With so much focus in the media on reducing our sugar intake, we are now desperately seeking healthy alternatives, assuming they are lower in sugar.

But, all is not what it seems when it comes to these so-called ‘healthy’ options.

Here at Canderel^® we have teamed up with nutritionist Lily Soutter to highlight how we can often gulp and munch our way through half our entire days sugar allowance in one morning; as breakfast smoothies have been revealed to contain 28g of sugar while cereals can be as much as 14g per serving – and that’s before we’ve even hit the afternoon slump that sees many of us reaching for the cake tin!

As the sugar tax continues to dictate our new and improved eating habits, we are often still unaware of the amount of sugar in foods branded ‘healthy’ or ‘low-fat’.

We can focus heavily on the calorie intake but it seems the sugar measurements per serving are often overlooked.

By working in partnership with Lily Soutter, Canderel^® has created a list of the top 10 hidden sugars in everyday foods, to highlight how cooking from scratch and simple swaps can help control our daily sugar intake.

Top 10 common foods containing hidden sugars, per serving**:

1. Breakfast smoothies – 28g per serving
2. Alcohol – 22g-40g per serving
3. Low-fat yoghurt – 20.9g per serving
4. Breakfast bars – 20g per serving
5. Soup – 20g per serving
6. Granola – 14g per serving
7. Baked Beans – 10g per serving
8. Plant-based milk – 7g per serving
9. Salad dressings – 5.7g per serving
10. Wholemeal bagel – 5.5g per serving
Ranking fourth on the list, breakfast cereal bars can equate to over half of your recommended daily allowance.

These convenient, easy to grab on-the-go bars with ‘healthy’ connotations, are adding to the continual rise of sugar-related issues, such as tooth decay and risk of weight gain.

But fear not! Lily Soutter has created the perfect breakfast bar with a whopping 93% less sugar than your average high street cereal bar.