Where's the Fruit?
A Closer Look at Processed Fruit Snacks
Processed snacks promoting "real fruit" ingredients and flavors are popular treats for children of all ages. Brightly packaged and kid-friendly, these goodies sound like a parent's dream – fruit your child wants to eat. But a closer look at the label reveals these "fruit" treats are no substitute for the real thing.
"Processed fruit snacks do not meet the requirements of a fruit serving according to the food guide pyramid," says Letitia Hess, MS, RD, CSP, LD. "These processed fruit products are primarily carbohydrates and a lot of sugar. It's like eating candy."
Even snack foods proclaiming they are made with real fruit juice can be deceiving. "The real fruit juice is usually a very small amount," says Ms. Hess, clinical director of nutrition therapy at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. "It's generally concentrated grape or apple juice, and it's primarily carbohydrates and sugar. In that juice, you're not going to get the fiber that you would get in a piece of fresh fruit or in canned or dried fruit."
Two Servings a Day
The US Department of Agriculture's food guide pyramid recommends that children have two servings of fruit every day. Depending on the age of the child (young children might eat less), a serving can include:
- 1 piece of fruit
- 1/2 cup of canned fruit
- 1/4 cup of dried fruit
- 3/4 cup of 100 percent fruit juice
To help children make healthy snack choices, Ms. Hess recommends an approach she calls environmental control. "If you set up your environment with healthy foods and healthy snacks, chances are you're going to establish those eating habits," she explains. "But if you don't have healthy snacks available and stock your house with less-nutritious alternatives, your kids are going to gravitate toward those."
Do Your Own Packaging
Moving beyond the imagined convenience of packaged snacks is an important first step for parents. "When you think about it, is it really more difficult to grab an apple, peach or banana than it is to grab that package of processed fruit snacks?" Ms. Hess asks.
Keeping fresh whole fruits accessible adds to the convenience factor for children, who can help themselves to healthy foods. Parents can also keep bags of orange slices, grapes or other bite-size fresh fruit in the refrigerator for nutritious, self-serve snacks.
Dried fruit is another convenient "grab it and go" food. Concentrated sweetness adds to the appeal of these healthy snacks. "The dehydration process just extracts the water from the fruit," explains Ms. Hess. "With dried fruit, you still get the benefits of fiber, vitamins and minerals found in fresh fruit."
Focusing on real fruit does not mean your child cannot enjoy an occasional fruit pie or processed fruit snack. "All these things can be fit into someone's diet, it just depends on how frequently you have them," Ms. Hess explains. "Your children can have a processed fruit snack on special occasions, but you want them to have healthy, nutritious snacks much more frequently."
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