• Yoghurt-coated peanuts contain 36.5g of saturated fat per bag
  •  That’s more than three times the amount in a Big Mac
  • A bag of yoghurt-coated banana chips contain a whopping 1,092 calories

Next time you decide to pick up a snack in a ‘health food’ store, think again..

But here’s the good part: making your own snacks from real yogurt is a tasty and healthy treat. “Choose a plain or vanilla yogurt to dip fruit or nuts in, and then freeze for a sweet treat with significantly less added sugar and more nutritional benefit,”

Yoghurt-coated peanuts, which are widely regarded as a healthy snack to fill the gap between meal times, have been revealed as containing a staggering amount of fat.

The snack sold at health food shops actually contains 36.6g of saturated fat in every 200g bag.

The ‘healthy’ snack actually contains over half of your daily fat allowance, with a whopping 1,092 calories

That is more than three times the amount in a Big Mac and double the recommended 20g daily allowance for a woman — and that’s without even considering the 1,092 calorie count.

The ‘yogurt’ on the outside is far from the yogurt you know from the dairy aisle.

Mostly sugar, oil and some dry milk and yogurt powder, that ‘yogurt’ coating is often a source of hydrogenated oil, which you’d never find in real yogurt.

The treat is sold alongside dried fruit and vitamin tablets but contains a belly-busting 1,092 calories.

Also watch out for their yoghurt-coated brazil nuts (34g of saturated fat and 1,156 calories) and yoghurt-coated banana chips (25.6g of saturated fat and 1,054 calories). In comparison, a Big Mac has 490 calories and 24g of fat, of which 10g is saturated — though vitamins and minerals differ.

Sian Porter, of the British Dietetic ­Association, described people’s desire to buy food from health stores regardless of their nutritional value as a “halo ­effect”.

She said: “It is very dangerous for people to buy things and think they are healthy just because they are from a health store.

“Treats like these at Health food shops might be sold as fruit and nuts but they are covered in all sorts of sugars and things that are not that good for you at all. It is very important to read the labels or you could end up eating something you may regret.

Again making your own snacks from real yogurt is a tasty and healthy treat. “Choose a plain or vanilla yogurt to dip fruit or nuts in, and then freeze for a sweet treat with significantly less added sugar and more nutritional benefit,”