Most health-conscious consumers in Australasia might take the Health Star Rating into account when deciding which packaged food products to buy. I was initially impressed by the Health Star rating, it seemed as though it was a helpful tool in making healthy food choices. But I became a bit wary of using it when I compared granola, “Crafted Blends” with my regular gluten free Weet-Bix. There is only a mere difference of 0.5 Health Stars between them, but upon tasting the Crafted Blend, it was obvious that it contained significant amounts of added sugars.
Unfortunately, the Health Star rating doesn’t distinguish between natural sugar and added sugars. However, by law the ingredients must be listed in descending order (by ingoing weight), so by looking at the ingredient list and the total sugars of a shocking 17,8 g, it is fair to conclude that the Crafted blend cereal contains a considerable amount of added sugar.
Gluten-Free Cereals (39%) (Puffed Rice (Rice Flour, Sugar, Salt, Golden Syrup), Rice Flakes (Rice Flour, Maize Flour, Psyllium Husk, Apple Juice Concentrate, Sugar, Salt, Emulsifier [Sunflower Lecithin], Sunflower Oil), Corn Flakes (Corn Flour, Resistant Dextrin [Prebiotic Fibre], Sugar, Maltodextrin, Golden Syrup, Salt, Sunflower Oil), Puffed Amaranth), Seeds (14%) (Linseed, Pepitas, Buckwheat), Glucose, Brown Rice Syrup, Pink Lady Apple (7%) (Apple, Antioxidant [Ascorbic Acid]), Pecans (5%), Sunflower Oil, Caramel Flavoured Pieces (3.5%), Chicory Root Fibre, Natural Flavours, Tapioca Dextrin, Antioxidant (Vitamin E).
| Average quantity per serving (50g) | Average quantity per 100g | |
| Energy | 843 kJ | 1690 kJ |
| 202 Cal | 403 Cal | |
| Protein | 3.3 g | 6.5 g |
| – Gluten | Not Detected | Not Detected |
| Fat, Total | 6.5 g | 12.9 g |
| – Saturated | 0.9 g | 1.7 g |
| Carbohydrate | 29.9 g | 59.9 g |
| – Sugars | 8.9 g | 17.8 g |
| Dietary Fibre | 5.0 g | 9.9 g |
| Sodium | 67 mg | 134 mg |
Wholegrain sorghum (96%), golden syrup, salt, vitamins (E, niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, folate).
| Average quantity per serving (30 g) | Average quantity per (100 g) | |
| Energy | 474 kJ | 1580 kJ |
| 113 Cal | 378 Cal | |
| Protein | 3.3 g | 6.5 g |
| – Gluten | Not Detected | Not Detected |
| Fat, Total | 6.5 g | 12.9 g |
| – Saturated | 0.9 g | 1.7 g |
| Carbohydrate | 29.9 g | 59.9 g |
| – Sugars | 8.9 g | 17.8 g |
| Dietary Fibre | 2.0 g | 6.8 g |
| Sodium (mg) | 70 mg | 233 mg |
Comparing Crafted Blends with Weet-Bix.
When comparing the energy content between 100g servings both have almost equal amounts of energy. On the other hand, Weet-Bix’s energy content is predominantly from Sorghum, a complex carbohydrate (96%), and although golden syrup is on the ingredient list, the product is still low in sugar (less than 5g per 100 gram).
Crafted blend contained almost double the amount of fibre per 100g than Weet-Bix, but Weet-Bix is still a good source of fibre and has almost double the amount of in protein than Crafted Blends. I would argue that 50g of Weet-Bix keep most people satiated for much longer compared to 50g of Crafted Blends. When comparing the sodium content the Crafred Blends is low in sodium whereas Weet-Bix has a medium sodium content which doesn’t need to be a problem when following a overall wholefood diet.
Consider these following points when looking the Health Star rating
Further Reading
As I was doing research, I came across this article from Consumer NZ. Being a trusted independent researcher I found it very insightful, confirming what I just mentioned in much more detail https://www.consumer.org.nz/articles/health-star-ratings.
They argue that these ratings could be misleading, since products positive nutrients like fibre and protein could set off the negative ingredients like sugar content.
Another article posted by Australian Food News was only very insightful
Health Star Rating five year review backflips on edible oils
