Sugar Free Yogurt: The Children’s Yogurt Challenge

Who really makes sugar free yogurts for kids?

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Looking for the healthiest yogurt for your kids? You’re not alone.


I get a lot of newsletters into my inbox everyday; research, recipes, all sorts. Anyway this came in this morning; Yogurt - from Harvard School of Public Health. So I thought I’d have a read and it opened my eyes to lots of things I didn’t know such as:

  1. Some calcium is removed from Greek yogurt during the straining process. Commercial Greek yogurts may add back calcium in, but some do not. If you are including Greek yogurt in your diet as a calcium source, be sure to check the Nutrition Facts label.

  2. Some yogurts can contain up to 20-25 grams of sugar per 5 oz. container. This may come from naturally occurring lactose, but most will be from added sweeteners. If you see sugar or other forms of sugar among the top four ingredients in the Ingredients list, consider choosing a low sugar yogurt or use plain yogurt with your own addition of fresh fruit or a drizzle of honey.


Spoon of sugar



1 teaspoon of sugar is 4g, but remember there will be a bit of sugar from the fruit, how much we don’t know!


This got me wondering about sugar in children's yogurt. I’ve been babysitting this weekend and feeding my young nieces Peppa Pig yogurts. I decided to compare 7 random yogurts to see which came out best.


Here's a quick reminder of the recommended daily amount of sugar:

Added sugar

0-6 months

6-12 months

1-3 years

4-8 years

9-13 years

14-18 years

19-30 years

31-50 years

51-70 years

>70 years

Amount 

NA

NA

NA

19g

24g

30g

30g

30g

30g

30g





Peppa Pig Yogurt


Peppa Pig strawberry yogurt


Ingredients: Fromage Frais (Skimmed Milk, Cream, Lactic Cultures),
Sugar 9.5%, Water, Strawberry Purée from Concentrate 5%, Modified Maize Starch, Colour: Cochineal, Flavourings, Acidity Regulator: Citric Acid, Stabilisers: Guar Gum, Xanthan Gum, Calcium Phosphate, Vitamin D


5.4g per 45g pot, Wow over a teaspoon!

So to be fair I checked out some more yogurts





Petits Filous


Petit Filous strawberry yogurt


Ingredients: Fromage Frais (Skimmed Milk, Cream, Lactic Cultures),Sugar 5.7%, Water, Strawberry Puree from Concentrate 5%, Carrot Juice, Fructose 1.5%, Corn Flour, Juice, Natural Flavouring, Milk Mineral Concentrate, Vitamin D


4.65g per 47g pot. So it came out a bit better, but still has sugar as the second ingredient. Hardly a low sugar yogurt!


What’s quite sneaky, is that they both say no Artificial Sweeteners, leading you to think it's healthy!


Next:





Frubes


Frubes, strawberry


Ingredients: Skimmed Milk, Sugar 7.8%, Cream, Skimmed Milk Powder, Modified Manioc and Maize Starch, Calcium Citrate, Stabiliser: Guar Gum, Natural Flavourings, Acid: Citric Acid, Preservative: Potassium Sorbate, Lactic Cultures (Milk), Vitamin D


That’s 4.35g per 40g tube


Next I tried:





Little Yeos


Little Yeos organic fruity yogurts - I checked out the strawberry one


Ingredients: Organic Fromage Frais (MILK), Organic Concentrated Grape Juice, MILK Protein, Organic Strawberry Purée (2.7%), Organic Maize Starch, Natural Flavourings, Organic Concentrated Lemon Juice,

Contains the following live cultures: Streptococcus Thermophilus, Lactobacillus Bulgaricus


4.2g per 45g pot, but NO 'added sugars'. Finally a true sugar free yogurt! The sugar comes from the Organic Strawberry Purée.





Munch Bunch


Munch Bunch Strawberry yogurt


Ingredients: Fromage Frais (from Milk), Sugar, Cream (from Milk), Fruit Purees and Concentrated Purees 2.7% Strawberry, Rice Starch, Concentrated Lemon Juice, Milk Mineral Concentrate, Concentrated Beetroot Red Juice, Natural Flavourings


5.3g sugar per 42g pot - This is second only to the Peppa Pig yogurts in the amount of 'added sugar'.





Wildlife Choobs

Wildlife Choobs

Ingredients: Skimmed Milk, Water, Sugar 7%, Cream, Skimmed Milk Powder, Fructose 2.8%, Modified Manioc and Maize Starch, Calcium Phosphate, Acid: Citric Acid, Stabiliser: Guar Gum, Natural Flavourings, Preservative: Potassium Sorbate, Lactic Cultures, Acidity Regulator: Sodium Citrates, Vitamin D


5.12g per 40g pot


Next:




Suckies


The Collective sassy strawberry suckies


Ingredients: Live Yoghurt* (Milk) (77%), Strawberry Puree (11.5%), Concentrated Apple Juice, Concentrated Grape Juice, Cornflour, Natural Flavourings, Gelling Agent (Fruit Pectin), *Contains Cultures: L. Bulgaricus and S. Thermophilus


8.6g sugars per 100g but No 'added sugar'!









Conclusion


So, what’s the best yogurt for kids? We have two winners: Little Yeos organic yogurts and The Collective sassy strawberry suckies.


What’s different about these two? Well if you look at the ingredients they both have concentrated grape juice. So, they‘re getting natural fructose from the grape juice, NOT 'added sugars'. That's what you need to check for when choosing a yogurt.


I don’t want to feed my nieces 'added sugar' in something like yogurt. There’s enough temptation to eat sweets as it is without the need for it in yogurt.


While the FDA classes things like honey and fruit juices as added sugar we think that natural is better!


So, as they said at Harvard: “If you see sugar or other forms of sugar among the top four ingredients in the Ingredients list, consider choosing a lower sugar yogurt or use plain yogurt with your own addition of fresh fruit or a drizzle of honey.”


If I'm out and need a quick snack for the girls I'll grab some Little Yeos. At home I’ll be sticking to plain yogurt and adding my own fruit in the future!


How about you? Tell us in the comments if you find another sugar free yogurt for kids.


Sept 2018 - The latest science on sugar in yogurt: Evaluation of the nutrient content of yogurts: a comprehensive survey of yogurt products in the major UK supermarkets


Surya Wright

Surya Wright

Co-founder, production manager

I'm our communications and marketing person, dealing with social media and copywriting. I also work with Matt and Ric overseeing the design and strategic management of the site. I'm also the author of the Eva the Hungry Amoeba children's book series (only one so far). You can find it on Amazon. My favourite foods, shepherds pie and smoked haddock!

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