Consumers are being duped by “misleading” food packaging and marketing claims into thinking that honey is a healthy alternative to table sugar, health campaigners have warned.
Products boasting honey as an ingredient – including well-known brands of cereal and snack bars – can still contain up to 25 times more table sugar than honey, according to a survey from Action on Sugar.
Despite honey being deemed a “free sugar” – or added to products to sweeten them rather than “locked in” naturally – consumers are also adding it in excessive quantities to food and drink in the mistaken belief that it is healthy, the campaign group said.
Popular sugar alternatives such as agave syrup and brown or coconut sugar are also often promoted as healthier options in independent coffee shops, it added.
Action on Sugar is urging the health secretary, Matt Hancock, to include clearer labelling in an upcoming green paper and for Public Health England to create wider education for consumers through its Change4Life programme.
The report says mandatory front-of-pack labels should clearly display the true contribution of sugar variants such as honey and syrups to an adult’s daily maximum sugar intake – 30g, or approximately seven teaspoons.
“It’s disappointing that companies boast about products containing honey, knowing that honey and syrups are nearly as high in sugars as table sugar,” said Kawther Hashem, a registered nutritionist at Action on Sugar.
“The amount added is often really small (1g or 2g) while the main sweetening ingredient continues to be other high-sugar syrups and table sugar (25g). This, they say, is to mislead customers into thinking the products are healthier and better than they really are. Our advice is to always opt for less sweetness by using less sugar, syrups and honey.”
In its latest survey, the group analysed 223 honeys, sugars and syrups – all widely available in UK supermarkets – finding that honey can be up to 86% free sugars, while maple syrup can be made of 88%.
Adding a 7g teaspoon of honey to a cup of tea added about 6g of free sugar, while a teaspoon of table sugar in the same drink would add 4g, it found. One portion (15ml) of maple syrup added to porridge contained 13.1g of total sugars, only a little less than 15g of table sugar.
Nature Valley Crunchy Oats ’n Honey cereal bars contained 2% honey in a total sugar content of 28.3%, while Sainsbury’s Honey Nut Corn Flakes contained 0.4% honey, also in a total 28.3% sugar.
Katharine Jenner, a registered nutritionist at Action on Sugar, said: “Poor nutrition labelling, misleading marketing claims, and mixed messages from well-meaning food bloggers and chefs, mean customers are rightly confused about what free sugars actually are.”
