Are you reaching for the healthiest fruit snack in the grocery store? According to a new study by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, dried fruit might be your best bet.
Dried fruit, fruit puree and canned fruit with juice are the only types of fruit snacks that meet the latest recommendations for high-nutrition snacks set by US dietary guidelines, according to research by the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) led by Amanda Kinchla and Alissa Nolden.
But which option is healthiest? The recent food comparison study published in the journal Nutrients set out to answer this question.
“One aspect that excited us about conducting this study is the comprehensive approach to considering multiple nutrients that may be considered healthful or those to limit in a food,” Nolden, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Food Science, told IFIS Publishing. “Fruit snacks are seen as convenient snacks, but they are not all equivalent in terms of their nutritional value.”
The researchers found that dried fruit has the greatest nutritional value, as it has the highest nutrient density and fibre content, alongside the lowest added sugar of the commercially available fruit snacks currently on the market in the US.
“Dried fruit had the highest overall nutritional score, considering the selected nutrients to encourage and limit nutrients,” Nolden explained.
Determining the nutritional value of fruit snacks
Undertaking the study, which the researchers indicated is the first of its kind, the food scientists sought to investigate which fruit snacks are the most nutritious. The team collected and examined the nutritional content of 1,497 fruit snacks using the market intelligence company’s Mintel Global New Products Database, accessed through UMass Libraries.
For their study, fruit snacks were defined as “non-frozen, non-beverage food products mainly made with fruit ingredients”. When identified, products were divided into nine categories: dried fruit, fruit-based bars, dried flavoured fruit, canned fruit, fruit-flavoured snack, fruit puree, fruit chips, formed fruit, and canned fruit with juice.
To assess the nutritional profile of these products, the food scientists used the Nutrient Rich Foods (NRF) Index, which calculates overall nutrition quality. This approach considers desirable nutrients such as protein, dietary fibre, potassium, vitamin D, calcium, and iron. It also explores nutrients that should be limited in diets like saturated fat, cholesterol, added sugar, and sodium.
“We were trying to connect the dots between all the nutrients, which is the advantage of the NRF, to be able to look at multiple nutrients at the same time,” Nolden explained. “The approach helps to consider multiple nutrients in terms of overall nutrient density.”
As part of the investigation, the food scientists also delved into nutritional value per serving size, the calculated added sugar and fibre content based on the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Reference Amount Customarily Consumed (RACC) for each eating occasion. The RACC strives to balance serving variability across different fruit snack categories.
If dried fruit came out top of the pack in terms of its positive nutritional profile, which fruit snacks performed less well?
Fruit-flavoured snacks such as gummies were found to have the lowest nutrient density, fibre content and the highest amount of added sugar, the researchers concluded. Likewise, canned fruit packed in something other than juice and dried flavoured fruit are alternative fruit snack options with low nutrient density, containing higher amounts of added sugar.
Are fruit snacks the answer to hitting 5-a-day?
“Eating a piece of fresh fruit is undoubtedly the healthiest option,” the UMass Amherst research team stressed. However, ensuring consumers eat enough fruit remains a struggle.
The researchers found that 80% of the US population does not consume the five fruit servings recommended by dietary guidelines. Nutrient-dense fruit snacks are one strategy that consumers and the food industry have focused on to address this shortfall.
“It’s not fresh fruit but the snacking products that people are more customarily consuming,” noted Kinchla, UMass Extension Professor at the Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment.
“Ideally, this can highlight that even though these products are marketed as fruit snacks, there may be very little resemblance to the fruit’s nutrients,” Nolden added.
If access to fresh fruit is one of the barriers preventing consumers from reaching the recommended daily fruit servings, it is essential to consider the shelf-life and convenience of fruit snacks with a focus on products that provide the highest servings of fruit equivalence. But, while dried fruit and fruit puree were two top-performing products nutritionally, Nolden noted these products may be expensive alternatives to fresh fruit.
“Another factor not considered in this study was the equivalents of fruit servings,” she added
Enhancing health and wellness platforms
The new research spotlights the need to take a holistic view of nutrient content to improve the overall nutritional value of processed fruit snacks. These learnings can provide insight into possible improvements the food manufacturing industry can make, the US scientists believe.
By utilising the approach in the study, researchers can help identify areas for improvement such as reduced sugar or increased fibre content. Alternative processing methods and ingredients may provide improved products offering the same sensory experience. Meanwhile, the incorporation of dried fruit into products could provide a fruitful avenue for product development.
“With Alissa’s consumer insight and understanding of perceptions and sensory analysis, we can try to understand consumers’ acceptance and limitations and then design foods that would better cater to that, so that we can then bolster health and wellness platforms,” Kinchla elaborated.
The nutritional profile of popular fruit snacking options could be boosted by reformulation efforts, the researchers continued. Formed fruit and fruit-based bars could be lower in added sugar to become a more nutritious fruit snack option. Canned fruit with added sugar and fruit-flavoured snacks need reformulation, as they are low in nutrient density and fibre content and high in added sugar. Overall, enhancing fruit snacks’ nutritional quality can promote smart snacking choices.
“Future direction for the fruit snack category should consider decreasing added sugar content, increasing fibre content and enhancing sensory profile to improve the overall nutrient density.”