Worried about ultra-processed foods hidden in children’s packed lunches? Read our guide to healthy swaps… and, big surprise, Babybel is just one of thema

They may come brightly packaged with colourful cartoon characters and cheerful slogans designed to appeal directly to children. But most food products marketed for kids are unhealthy – and not only high in fat, sugar and salt, but packed full of industrial ingredients and additives which are a hallmark of ultra-processed foods (UPFs).

And with such UPFs reported to now make up about 60 per cent of the average adult’s diet, there is a growing backlash against their proliferation amid worries about the lifelong effects they are having on children.

Dr Chris van Tulleken, who wrote the bestselling book Ultra-Processed People, defines UPFs as foods wrapped in plastic that contain ingredients you couldn’t find in your own kitchen.

They may also be designed to be tasty and easy to eat – which means they’re easy to overconsume.

A large body of research now links UPFs to obesity, type 2 diabetes, some cancers, high blood pressure and even premature death in adults.

But some studies have found the picture could be even worse for children.

One ten-year study by Imperial College London involving more than 9,000 children found that one in five had a diet comprising more than 80 per cent UPFs. And the more UPFs they ate, the researchers found, the more likely they were to put on weight.

And this was a pattern that continued into adulthood, putting them at risk of developing chronic diseases earlier in life.

The good news is there are some smart swaps you can make while shopping so your children can still enjoy their favourite treats – just without the UPFs…

YOGURT

UPF

Frubes Strawberry Red Berry & Peach Kids Yogurt Tubes 9x37g, £2.25 from Tesco

UPF ingredients: Modified manioc and maize starch, guar gum, natural flavourings, calcium citrate, citric acid

Munch Bunch Double Up Strawberry & Vanilla Fromage Frais 85gx4, £1.99 from Morrisons

UPF ingredients: Modified starch, milk mineral concentrate, flavourings, guar gum, locust bean gum, xanthan gum, citric acid, sodium citrate, caramelised sugar syrup, carmine

They’re a great natural source of calcium to support kids’ growing bones and vitamin B12, which keeps nerves and blood cells healthy. They’re also an easy addition to a lunchbox.

But many yogurts are packed with industrial ingredients – sweeteners such as glucose syrup and barley malt extract, thickeners like guar gum to give them a creamy texture, stabilisers to hold the ingredients together and flavourings so they taste good.

And as a general rule, the greater the number of UPFs in a product, the worse it is overall. This is because the health impact of such cocktails of UPF ingredients have yet to be formally tested, experts say.

NO UPF

Petit Filous No Added Sugar Strawberry Banana Fromage Frais 6x47g, £1.95 from Tesco

UPF ingredients: None

Little Freddie Pink Lady Greek Style Yogurt 6x100g, £6.95 from Ocado

UPF ingredients: None

Some popular brands of children’s yogurts are surprisingly free of UPFs. ‘Petit Filous has no ultra-processed ingredients,’ says Dr Duane Mellor, a dietician at Aston University. ‘But you could also get some plain unsweetened yogurt and add some chopped fruit.’ 

CEREAL

UPF

Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut Breakfast Cereal 500g, £3.40 from Tesco

UPF ingredients: Barley malt extract

Honey Monster Wheat Puffs 520g, £3.49 from Morrisons

UPF ingredients: Glucose syrup, soluble gluco fibre, calcium carbonate, caramelised sugar syrup

A bowl of cereal is an easy win for busy families in the morning, but they’re among the most highly processed foods we consume.

While most are fortified with vitamins and minerals, they can be high in sugar – up to 40 per cent – and some, like the Honey Monster Wheat Puffs, contain as many as three forms of sugar.

Glucose syrup contains more calories and carbs than table sugar and has been linked to obesity, high blood sugar and heart disease.

However, many cereals that are considered a more healthy option contain UPF ingredients.

Crunchy Nut cereal contains barley malt extract, a flavour enhancer that sweetens food and contains a high amount of sugar. ‘It’s basically a biscuit turned into cereal,’ says Dr Mellor. ‘It’s fortified with vitamins, but it’s not going to be healthy for you.’

NO UPF

Bitesize Shredded Wheat 625g, £3.95 from Waitrose

UPF ingredients: None

Bear Cocoa Alpha Bites 350g, £2.80 from Sainsbury’s

UPF ingredients: None

It might not hold the same appeal for children, but Shredded Wheat contains no UPFs.

