Lots of people like to enjoy an ice lolly or ice cream in the sun, but it’s important to be aware of their nutritional content as too much sugar could lead to problems with your teeth. The NHS recommends that children between the ages of four and six should have no more than 19 grams of sugar per day and for those aged seven to ten their daily sugar intake shouldn’t surpass 24 grams.
We’ve taken a deep dive into the freezer to find the best options for keeping sugar intake low when the temperature is high. In our research, Asda Salted Caramel Mini Ice Cream came out as the best choice for a lower sugar treat with only 3.1 grams of sugar per serving, whilst the biggest culprit for sugar overload was Magnum White Ice Cream which had a whopping 23 grams of sugar – which is almost the entire daily limit for children up to 10 years old.
For a more tooth-friendly alternative, try buying reusable ice lolly molds and making ice lollies at home using reduced sugar squash or cordial; which typically has less than 0.5g of sugar per serving. As always, we recommend consumption of sweet treats should always be part of a meal. Reducing the number of times teeth are exposed to sugar throughout the day helps to minimise the risk of tooth decay and cavities.
Check out the breakdown of the best and worst options for frozen treats and their sugar content:
Green Zone (Less than 5 grams of sugar per serving)
Asda Salted Caramel Mini Ice cream (3.1g of sugar)
These mini ice creams came top with only 3.1 grams of sugar per lolly.
Mr. Freeze Jubbly Orange (3.8g of sugar)
Mr. Freeze Jubbly orange ice lollies contain 3.8 grams of sugar each whilst the Strawberry flavour has 4 grams.
Mini Milk Vanilla (4g of sugar)
There are 4 grams of sugar in the vanilla flavour up to 4.7 grams of sugar in the chocolate flavour.
Yellow Zone (Between one third and up to half of daily recommended sugar)
Asda Rocket Lolly (6.7g of sugar) (Morrisons 7.1g) (Sainsburys 7.9g) (Tesco 8.5g) (Aldi 8.8g)
Rocket Lollies sugar content varies depending on the supplier. Asda’s has the lowest sugar content at 6.7 grams whilst Aldi’s has 8.8 grams of sugar each.
Fab (10g of sugar)
Fab ice lollies have 10 grams of sugar per lolly.
Rowntree's Fruit Pastel Lolly (11.6g of sugar)
Rowntree's rainbow-colored Fruit Pastilles ice lollies contain 11.6 grams of sugar per lolly.
Red Zone (Around total daily recommended sugar)
Feast (20g of sugar)
Each Feast has 20 grams of sugar per lolly, surpassing the daily recommended limit for children under six.
Calippo Cola (21g of sugar)
Calippo Cola ice lollies contain an even higher 21 grams of sugar.
Magnum Classic (21g of sugar) Magnum White (23g of sugar)
Magnum Ice Creams are at the top of our list. The classic option contains 21 grams of sugar and the White ice cream has a whopping 23 grams of sugar which is almost the entire daily recommended limit for children up to 10.
Nutritional information sourced from Aldi, Asda, Morrisons, Sainsburys, and Tesco.