It shouldn’t come as a shock that a hazelnut and chocolate paste you can spread on almost anything probably isn’t that great for your health. Nothing gets that creamy by chance. Last month, an intrepid Redditor found a graphic that German news source Welt ran breaking down the key ingredients of Nutella.
That Redditor decided to share the finding the English speaking world and the whole thing caught fire via Twitter (as things sometimes do). The revelation here is that although Nutella only has five ingredients, cocoa and hazelnut aren’t the biggest components. Not by a damn sight.
That’s a lot of sugar per jar. According to the nutritional label on the back of the jar, each 2 tablespoon serving of blissful Nutella has 21 grams or 1.4 tablespoons of white refined sugar. With that you do get a dose of cacao, hazelnut, powdered milk, and palm oil. The latter also has big question marks around its safety for human consumption. Those question marks were big enough for Italy’s biggest grocer to scrap all products with palm oil from stores earlier this year.
Again, the sugar content shouldn’t be too shocking. Something that’s insanely sweet is bound to have a huge amount of refined sugar in it. However Nutella has often marketed itself as a healthy snack — a breakfast food, even — especially for kids.
Ferrero, Nutella’s parent company, issued a statement standing fast on their belief that their product is perfectly fine. “One of Ferrero’s core nutritional beliefs is that small portion sizes help people to enjoy their favourite foods in moderation.” Ferrero continued, “the labelling on all our products enables consumers to make informed choices and helps ensure that Nutella can be enjoyed as part of a balanced diet.”
Which seems to be what many fans are, essentially, saying:
https://twitter.com/TimTheBombTV/status/832219464531791873
Or they’ve gone into complete denial:
— ChuKa (@Chuka___) February 15, 2017
Still, each SPOONFUL of Nutella has just over one-half the amount of sugar as an entire can of regular Coca-Cola — or, more bluntly, two servings of Nutella has more sugar than a can of Coke. Add that to the possibility of the palm oil causing cancer, and maybe it’s time we learn to love spreading vegemite on your toast instead.
(Via Business Insider)
