We eat an astonishing eight billion packets of crisps every year, spending £5.3billion in the process, according to market research company Mintel.

And this summer, we’ll be munching through even more than usual, with almost 60 per cent of us picking crisps as our snack of choice to accompany watching the World Cup.

Is this necessarily disastrous for our health? Bahee Van de Bor, specialist paediatric dietitian and founder of the Happy Belly Club, warns: ‘There is a big difference between the occasional treat and regular crisp munching.’

The problem centres on high levels of salt in some packs, as well as saturated fat.

Over the last decade or so, however, a huge array of ‘healthier’ crisps have hit the market, with many claiming to be high in fibre, baked not fried, and made from seemingly healthy ingredients such as lentils or chickpeas. But are they really healthier? Van de Bor compared them to some old favourites to find out.

Doritos Cool Original Tortilla Chips Sharing Bag Crisps, 180g, £2.50

Calories (per 100g) 479, salt 1.1g, fibre 5.6g, saturated fat 2g

These are an archetypal slobby snack, to be enjoyed while slumped on the sofa. Many thousands of these bags will be bought over the summer. Indeed, Doritos is a sponsor of the FIFA World Cup.

But how unhealthy are they? Earlier this year, PepsiCo, which makes them, said it had reduced the amount of salt by 18 per cent and fat by 14 per cent. While Van der Bor gives Doritos some credit for its relatively low salt score, she remains unimpressed. ‘They are still a highly processed snack with a long ingredients list containing flavour enhancers and multiple additives. For me, that makes them more of an occasional treat than an everyday snack.’

The ingredient list includes monosodium glutamate, disodium 5’-ribonucleotide and glucose syrup – which helps make the corn snacks lip-smackingly tasty.

Taste: 7/10

Health: 1/10

M&S Only 3 Ingredient Avocado Oil Crisps With Mediterranean Sea Salt, £1.25, 390g

Calories (per 100g) 542, salt 1.3g, fibre 4.2g, saturated fat 4.1g

Marks & Spencer has enjoyed great success from its ‘only . . . ingredients’ range, launched last year.

Tapping into anxieties about ultra-processed foods, it now sells a handful of products such as cornflakes and tomato ketchup, with just a small number of ‘ingredients you recognise and trust’.

These crisps are made from potatoes, avocado oil, salt and nothing else. And they’re delicious – a classic, high-quality ready-salted crisp with a good crunch and lots of flavour. It’s worth noting, however, that at 542 calories per 100g, they’re one of the most calorific snacks we tried.

They do have a very high fat content, but Van de Bor says, in this particular case, that’s not a red flag: ‘The fat in these crisps comes predominantly from avocado oil, which is rich in monounsaturated fats. Nutritionally, that is quite different from products that are high in saturated fat.’

Flavour: 9/10

Health: 7/10

Brindisa Torres Black Truffle Crisps, £5.10, 125g

Calories (per 100g) 588, salt 1.5g, fibre 3.8g, saturated fat 5.4g

Is there a posher crisp on the market? Made by Torres, a Spanish company, these ‘artisan’ crisps are very expensive but have a legion of fans thanks to the distinctive truffle flavour – derived from tiny amounts of dehydrated black truffle.

They are, if you like truffle, delicious, but they are also very salty – too salty for my tastebuds – and the most calorific crisps we tried at 588 cal per 100g.

Van de Bor, however, gave them credit for their simple ‘clean’ ingredient list.

Taste: 7/10

Health: 4/10

Walkers Cheese & Onion Sharing Bag Crisps, £1.35, 150g

Calories (per 100g) 512, salt 1.2g, fibre 4g, saturated fat 2.4g

This is Britain’s best-selling crisp – the most popular flavour from the most popular brand. As a result, Walkers, owned by PepsiCo, is under pressure to make them healthier. And it has made quite a lot of progress. More than 20 years ago it changed the cooking oil from a palm oil derivative to a sunflower/rapeseed mix, reducing the saturated fat content. Salt has also been reduced in the last few years.

