10 low-sugar Halloween treats for kids
Halloween is almost upon us and many of the nation's parents are scrambling to pull together a DIY costume so their children can trick or treat for a pumpkin shaped bucket-load of sweet treats.
For many the thought of pounding the streets to ask strangers for sweets is a scary enough prospect, but the really frightening thing is the amount of sugar the mini monsters are likely to consume. Cue pre-bedtime E-number induced meltdowns!
While letting usual dietary rules slip in the spirit (geddit?) of allowing kids a treat may seem harmless in the Halloween moment, excessive sugar consumption can actually be incredibly damaging.
"In the short-term when children over consume sugar, there’s an increased risk of poor behaviour, disturbed sleep, impaired concentration and cognitive function," explains nutritionist Jenna Hope. "Additionally, once children come down off the sugar ‘high’ they’re likely to experience an energy crash too."
And when children consistently over consume sugar there’s an increased risk of weight gain, type 2 diabetes and metabolic disorders later on in life.
The NHS says the maximum allowance for sugar intake for children aged 4-6 19g per day and for children aged 7-10 the maximum recommended intake is 24g per day. But with reports suggesting the average trick-or-treater can consume the equivalent of about three cups of sugar on Halloween, parents can see just how much sugar the spookiest night of the year can involve.
Of course giving out snack packs of chopped carrots may not quite cut it with the hourdes of mini ghouls and witches knocking on the door, but there are some options that are less sugary for little fangs and tums.
"In an ideal world, we’d be offering a piece of fruit as the Halloween ‘treat’, however, most children would be disappointed by this," explains Hope. "Therefore it’s a good idea to offer something exciting but lower in sugar."
Where possible she suggests aiming for less than 5g of sugar per ‘treat’. Here's some alternative spooky sweet treats:
Reduced sugar treat alternatives for Halloween
Organix Oaty Bar: 5.1g of sugar per bar
Piccolo Organic Kids Cocoa Biscuits: 3g of sugar per 20g bar
Organix Cocoa & Vanilla Organic Gruffalo Biscuits: 3.9g of sugar per bag
NOMO Crispy Mo: 4.9g per 15g
SNACKZILLA Raspberry Soft-Baked Oat Cookies: 5g per 30g serving
Propercorn for Kids Simply Sweet Popcorn: 2.2g of sugar per 12g bag serving
Free From Fellows Vegan Sugar Free Cola Bottles: 0g of sugar per 100g
Organix Kids Choco Mint Flapjacks: 5.1g of sugar per bag
Kallo Kids Mini Choco-Coconut Rice Cakes Multipack: 4.5g of sugars per portion pack
Go Ahead fruity bakes bar: 7.4g of sugar per 30g bar (Much less than a funsize bar or packet of chocolate which contains 10g of sugar per serving).
Read more about Halloween
Dry ice: The dangerous TikTok trend you should avoid this Halloween (Yahoo Life UK, 4-min read)
Woman gets vampire fangs for Halloween but decides to keep them: 'I think it looks cool and different' (Yahoo Life UK, 5-min read)
Should parents take their kids trick or treating at Halloween? (Yahoo Life UK, 6-min read)
