Cereal bars: are they really healthy?

I don't actually eat cereal bars but always believed they were a healthy snack, especially the ones full of seeds, nuts and fruits. I bought Mia a pack of cereal bars by NAKD in the flavour Apple Pie.

I was then searching google looking to get an idea of other cereal bars that are recommended for children and came across this article on the NHS website.

It stated 'Recent research by the consumer group Which? has found that most cereal bars are high in sugar and fat, making their healthy image a "myth".

I knew Mia's bars were OK as the ingredients stated were all seeds, nuts and fruit. No sugar whatsoever apart from the natural sugars found in fruit.

In the article Which analysed 30 bars from supermarket shelves and found that 29 out of 30 were high in sugar. The NAKD Apple Pie was the only bar not to have added sugars and to be the only one not high in sugar. What surprised me was this, 'the survey also found that often several different forms of sugar were used. Which? said this could confuse consumers because, by law, manufacturers must list all the ingredients on their food labels in order of quantity, with the greatest first. When several different forms of sugar are used in a product, each of these sugars is listed separately and appears lower down on the ingredients list. In the case of some of the cereal bars, this gives the impression that the bars contain less sugar than they do – the amount of sugar, if it was given as a total, would have had to appear higher on the list.' In essence people are under the impression that these bars are low in sugar when in fact they are high in sugar. 

It was also found that 11 of the cereal bars had the same number of calories as several digestive biscuits, making them not great if your on a diet! 

I think the worse part of this article was that Which found several of the bars marketed for children which all contained the highest amounts of sugar, one of these contained 11.8g of sugar in one bar. The daily guildline amounts on these bars were all for adults even though the bars were marketed for children. 

The bars given a green light for being low in fat, sugar and calories are: NAKD Apple Pie, Alpen Light Apple and Sultana, Alpen Fruit and Nut bar and the Nature Valley Chewy Trail Mix Fruit and Nut

Do you eat cereal bars? If so, which ones? 

Toddler fish pie recipe

Ingredients

Potatoes

Fish pie mix

Cheddar cheese

Flour

Milk

Sweetcorn (optional)

Peas (optional)

Method 

First peel and boil potatoes until soft. 

While potatoes are cooking make your cheese sauce to go inside your pie. 

Pour milk into a pan on a low heat and add flour slowly until the milk starts to thicken. 

Drain potatoes and mash. 

Turn off your pan with the milk and flour and add your fish mix, then add grated cheddar cheese. You can add as much or as little cheese as you like. The more cheese the more cheesy your sauce will be. 

Pour fish and cheese sauce into an oven proof dish. 

Cover the top with mash potatoes and sprinkle a little cheese over the top. 

Cook for 20-25 minutes at 180 degrees. 

Serve with corn on the side or other vegetables. Obviously check all fish for tiny bones before serving to a young child!