A charity has called for a complete ban on using child-friendly images on the packaging of yoghurts that are high in sugar.
Action on Sugar, based at the Queen Mary University of London, said that progress to reformulate and reduce added sugar in yoghurts targeted at kids is ‘disappointingly sluggish’.
The organisation surveyed 100 children’s yoghurts as part of a data analysis which revealed that one in 20 (5%) of products which featured cartoon animations, characters and designs were rated low (green) green in sugar. Furthermore, 65% of all yoghurts provided a third or more of a four to six-year-old’s maximum daily intake for added sugars (19 grams).
Despite the yoghurts containing high levels of sugar, the group reported that claims about calcium, vitamin D, and being high in protein are often championed on the pack. It said this creates a ‘distorted health halo’, through the suggestion that the product is healthy – which in turns distracts parents from scrutinising the nutrition label.
Registered nutritionist Dr Kawther Hashem, campaign lead at Action on Sugar, said, “Parents can easily be misled when walking through the yoghurt aisle in the supermarket. Often companies try to avert our eyes from seeing the significant amount of sugar listed in the ingredients and nutrition tables, by using healthy sounding claims and cartoony images on the front of pack.
“Given only 5% of yogurts with child friendly packaging would have a green coloured label as being ‘healthy’ for sugar, food companies must make every effort to reduce the sugar in these products, particularly the ones targeted so explicitly towards children.”
