Having assessed a number of food and drink combinations sold by supermarkets and retailers, the survey found that many contain “a staggering 30 teaspoons of sugar” - more than four times an adult’s daily maximum intake of ‘free’ sugars (seven teaspoons) in a single lunch.
- The combination containing the highest amount of sugar is from WHSmith - a tuna and sweetcorn on malted brown bread sandwich, 500ml Mountain Dew citrus blast drink and bag of Skittles crazy sours - 811 kcal and the equivalent amount of sugar in 79 chocolate fingers
- Tesco’s smokehouse pulled chicken with Mesquite style sauce, a Monster energy 500ml drink and Mars Duo contains 30 teaspoons of sugar - approximately the same amount in 16 double chocolate mini muffins
- Morrisons’s sweet chilli chicken wrap, a Relentless passion punch energy 500ml drink and millionaire shortbread has 28 teaspoons of sugar and 1,048 kcal
- Co-op meal pot black bean pulled beef and noodle with Rockstar blueberry pomegranate acai energy 500ml drink and rocky road bar has 28 teaspoons of sugar and 855 kcal
What’s more, 72% of meal deal drinks sold at Morrisons are high in sugar compared to 38% at M&S, who offers the lowest percentage of high sugar drinks. Meanwhile, WHSmith doesn’t include healthy snack options, such as fruit, as part of its meal deals.
Coinciding with Sugar Awareness Week (30 October – 5 November,) Action on Sugar is calling on the government to take action against retailers who “continue to use price promotions on unhealthy foods,” and for supermarkets and retailers to “exclude all ‘high’ sugar drinks and confectionery (i.e. those that would have a ‘red’ traffic light label)” in their meal deals, should they “really want to encourage customers to make healthy choices.”
Graham MacGregor, professor of cardiovascular medicine at Queen Mary University of London and chairman of Action on Sugar said: “Eating too much sugar is linked to obesity, type 2 diabetes, cancer and tooth decay. Supermarkets pretend to be on the side of their customer’s health to encourage loyalty, but this survey clearly shows that they are not. The government now needs to take decisive action to ban all promotions of unhealthy foods.”
Registered nutritionist and researcher at Action on Sugar, Kawther Hashem, added: “These excessively high sugar combos can have a detrimental effect on people’s health, particularly if eaten daily. It is staggering that by just making simple swaps at lunchtime, you can reduce your sugar intake by a massive 29 teaspoons of sugar.
“Often it is the drinks included in the meal deals which are extremely high in sugar. The majority of the retailers have more high sugar drinks as part of meal deal promotions than lower sugar drinks; this is not giving consumers enough healthier choices. Retailers could easily replace these with lower or no sugar options, at no extra cost.”
Campaign manager and registered nutritionist Jenny Rosborough added: “It is time the government ensured that price promotions, including meal deals, only include healthier options. This year’s Sugar Awareness Week highlights just how much sugar is included on price promotion, which has been proven to make people buy more.
“The government has been running scared of the food industry for far too long, having eliminated price promotions from last year’s Childhood Obesity Plan. Meanwhile, last week Scotland announced plans to restrict the promotion of food and drink high in fat, sugar and salt. If the UK government care about our nation’s health, they need to tackle this head on and take action now.”
Offering consumers tips for choosing healthier meal deals, Action on Sugar has advised:
- Use the FoodSwitch UK app to find healthier choices – simply scan the barcode of your regular brand to get colour coded nutrition information and see a list of healthier alternatives. You can use the SugarSwitch filter to find products lower in sugar
- Choose products with front of pack traffic light colours - pick products that are amber or green for sugar, salt and saturated fat
- Choose fruit or vegetables as snacks
- Choose water, sugar-free drinks, or smaller portions of fruit juice or smoothies for the drink option
In response to the findings, Gavin Partington, director general at the British Soft Drinks Association said: "The soft drinks industry recognises it has role to play in sugar reduction which is why we have been investing in reformulation for many years.
“Since 2013 we have reduced sugar intake from our products by 17%. As well as reformulating our products, we have increased the range of portion sizes available to include smaller pack sizes; we have switched marketing spend to lower and no sugar products; and we provide clear ‘front of pack’ nutrition labelling. As an industry we remain committed to working with Government to help consumers make informed choices."