An undercover investigation by Which? magazine has revealed that many so-called "healthy" foods are actually putting our health at risk.
Disturbingly, many "nutritious" breakfast cereals such as Kellogg's Fruit and Fibre have been slammed for containing more sugar than a standard chocolate bar.
Here's a list of foods that aren't as wholesome as they'd have you believe.
Cereals
Four of the breakfast cereals investigated contained more sugar than a Toffee Crisp, while almost 30 contained more salt than a packet of salt and vinegar crisps.
Sue Davies of Which? said: "With so much public concern about obesity and diet-related disease we're particularly concerned that most cereals marketed to children are still high in fat, sugar and many are high in salt too."
Five of the worst culprits were Jordan's Crispy Nut Four Combo, Nestle Cinnamon Grahams, Quaker Oatso Simple Kids, Kellogg's Fruit and Fibre and Nestle Cocoa Shreddies.
Worthy of merit, however, were genuine healthy cereal options like Nestle Shredded Wheat, Quaker Puffed Wheat, Tesco Value Wheat Biscuits, Sainsbury's Basic Muesli and Asda Good for You Flakes.
Salads
With the right vegetables, there's no doubt salad is good for you and perfect for a well balanced diet. But by using the wrong ingredients, eating salads can backfire, big time.
Be particularly careful when ordering a salad in a restaurant. The most fattening dish on Pizza Express' menu is their salad ni?se, while another Which? survey revealed that salads at McDonald's and KFC contain 3g of salt (half our recommended daily allowance and more than a burger).
Fruit juice
Freshly squeezed fruit juice is an excellent source of proteins, carbohydrates, essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals. Sunny Delight is not.
When 'Sunny D' was first launched it contained just 5% fruit. Even now, after a mass outcry forced manufacturers, the Sunny Delight Beverage Company (who bought it from Proctor & Gamble in 2005), to relaunch the product, it still contains the equivalent of 28 teaspoons of sugar per 500ml.
Other similar products can be just as bad, so always check the label so you know what you're getting. Failing that, buy a juicer.
Yoghurt
Yoghurt is made by fermenting milk with active bacteria Streptococcus thermophillus
and Lactobacillus bulgaricus and has many health benefits, such as boosting the immune system and even preventing tooth decay and bad breath.
However, certain low-fat brands are overflowing with sugar (which certainly won't protect you from tooth decay) and additives. Always be sure to check labels carefully.
Fat-free snacks
The fact that a food is labelled as low-fat or indeed fat-free is no guarantee that it's healthy. In fact, in many cases the fat in these foods is merely replaced by sugar, resulting in a product that has even more calories per serving than the regular version.
These snacks are particularly devious as they are marketed towards people trying to lose weight. Rather than falling into the fat-free trap, try a more rewarding snack such as fruit or veg, or just eat sensible portions of the full-fat foods you tried to avoid in the first place.
Article reproduced from www.supanet.com
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