IN case you haven't noticed, our children are getting too fat. So fat that they are running the risk of heart disease, cancer and diabetes at ever earlier ages.

It's partly because they are couch potatoes. And partly because they eat too much of the wrong food. Kids' food is a multi million pound industry - and nobody made a fortune out of making them eat carrots.

Much of the food aimed at children is full of sugar and fat. Just a small amount extra each day builds up the pounds, which can be with them for life. Probably a shorter life.

Just a thought in National Breakfast Week - some of the cereals specifically aimed at children are 40 per cent sugar. So if you give them a bowlful for breakfast, you're actually giving them nearly half a bowl full of sugar. Is this really what you want to do?

Apart from anything else, so much of the food aimed specifically at children is just so expensive. You could, of course, feed your child entirely on healthy things. We've known people like this - no additives, no sweets, no sugar, no E numbers, just lots of fish, carrots and water.

Yes, of course it's healthy and nutritious, but it's not much fun. And children these days want fun fun fun, even in their food.

So we've looked at some of the most expensive and/or fattening foods aimed just at children and offered a few alternatives of our own, not necessarily the healthiest alternative, but definitely an improvement. You could take more drastic action. Or you could just make them walk to school.

KELLOGG'S FROSTIES

£1.64 for 500g

Amazingly, this packet has a little panel on the side saying "Sensible eating for a healthy lifestyle" and giving a list of symbols that they put on their cereals to say what benefits - healthy bones, helps concentration, low fat etc - that each will give.

Against two of these, "Heart Health" and "Low Fat", it tells you that Frosties are low in fat. Fine. What it doesn't tell you is that Frosties are loaded with sugar - 40 per cent.

So much for health.

TRY INSTEAD

KELLOGG'S CORNFLAKES

£1.18 for 500g

Just eight per cent sugar

OR

KELLOGG'S BANANA CRUNCH

£1.18 for 375g

Cornflakes with bits of banana in. 15 per cent sugar, which is still a lot but a lot, lot less than Frosties.

FROSTED SHREDDIES

£1.16 for 500g

36.3 per cent sugar

Sickly sweet little squares of cereal coated in sugar. More than a third of this packet will be sugar. How can this possibly be good for children? Much of the goodness comes from the milk you serve with it.

TRY INSTEAD

BITESIZE SHREDDED WHEAT

£1.57 for 750g

Fun size cereal that has just one single ingredient - whole grain wheat. No sugar, no salt, no nothing. So you could add a spoonful of sugar and maybe some fruit and they would still be much healthier than the Shreddies.

MULLER YOGZ

£1.09 for four x 85g

"Ideal for lunchboxes"

Aaaarggghhh! Two pots of toffee flavoured yoghurt with candy coated chocolate chips and two pots of vanilla yoghurt with chocolate covered puffed rice. Toffee:167 calories per 100g, vanilla: 141 calories per 100g. These, especially the toffee variety, were so sickly sweet they made condensed milk seem sharp. Then there were the sweeties to put in them. If you've ever thought of yoghurt as a healthy food, think again.

TRY INSTEAD

MULLER CORNER FRUIT MINIS

eight for £1.99

Eight small pots of yoghurt, each with either peach and apricot or strawberry pieces in syrup.

About 110 calories per 100g

Still very sweet but actually tastes of yoghurt and fruit and with a lot fewer calories and less fat.

MILKY WAY SPREAD

£1.09 for 300g

A jar stripy of chocolate spread and white goo. A bit like eating foam rubber. Its greatest ingredients are hydrogenated vegetable fat and sugar. And it has 531 calories per 100g. It boasts that it's rich in calcium, magnesium and vitamins. That's as may be. But this is definitely not a health food.

TRY INSTEAD

JAM

Even cheap jam made with a lower proportion of fruit and a higher proportion of sugar than the posh varieties has fewer than half the calories of Milky Way spread. It is also cheaper and has some fruit content.

CHEESE STRINGS

£1.99

Close your eyes and what do you think you're eating? Inner tubes, plastic piping, a bendy pencil...? No, apparently it's cheese.But it's cheese specifically designed to play with as you eat it, peeling it down into little shreddy tasteless bits. These are truly, utterly disgusting. What's really depressing is all the research and development that has gone into inventing these. If only they'd put that effort into something useful.

The only thing to be said for these is that they contain the equivalent of a glass of milk. It still doesn't make them worth buying and will only make your children think that food is for playing with rather than eating.

TRY INSTEAD

BABY BEL CHEESES

Six for £1.25

Full fat cheese in a bright red mini wax that has to be peeled. The bonus is that the cheese actually tastes of cheese.

OR

MINI SELECTION OF CHEESES

usually six x 20g for around £1.20

Tiny, wrapped portions of proper cheese, available in most supermarkets. Might even encourage your child to try different tastes.

CARTOON NETWORK ORANGE JUICE DRINK

three x 200ml for 69p

Ten orange juice with added sugar and sweeteners.

TRY INSTEAD

TESCO PURE ORANGE JUICE

three x 200ml for 64p

FRUITBOWL FRUIT FLAKES

39p for 20g

"Flakes made with real fruits" it says on the packet and also says that it's low in fat. Yes, but it's only 43 per cent fruit. The rest includes sugar, glucose syrup and wheat fibre.

TRY INSTEAD

SUNDORA RAISINS

39p for 50g

Nice fat juicy raisins with proper flavour.

TWEENIES WHOLE MILK YOGHURT

Four x 90g for £3.96

14 per cent sugar, 98 calories per 90g pot

TRY INSTEAD

TESCO FRUITTIME

73 calories per 140g pot

Individual ring pull cans of fruit chopped into small pieces - peaches, papaya, grapes, pineapple juice.

ROWNTREES FRUIT PASTILLES JELLY POT

"Jampacked with wobbly, fruity fun." 12 per cent fruit juice, the rest is mainly sugar, water and flavourings with a strong, sweet smell that laps out at you when you open the top.

TRY INSTEAD

DEL MONTE FRUIT EXPRESS

Individual pots of peach and pear pieces in apple juice

SUNNY D

£1.08 for 1.5 litres

15 per cent fruit juice plus glucose, fructose syrup and a whole string of ingredients including vegetable oil and thickeners.

TRY INSTEAD

Any supermarket own label fruit juice

Generally about 75p per litre and without any added anything.

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