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SINGREDIENTS

We break down your favourite supermarket foods to show what they’re REALLY made of

From your everyday Heinz baked beans to Nature Valley granola bar, you might be shocked to find out how much sugar and fat is secretly packed into your food

DO you know how your favourite foods are made? You could be in for a shock.

It is not always easy to tell just from reading the packaging.

Our nutritionist Amanda Ursell breaks down the hidden ingredients in your favourite foods
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Our nutritionist Amanda Ursell breaks down the hidden ingredients in your favourite foodsCredit: Stewart Williams - The Sun

Here, Sun nutritionist AMANDA URSELL reveals the main ingredients - including fats, sugars and additives - and the approximate proportion of each that make up some of the most popular supermarket buys.

It might make you think twice about what you eat.

Mars bar

We all know chocolate isn't great for us, but Mars bars are 60 per cent sugar
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We all know chocolate isn't great for us, but Mars bars are 60 per cent sugar

Pringles

Over half of Pringles are carbohydrate-based with rice flour, potatoes and starch
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Over half of Pringles are carbohydrate-based with rice flour, potatoes and starch

Coca-Cola

In a single 330ml can of Coca Cola, there are seven tsp of sugar
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In a single 330ml can of Coca Cola, there are seven tsp of sugar

Ski strawberry yogurt

Ski yogurts keep their sugar levels on the low side at 8 per cent
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Ski yogurts keep their sugar levels on the low side at 8 per cent

Heinz baked beans

Not many people know that Heinz add sugar to their baked beans
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Not many people know that Heinz add sugar to their baked beans

Richmond sausages

National favourite Richmond sausages are only 42 per cent pork
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National favourite Richmond sausages are only 42 per cent pork

HOW TO UNLOCK LABELS

MANY people struggle to get to the bottom of what food labels actually tell us.

If you are finding it tricky, the golden rule is to check the ingredients deck – the higher up an ingredient is in the list, the more of it there will be in the food.

But remember, things like “added sugars” can be in more than one ingredient.

For example, you may find a label declares “brown sugar, molasses and honey”. All of them are added sugars but it can be easy to think only the brown sugar counts.

Equally, you may read “palm oil, butter and lard” and only actually register the butter as being a fat.

Ultimately, if you are not sure then leave the product on the shelf. Generally, the less processed a food is, the healthier it is.

You can rarely go wrong with staples such as bread, pasta, rice, fruit and veg, lean meat, fish, milk, eggs and low-fat dairy foods.

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Sainsbury's chicken & mushroom pie

Even savoury pies have hidden sugars
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Nutella

The main two ingredients of Nutella are fat and sugar
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The main two ingredients of Nutella are fat and sugar

Kellogg's Coco Pops

Your everyday children's cereal is packed with 30 per cent sugar
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Your everyday children's cereal is packed with 30 per cent sugar

Nature Valley granola bar

Nature Valley brand themselves as healthy, but not with that amount of hidden sugar
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Nature Valley brand themselves as healthy, but not with that amount of hidden sugar
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