In the Guise of Healthy Kids

As I was scrolling through TikTok a few days ago I came across a video done by General Mills on making a charcuterie board for kid’s game night. While there are a few healthy options on the board they created, I’ve known a fair number of kiddos in my time and not one of them would have opted for an orange slice until, maybe, possibly, all of the sugary snacks were gone. Then, they’d dip them in that sprinkled, sweetened dip for sure.

So, as they cut the Fruit Roll-ups, poured Gushers into a bowl, and created ribbons of Fruit by the Foot, I wondered what they were made of. There are several all-fruit leathers on grocery shelves, maybe these were all fruit. Nope!

Check it out: The first ingredients in all of them are corn syrup and sugar. Those are swirled with a variety of artificial colors (red 40, yellows 5&6, and blue 1). Yum!

You’ll notice that there’s also Bugles and Nature’s Valley Granola bars, and the dip which isn’t identified, but I’ll guess is a vanilla yogurt. The granola bars have 6 added grams of sugar per bar, and while made with some whole grains, only 1 gram of fiber. (Eat the apple, kid!) Even the Bugles have added sugar! (1g/serving)

Since General Mills makes Yoplait yogurt, I decided to go with that for the dip in the center. Not counting the sprinkles, there are 14g of added sugar in a six-ounce…