Test Your Snacks for Kids IQ!

By Joe Wilkes

1. 1 Betty Crocker Fruit Roll-Up. This little fruit leather snack has almost 2 teaspoons of sugar. Not that much compared to some other things, but an entire container of animal crackers has about the same amount. Also, the animal crackers aren't as liable to stick to your teeth and contribute to tooth decay. One roll-up has about 50 calories and 1 gram of fat.
   
2. 1 3/4-cup serving of Cap'n Crunch (no milk). The Cap'n brings 3 teaspoons of sugar to breakfast—meaning that about half the calories (110) from this breakfast are empty. Compare this to Cheerios which have less than 1 gram of sugar (less than a 1/4 teaspoon) and 2.3 grams of fiber for the same serving, more than twice as much fiber as the Cap'n.
   
3. 1 6.8-oz. pouch of Capri Sun Tropical Punch. This little space-age pouch contains a little more than half the liquid of a can of soda, but doesn't skimp on the sugar. It contains 25 grams, or the equivalent of over 6 teaspoons of sugar—making all 90 of its calories pretty much empty. Ounce for ounce, it contains more sugar than most sodas.
   
4. 1 package of Hostess HoHo's (3 cakes). These little nasties that I vainly tried to trade my apple for every day on the playground have 42 grams, or 10-1/2 teaspoons, of sugar per serving. At least they have 2 grams of fiber. But you're better off sending an apple. I eventually forgave my mom (sometime in my twenties), I'm sure your kids will forgive you, too.
   
5. 1 12-oz. can of orange Fanta. It's caffeine free, but that's about all you can say for it. The can of Fanta contains 51.8 grams or about 13 teaspoons of high-fructose corn syrup. Imagine ladling 13 teaspoons of sugar into a tall glass of water with some artificial coloring. That's essentially what kids are drinking, for a total of 164 empty calories.