Image via iStock. 

By: Rebecca Charlotte Reynolds, UNSW Australia

There are rows upon rows of packaged snack foods in supermarkets, including snack bars made from muesli, cereal, nuts, seeds and fruit. Many of the labels on the packages shout out words such as “natural”, “protein”, “oaty”, “super-food”, “wholegrain”, “light”, “ gluten-free ” and “97 per cent fat-free!”.

But these words can mask unhealthy products. Many processed snack bars are high in added sugar, refined starch and fat.

Knowing what is in snack bars is of particular importance to parents given nearly one in five two- to 18-year-olds consume these muesli or cereal -style bars, and one in four Australian children are overweight or obese.

So, how do you navigate the confusing snack bar terrain? Here are five tips.

1. Check the ingredients on the packets.

Choose more products that have the following ingredients in higher quantities. Some, such as nuts and oats, should be listed as the first ingredients on the back of the packet:

WATCH: Some helpful tips for staying healthy at work. (Post continues after video.)

Choose products that contain some:

I would suggest the following snack bar products over other products (including alternative products made by same brand), as they likely provide better nutrition, including being higher in fibre and lower in GI: Carman’s fruit-free muesli bar, Be Natural Deluxe Nut Bars Nut Delight and Goodness Superfoods better for U! Cranberry Nut Cereal Bars.

Yep, you're going to have to read the box. (iStock)

Choose fewer products that have higher quantities of any combination of the following ingredients:

This list means trying to avoid a large percentage of the muesli/cereal/nut/seed/fruit bars out there. 

(Post

continues after gallery.)

2. Look at the food additives.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand provides an online list of food additives. Additives are used in processed foods to improve taste, appearance, quality, stability and storage life.

Some people think all additives are bad. Some of them are in fact natural. Vitamin C/ascorbic acid (additive number 300) can be added to foods, but is also naturally present in fruit. The human body can’t distinguish between a chemical naturally present in a food and the same chemical present as an additive.

However, some additives may cause problems such as damage to the gut, hyperactivity in children and potential cancer links. Don’t demonise all additives but do decrease processed food intake – and for more reasons than just additives.

3. Look at the health star rating.

The government’s health star food rating system has its flaws, including that it doesn’t take into account every nutritional aspect of a processed food product. However, it is useful when comparing different snack bars: if you choose one that has five stars it is likely better nutritionally than one with three stars.

4. Home-made is better than processed.

This won’t be welcome news to your free time: home-made versions of processed snack foods are the best. Being able to make a muesli bar/slice that is packed with ingredients such as oats, nuts, seeds, free-range eggs and extra virgin olive oil (lightly flavoured) will provide a healthy snack for your child.

Watch: A healthy breakfast bar recipe. (Post continues after video.) 

5. Mostly and sometimes.

I don’t believe in all-or-nothing when it comes to life, including nutrition. Maybe your little one really loves the chocolate- and yoghurt-covered snack bars? Well, perhaps one of each per week in his/her lunchbox is an idea.

You don’t want to be overly restrictive with your child’s food, because this may have the opposite effect to what you intended and increase their eating and weight over time.

What's your favourite muesli bar?

Rebecca Charlotte Reynolds , Lecturer in Nutrition, UNSW Australia

This article was originally published on The Conversation . Read the original article .