A Closer Look at What’s In Your Child’s Fruit Chew Snack

— -- Sometimes I think having snacks on hand is the most crucial aspect of parenting.

So fruit chews -- little bags of goodies that don’t need to be refrigerated -- that say they’re made of real fruit and promise 100 percent RDA (Required Daily Allowance) of vitamin C? They seem like are a godsend. But as nutritionist Maya Feller reads off the sugar content of the various fruit chews we’ve purchased -- “10 grams, 12 grams, 15 grams” -- the sugar is an issue.

The World Health Organization advises just 15 grams of added sugar a day for kids. That’s the sugar content in one packet of Target Market Pantry Chews, and the sugar in one-and-a-half of all the other packets of chews we buy.

And these are not big servings. I rip open the small package and count out the gummy shapes inside: nine in a package. Later, I use my own kids as guinea pigs and offer them a packet as their after-school snack. Within 60 seconds, all nine gummies are consumed. “Mom, I want another one.” I cave. They are hungry; I have nothing else with me in the car.

Feller gives me a visual on that two-packet snack, saying, "That’s pretty much the same as handing your kids a packet of Starburst -- the whole thing.”

And sure enough, when you read the first three ingredients on some of these fruit chews, it reads, “corn syrup, sugar, fruit juice.” Those are the exact same first 3 ingredients in a Starburst.

Looking at the nutrition info, nine pieces of Starburst have 160 calories and 22 grams of sugar. The average amount of sugar in the packs we purchased is 11 grams. The average calorie count per pack is 80. So in most cases, two packets of fruit chews marketed for kids have the same sugar and calorie count as the whole pack of Starburst.

But a big marketing point on the packaging is that these fruit chews provide 100 percent of a child’s daily vitamin C needs. But Feller says that’s no reason to choose fruit chews.

“A child can get an entire day’s worth of vitamin C from just three to four strawberries," she said.

Or one-fourth of an orange or small portions of almost any other fruit. And, for the record, a whole packet of Starburst contains 35 percent of an adult’s vitamin C. I estimate that at around 30 milligrams, which fulfills a child’s RDA of vitamin C. I’m certainly not advocating for a whole packet of Starburst as the best source of your child’s vitamin C, but it’s a reference that brings home the point.

Another point Feller raises, real fruit has fiber that is crucial for children. The fruit gummies have negligible amounts of fiber.

While many packages cite real fruit in the ingredients, in most cases it’s juice from concentrate or puree.

A look at the first three ingredients in each brand we bought gives even more clues that fruit is not the predominate component (ingredients are listed by quantity, so the first ingredient on a package is always the largest component).