To: Parliament

Stop sugar filled snacks being classed as a healthy alternative

For years we have had tv and media advertising suggesting that yoghurt covered dried fruit, dried fruit in the shape of animals and many other varieties of a similar snack, are healthy alternatives and great for kids snacks. They may well be one if your five a day but the reality is that they are full of sugar and, in comparison to things like fizzy drinks, they come out with a higher sugar content.
I think the sugar content should be much more widely advertised and they should be in the same category as sweets and chocolate - great as a treat but not for everyday eating.
They may have good nutritional content but the sugar content MUST be considered.

Why is this important?

This is so important to me as my beautiful daughter has just had to have two fillings at 6 years old. She has a very varied diet and eats very little in the way of sweets/chocolate as these tend to be given as grandparent treats as opposed to by me. She has always had these 'healthy' alternatives as, like many people, i believed these to be far healthier than they actually are. I, as any parent would be, was horrified that a) she had to have fillings in the first place and b) that i had contributed to this problem in the 'healthy' snacks i had been giving her.
Many of these snacks don't have the sugar content on the front of the packet as you would have with sweets of chocolates.
This is causing a huge problem with the NHS funding hundreds of thousands of childrens fillings and extractions, not to mention thelong term effects. Something has to change!