The 'disruptive' ingredients added to ice cream - and how you could save teaspoons of sugar by switching to old favourite
It can be hard to balance the demands of eating well without spending a lot.
In this series, we try to find the healthiest options in the supermarket for the best value - and have enlisted the help ofSunna Van Kampen, founder of Tonic Health, who went viral on social media for reviewing food in the search of healthier choices. We also speak to dieticians each week.
It's important to note from the outset that in this series, we don't try to find the outright healthiest option, but help you get better nutritional value for as little money as possible.
With the weather finally getting warmer, this week we're looking at ice cream.
"With so many options out there, how do you fancy a 63% reduction in your sugar consumption and some savings for your wallet too?" says Sunna.
What's in our ice creams?
"Technically speaking, ice cream is just frozen milk and cream with a bit of added sweetness," Sunna says.
But as time has gone on, we've progressed to less and less cream and more and more sugar.
"To give you an example, Mars Bar Ice Cream is only 31% milk and cream, while the traditional Mackie's ice cream is 81% milk and cream," Sunna says.
"When you remove the cream, quite clearly you lose a lot of the creaminess and smooth texture, so manufacturers have turned to gums (like guar gum, locust bean gum, tara gum) to give the creaminess while lowering cost," he adds.
"The problem is some of these gums have demonstrated to be gut disruptive and hard to digest."
How much sugar can we eat?
The NHS recommends adults have 30g of sugar a day, with that decreasing to 24g for seven to 10-year-olds and 19g a day for four to six-year-olds.
"A cut in sugar is not just good news for our waistlines, but also for our overall health, contributing to a balanced diet without the same spikes in blood sugar levels," Sunna says.
Those spikes can cause sudden drops in energy, spates of hunger and potentially lead to type two diabetes.
How much sugar is in ice cream?
Let's look at some popular examples to compare the sugar content and the impact on your wallet...
- Cadbury Flake 99: £4.25 for 4x125ml and 22.9g sugar per ice cream (5.5 teaspoons)
- Magnum: £3.25 for 3x100ml - 20g of sugar per ice cream (five teaspoons)
- Solero Exotic: £2.75 for 3x90ml - 12g of sugarper ice cream (three teaspoons)
- Mars Ice Cream Bars: £2.75 for 4 x 49.5ml - 12g of sugar per ice cream (three teaspoons)
- Cornetto Classic: £3.50 for 6x90ml - 10g of sugar per ice cream (2.5 teaspoons)
- Milk Choc Ices: £1.60 for 6x70ml - 7.3g of sugar per ice cream (under two teaspoons)
"Assuming you have one ice cream a day across, hopefully, 30 days of sunny weather this summer, and you'll find yourself saving over 105 teaspoons of sugar from your diet this summer if you choose a Choc Ice over a Cadbury Flake 99," Sunna says.
That's a decent saving for your health - but what about your wallet?
"Choc Ice is firmly in the category of win-win, as it's 65% cheaper than a standard Magnum," he adds.
That's a considerable £24.30 saving over 30 ice creams.
The nutritionist's view - fromNichola Ludlam-Raine, dietitian atnicsnutrition.com...
"Shop-bought ice cream isn't a product that I recommend having daily, and luckily for the UK population this isn't something that is too hard to stick to, given the distinct lack of sunny, warm weather.
"I recently had a Mars ice cream and although I really enjoyed it. I needed two to feel satisfied, as they were so small - which doubled my sugar intake (to 24g).
"The good news, though, is not all the sugar quoted on the label is free or added sugar (and under 30g a day of this is acceptable within the context of a healthy balanced diet), as some sugar will be naturally occurring in the milk.
"Choosing ice creams where milk is the first ingredient is always preferable - or plant-based/fruit-based alternatives if you have a milk intolerance or allergy.
"The evidence regarding thickeners and emulsifiers on gut health is still in its infancy, and most of the studies are small and have been done on rodents, with relatively large amounts of the additives being used.
"Some emulsifiers may also confer benefits due to their prebiotic effects - but with gut health, the key is to add in more fibre, natural colour and plants."
Read more from this series...