However, fans of chocolate cereal may prefer the Cocoa Alpha Bites, which only contain six all-natural ingredients and are sweetened with coconut blossom nectar rather than sugar.

Dr Mellor adds: ‘Watch out for healthy-sounding granolas, which may contain lots of sugar and might not be as free of UPF ingredients as you’d think.’

CRISPS

UPF

Pringles Pop & Go Original 40g, £1 from Tesco

UPF ingredients: Maltodextrin, emulsifier, annatto norbixin

Pom-Bear Original 6x13g, £1.50 from Morrisons

UPF ingredients: Maize dextrin, yeast extract, emulsfier

Crisps are never going to be a healthy snack, as Dr Mellor points out, but some are worse than others.

Pringles are a long way away from the potatoes they once were, and are packed full of salt and flavouring to make you want to eat more of them.

Even innocent-looking Pom-Bears – considered a go-to option for many parents – contain an ultra-processed flavour enhancer and emulsifier.

NO UPF

Seabrook Sea Salted Potato Crisps6x25g, £1.25 from Tesco

UPF ingredients: None

Lightly Salted Tortillas 200g, £1.35 from M&S

UPF ingredients: None

These products only contain three or four ingredients, none of which count as ultra-processed.

As a general rule, it’s best to choose crisps flavoured with only salt, as they tend to have fewer UPFs.

‘They’re still not healthy as they’re high in fat and salt,’ says Dr Mellor. ‘Share a bag with your child or give them some crunchy veggie sticks or apple slices alongside.’

CHICKEN NUGGETS

UPF

Deli Cuisine 70 Battered Chicken Dippers 1275g, £5.50 from Asda

UPF ingredients: Tapioca starch, diphosphates, sodium carbonates, pea fibre, dextrose, sodium citrates, black pepper extract

Snacksters 20 Chicken Nuggets 400g, £3.50 from Asda

UPF ingredients: Tapioca starch, dextrose, spice extracts, celery seed extract, wheat gluten, modified starch, diphosphates, sodium carbonates, sodium hydrogen carbonate.

For frazzled parents, they’re an easy dinner that kids are almost guaranteed to eat. But most chicken nuggets are not only industrially created, they’re also packed with additives. The diphosphates here have been linked with kidney issues and heart disease. These nuggets also contain dextrose, a sweetener.

‘The research will class almost all of these as UPF,’ says Dr Mellor. ‘Even Birds Eye’s nuggets, which are at the better end of the spectrum, contain calcium carbonate, which regulates a food’s acidity.’

NO UPF

Taste Buds Chicken Teddies 180g, £3 from M&S

UPF ingredients: None

Breaded Chicken Goujons 475g, £2.50 from Sainsbury’s

UPF ingredients: None

Dr Mellor advises us to choose products with the fewest ingredients. ‘These are the closest you’ll get to what you could make yourself at home, even if they are created in an industrial kitchen,’ he says.

CHOCOLATE

UPF

Cadbury Dairy Milk Freddo Caramel 19.5gx5, £1.25 from Tesco

UPF ingredients: Glucose syrup, glucose-fructose syrup, emulsifiers (E442, E471, E476), sunflower lecithin, flavourings

Kinder Bueno 4x43g, £2.45 from Sainsbury’s

UPF ingredients: Soya lecithin, vanillin, sodium bicarbonate, ammonium bicarbonate

The ultra-processed ingredients in these products are mainly sweeteners and also emulsifiers and lecithin, used to merge the fats and dry solids together in a smooth bar. Vanillin, while originally extracted from vanilla pods, is also an industrially processed flavouring.

Dr Mellor suggests choosing a ‘plainer version of a chocolate bar’ such as Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, rather than those filled with caramel or wafers, to reduce the number of additives.

NO UPF

M&S Single Origin Dark Milk Chocolate 100g, £2.25 from Ocado

UPF ingredients: None

Montezuma’s Milk Chocolate Giant Buttons 180g, £5.20 at Waitrose

UPF ingredients: None

There are non-UPF chocolates if you look hard enough.

These bars tend to use more cocoa butter rather than emulsifiers, which in turn makes them more expensive.

The M&S Dark Milk Chocolate does contain vanilla extract, but most experts agree that, while processed, this is not a UPF because it is often found in home kitchens.

And buying buttons, such as Montezuma’s Milk Chocolate Giant Buttons, means parents can have greater control over the portions they give their children, says Dr Mellor.