Van de Bor gives these crisps a relatively decent score thanks to the pared-back ingredient list and moderately low salt content. But I fear the drive to make these crisps healthier does mean the cheese and onion flavour is a bit muted and they lack real crunch. Still, not a bad crisp.

Taste: 5/10

Health: 5/10

Eat Real Hummus Chips Tomato & Basil Sharing, £2.25, 110g

Calories (per 100g) 450, salt 1.06g, fibre 3.7g, saturated fat 1.4g

‘Source of fibre, no artificial ingredients, 30 per cent less fat, gluten-free, plant-based’ are the claims on the back of the pack which help justify Eat Real claiming these crisps are ‘good food’.

It does well on the salt front and the crisps are made from a mixture of chickpea flour, potato starch and rice flour. But in terms of fibre, a pack of standard Walkers crisps scores higher.

Van de Bor has given them a relatively good health score: ‘While the fibre content is not particularly impressive, the ingredients list is relatively simple compared with many products in this category.’

I’m not a fan of the tomato flavour, however – both sweet and underpowered – while the chickpea crisp itself feels joyless.

Taste: 3/10

Health: 5/10

Pringles Original Sharing Crisps, £1.75, 165g

Calories (per 100g) 528, salt 0.62g, fibre 4.1g, saturated fat 3g

Back in 2009 there was a huge row in court between HMRC and the owners of Pringles over whether this was a crisp or not.

The owners, now Kellogg’s, argued it had such a low potato content – its ingredients are dehydrated potato, corn flour, wheat flour, rice flour – that it was not a potato crisp and should avoid VAT. Either way, they remain a moreish, if unhealthy (and only slightly potato-y) snack, with a high fat content and long ingredient list.

One positive: it uses low sodium salt and has the lowest salt content of any of the crisps we tried.

Taste: 6/10

Health: 2/10 

Monster Munch, pickled onion flavour, 6x20g, £2.15 

Calories (per 100g) 492, salt 1.55g, fibre 1.7g, saturated fat 2.1g

The crisps many remember from their childhood as being strong enough to make your eyes water and your hair stand on end. Made of maize, today they’re packaged as ‘98 cals per pack’, ‘baked not fried’ and ‘no artificial colours or preservatives’.

Van de Bor, however, is unimpressed by the high salt, low fibre and long ingredient list. ‘The 98-calorie packs may help with portion control but that does not necessarily make them a nutritionally superior choice,’ she says.

In terms of flavour, if you want a nostalgia rush these do pack a tasty punch, however.

Taste: 6/10

Health: 0/10

Hula Hoops BBQ Beef Multipack Crisps, £2.35, 6 x 24g

Calories (per 100g) 506, salt 2.2g, fibre 2.6g, saturated fat 2.3g

These crisps, curiously, are the single most popular crisps in both the Tesco and Sainsbury’s meal deal. Made from potato starch and dried potato, they have a surprisingly high salt content, as well as scoring low on fibre and saturated fat. For Van de Bor there are no nutritional upsides to these crisps. But the BBQ beef flavour is not bad at all – a blast of Bovril in your mouth.

Taste: 5/10

Health: 0/10

Proper Chips Sour Cream & Chive Lentil Chips, £1, 20g

Calories (per 100g) 466, salt 2.6g, fibre 2.6g, sat fat 1.7g

Proper make very good popcorn. I’m less convinced by these crisps, which boast of being just 93 calories per pack – that may be because each crisp is a puffy bit of air with some bland sour cream flavouring.

The website explains that ‘lentils are high in protein and a source of fibre and iron, the perfect ingredient to make chips Proper’.

But Van de Bor is highly critical: ‘These are sold on the lentil angle but they have a similar salt content to crisps in this group and roughly the same amount of fibre as Hula Hoops.

‘The nutritional benefits are less impressive than the marketing might suggest.’

Taste: 4/10

Health: 0/10