Addicted to crisps, chocolate and biscuits – Bored Brits becoming a nation of serial snackers

• 81% of Brits snack every day, but rarely on fruit or veg • Crisps, chocolate and biscuits top the list of favourite nibbles • Over Easter weekend, 2.6m (4%) of Brits devoured over 10 Easter eggs • The ‘Dried fruit and public health: what the evidence tells us’ paper aims to re-educate the nation on how to make small changes to their diet and reviews common incorrect perceptions of dried fruit

New research by the Dried Fruit Association reveals we are nation obsessed with snacking, with more than a third (37%) of Brits snacking two to three times a day, and a further 25% admitting to doing so even more frequently.

Boredom (34%) is cited as the main reason for our compulsive snacking, and 16% of Brits even admit to snacking in secret then lying about what they have eaten to friends, family and colleagues.

Crisps (67%), chocolate (57%), biscuits (46%) and sweets (46%) are the nation’s favourite items to snack on, with healthier alternatives such as dried fruit and vegetables proving much less popular with those surveyed.

The research also suggests that Brits struggle with healthy eating more generally, as 96% of those surveyed admit they frequently do not get their five-a-day.

This Easter weekend 2.6 million Brits (4%) will have devoured more than 10 Easter eggs, and with our snack consumption rapidly on the rise, there is a growing need to educate the nation on how to make small changes to their diets that will satisfy their hunger as well as help them maintain a healthy lifestyle and reduce the risk of illness.

While a quarter of Brits (26%) believe that dried fruit does not have the same nutritional value as fresh fruit, a further 14% believe it does not count towards your five-a-day, so snack-happy Brits can have dried fruit in between meals as an easy way to help them towards their five-a-day.

The research also identified a number of common myths about dried fruit that Brits believe: • A third of consumers believing dried fruit is higher in sugar than fresh fruit (31%) • A further 18% believe it is bad for your teeth, despite there being limited credible medical evidence to support this