Food labelling disguises spoonfuls of sugar

By KATHERINE HOBY

As worldwide consumption of sugar continues to climb, an Auckland nutritionist is advising parents to check the sugar content in their children's diets.

Kim Stirling says unsuspecting parents could be giving their children breakfast cereal that is more than a third sugar.

Snack bars and soft drinks also needed to be monitored.

"While there has been a lot of interest in cutting down fat in the diet, more could be done on educating consumers on 'hidden sugars' found in many foods," she said.

"Some of the increased consumption of sugar in the diet may be found in the form of added sugars which only astute food-label readers would be able to identify."

Examples were sucrose, glucose, fructose, lactose, maltose, dextrose, golden or corn syrup, honey, malt, malt extract or molasses.

Ms Stirling said that New Zealand parents needed to become avid label readers if they wanted to reduce the amount of sugar their children consumed.

Informed decisions on food purchases was a crucial part of family health and wellbeing. Food labels were an excellent source of information on nutrition and ingredients.

A report published in the Medical Journal of Australia cited an increase in sucrose consumption among New Zealand adults of approximately 50 per cent in the past decade.

At present, there is little information available on sugar consumption by New Zealand children.

A recent study of obesity in children carried out in the United States showed that for each additional sugar-sweetened drink consumed, both body mass index and the incidence of obesity rose significantly.

nzherald.co.nz/health