Just when I think that everyone must know by now that Nutella, while admittedly delicious, is not part of a healthy breakfast, I hear a woman on the radio saying that she feeds her kids healthfully and gives them toast with Nutella about three times a week. I’ve said it before, putting Nutella on toast is essentially turning it into a candy bar. Well, lest spreading Nutella on your toast in the morning is too time consuming, or you want a Nutellalicious snack as well, there’s now “Nutella & GO!”, a single serve portable package of little bread sticks and Nutella.
But Nutella has nuts and milk, right? It must be a healthier option than a chocolate bar. Nope. The first ingredient? Sugar. The second ingredient? Modified palm oil. In one little package, there is 270 calories, 23 grams of sugar (that’s nearly 6 teaspoons!!!), and 14 grams of fat. On the upside, there’s 4 grams of protein, and 4% of your daily recommended calcium. Compare that to a chocolate bar (we’ll use Snickers as it’s apparently the best selling chocolate bar in North America): 250 calories, 27 grams of sugar, 12 grams of fat, 4 grams of protein, and 4% of your daily recommended calcium. Yes, a Snickers bar has an extra teaspoon of sugar, but aside from that they are quite similar. Other chocolate bars have similar or lesser quantities of sugar than Nutella & GO!
Sure, Nutella can be a tasty treat, but it’s certainly not a healthy one.
Feb 16, 2015 at 10:29 am
There was something on Marketplace last night about misleading labels on food such as the Nutella “part of a healthy breakfast” claim. I don’t know if it was a rerun or not; I don’t normally watch it. They did have some good points about the various labels they were pointing out but what really struck me was the fact that people were surprised Nutella wasn’t actually healthy to eat.I guess most people simply don’t put much time or mental effort into considering what they eat or feed to their family. Did you notice that Michele Ferrero, the creator of Nutella and the head of the Ferrero group died on Saturday?
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Feb 16, 2015 at 1:32 pm
I missed the episode, no cable :/ It was my former employer, so I’m sure it was good! I also missed the news that Michele Ferrero died. Thanks for sharing. I agree, people often don’t look beyond marketing and front of package claims, if they even look at health claims at all when choosing foods.
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Feb 16, 2015 at 10:36 am
My husband asked me about Nutella and I told him what you have written here.
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Feb 16, 2015 at 1:29 pm
Awesome! Thanks Shirley :)
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