‘Don’t be deceived that dark chocolate, which often has a health halo, is UPF-free,’ the dietitian adds.

‘Very dark chocolate might not have added sugar, but it’ll still likely contain lecithin to stabilise the fats and prevent those chalky streaks forming.’

ICE CREAM

UPF

Wall’s Solero Exotic Ice Cream Lollies 3x90ml, £2.75 from Sainsbury’s

UPF ingredients: Glucose syrup, fructose, soluble fibre, carotenes, guar gum, locust bean gum, tara gum, mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids, citric acid

Cornetto Classic Ice Cream Cones 6x90ml, £3.50

UPF ingredients: Glucose syrup, fructose, fat-reduced cocoa powder, potato starch, mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids, lecithins, ammonium phosphatides, guar gum, locust bean gum, tara gum, carrageenan, caramelised sugar syrup, flavourings

With their bright, cheerful packaging, these frozen treats often appeal directly to kids.

But some of the fatty acid ingredients in these ice creams are linked to higher risks of heart disease and the gums may also trigger inflammation in the gut, experts say.

These products are also high in sugar because – like the Cornetto Classic – they often contain several types of sugar syrup.

NO UPF

Duchy Organic Vanilla Ice cream 480ml, £3.50 from Waitrose

UPF ingredients: None

Haagen-Dazs Vanilla Ice Cream 460ml, £5.19 at Morrisons

UPF ingredients: None

Traditionally, ice cream was just sugar churned with dairy fat – and these tubs aren’t too different.

LUNCHBOX DRINKS 

UPF

Fruit Shoot Apple & Blackcurrant Kids Juice 8x200ml, £3.49 from Morrisons

UPF ingredients: Sodium citrate, natural flavourings, ascorbic acid, acesulfame K, sucralose

Rubicon Mango Fruit Juice Drink 288ml, 75p from Sainsbury’s

UPF ingredients: Fructose, citric acid, guar gum, xantham gum, flavourings, sucralose, acesulfame K

Fizzy drinks are among the unhealthiest UPFs, with links to cancer, diabetes and heart disease. But many drinks designed for kids’ lunchboxes aren’t much better. Fruit Shoot might contain apple and blackcurrant, but it’s also full of chemical ingredients.

‘You can take the sugar out so your label can say “sugar-free”, but then you’re adding artificial sweeteners which are UPF,’ says Dr Mellor.

NO UPF

Innocent Kids Smoothies, Oranges Mangoes & Pineapples 4x150ml, £3.60 from Tesco

UPF ingredients: None

Pip Organic Strawberry & Blackcurrant 180mlx4, £4 from Ocado

UPF ingredients: None

These are just fruit juice and nothing else. The NHS recommends consuming a maximum of 150ml a day because they still contain sugar and aren’t great for the teeth. Dr Mellor says: ‘A carton is fine, but encourage your child to drink lots of water too.’

CHEESE SNACKS 

UPF

Dairylea Lunchers Ham and Cheese 74g, £1.55 from Asda

UPF ingredients: Sodium citrates, potassium citrates, milk proteins, whey powder, sorbic acid, citric acid, sunflower lecithins, glucose-fructose syrup, ammonium carbonates, sodium carbonates, potassium chloride, flavourings, sodium metabisulphite, potassium lactate, sodium acetates, sodium ascorbate, sodium nitrite

The Laughing Cow Dip & Crunch 4x35g, £1.60 from Ocado

UPF ingredients: polyphosphate, tricalcium phosphate, milk lactic concentrate, milk protein

These snack pots, found in the chilled aisle, are a great source of protein for growing kids, but are full of additives.

‘They contain phosphates which, if you have chronic kidney problems, you should avoid gen­erally,’ says Dr Mellor. ‘The European Food Safety Authority acknowledges research that suggests there’s a link between high amounts in the diet and cardiovascular disease, but it’s unclear whether there’s a direct link or it’s that people who eat the highest amounts have a poorer diet overall.’

NO UPF

Babybel 12x20g £3.75 from Waitrose

UPF ingredients: None

Cathedral City Nibbles 5x16g, £2 from Sainsbury’s

UPF ingredients: None

These individually portioned cheeses can help kids to stock up on protein and calcium without the UPF ingredients.

Slicing up a bigger block of cheese is a good option too. ‘Just cutting up cubes of cheddar will be just as good for you as these,’ says Dr Mellor.