogens.
The research above, funded by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in the UK and published in The Lancet, showed that children fed a typical intake of these additives were less attentive than children placed on additive-free diets. As a result, the FSA recommended that parents with hyperactive children steer clear of the additives used in the Southampton study. Professor Warner himself believes that all children, regardless of whether they have behavioural problems or not, would benefit from avoiding these colours.
| | | | Per bag (weight stated) | Calories | Fat (g) | Saturates (g) | Sugars (g) | Additive information | | Cadbury’s buttons (34g) | 170 | 9.6 | Not listed | Not listed | | | Rowntrees Jelly Tots (40g) | 146 | 0 | 0 | 25.3 | No artificial colours or flavours.
Now with 25% fruit juice | Natural Confectionery company
(Per 100g / ˝ bag) | 295 | 0 | 0 | 50.5 | No artificial colours or flavours | | M&Ms (45g) | 218 | 9.6 | 5.9 | 30 | E104 Qunoline Yellow
E120 Cochineal
E133 brilliant blue
E160e Beta-apo8-carotenal
E171 Titanium dioxide
| | M&Ms (250g) | 1210 | 53 | 33 | 164 | Same as above
| | Starburst (45g) | 181 | 3.3 | 1.8 | 27.5 | Natural flavourings
Vitamin C
Emulsifier – soya lecithin
Colours – beta carotene, anthocyanins, chlorophyllin
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| | | | | Let's take a closer look | | | | Cadbury's Buttons |
| | The overall fat content is quite high and the percentage of cocoa is likely to be quite low. However, there are no colourings or flavourings in these sweets. | | | | Rowntrees Jelly tots |
| | The Jelly Tots have no artificial colours or flavours - instead they contain fruit juice. However, they are high in sugar, with 25g in just one tiny packet. The concern here is for dental health. The chewy Jelly Tots are likely to get stuck in between the teeth of little ones. Also, excess calories in the diet are stored as fat, so if they are eating lots of sweets, this can be a problem especially if the child is inactive. | | | | Natural Confectionery Company Jellies |
| Again, these have no artificial colourings or flavourings, but their sugar content is high. It would be quite easy to nibble your way through half - or even all of a 200g bag, with half the bag giving you 50g sugar and the whole bag coming in at 100g.
| | | | M&Ms |
| These sweets contain quite a few colours, including Quinoline Yellow, which can cause hyperactivity in some children. Both E104 Brilliant Blue and E133 Quinoline Yellow found in these sweets are derived from coal tar.
These sweets are also high in calories, fat, saturate and sugar. The large bag (250g) contains a massive 1210 calories - that's over half of the daily recommended calorie intake for women! It would be quite easy to munch through a bag of these during a film at the cinema, for example, and before you know it, you've consumed 33g of saturated fat and 164g sugar - that's a lot of sugar! An average 10 year old child needs approx 1800 calories per day, 85g of sugar and 20g saturated fat.
If your 10 year old ate one bag of these M&Ms a week, at the end of the year they would be getting 8,528g sugar from these sweets alone. (8.5kg). They would also be eating an extra 62,920 calories they may not necessarily be burning up. These are what we call empty calories because the pack because their nutritional package doesn't include any significant quantities of protein, fibre, vitamins, minerals or phytonutrients.
This number of calories is the equivalent to 210 medium sized bananas plus 350 medium apples plus 350 medium oranges!
| | | | Starburst |
| Starburst uses natural flavourings and colourings. The colourings used (beta carotene, anthocyanins, chlorophyllin) are from plants.
Again the sugar content is high at 27.5g for only a small packet of sweets (45g). They are lower in fat than the M&M's and don't have any artificial colours or flavours. However, they are rather stickier than the Natural Confectionery Company jellies, so brushing teeth afterwards is important. | | | | Overall Conclusions | | | It's good to see that many companies are now moving away from using artificial colourings and flavours, in favour of natural ones coming from fruit juice and plant extracts. But it's still important to think of the calorie and sugar content of a bag of sweets.
Weight gain is a problem for many children because they are more sedentary than older generations and they don't need the extra calories in these sweets and treats. Also, sticky, sugary sweets can cause tooth decay. So it's back to moderation again. | | | |
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