With two-thirds of ten Australian packaged food products containing added sugar and 60 percent of Australian children between the ages of two to eight consuming more free sugar than the recommended intake, one of the mothers from the country has decided to change how kids eat snacks.
Food scientist Jo Leontiades has created Grumpy Bums, a range of accessible, bake-at-home products without added sugar, sweeteners or refined sugars that incorporate real ingredients and the natural sweetness of the fruit.
As a parent, Leontiades identified a gap in the healthy foods for kids market. They decided to cater to parents like her, looking for sugar-free food that aligns with various dietary requirements.
“Many products that claim to have ‘no sugar’ are overly processed and often contain sweeteners, sugar substitutes or refined sugars. But I believe kids don’t need to be denied sweet treats, so I started baking products for my son with no sugar or additives - and he enjoyed them,” said Leontiades.
Grumpy Bums is available in three flavours of mini muffin mix: apple & cinnamon, banana bread and strawberry yoghurt, and a banana muesli cookie mix, replacing sugar with natural freeze-dried fruit. This helps to maintain up to 95 percent of its nutritional value and 100 percent fibre.
It also allows parents to conveniently bake fresh snacks for their kids and educate them on health and wellness.
“We added freeze-dried fruit into our packaging so parents only need common ingredients such as eggs, oil and water to whip up a batch of muffins or cookies. The flavour range is based on tastes that children love, and I regularly receive feedback that the moment our muffins or cookies come out of the oven, kids demolish them.”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends reducing free sugars to less than five teaspoons daily for health purposes. On average, Grumpy Bums muffins and cookies contain three-quarters of a teaspoon of naturally occurring sugar, compared to store-bought muffins, which typically contain two teaspoons of refined sugar.
