According to Ferrero, the makers of the chocolate hazelnut spread, Nutella, “breakfast loves Nutella”. Well, there are plenty of reasons why we should not love Nutella for breakfast or any other meal during your day!
A Canadian physician who looked at the ingredients in Nutella doesn’t think we should be consuming it at all. Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, an obesity specialist at the University of Ottawa, Canada, found much more sugar and far fewer hazelnuts in Nutella than the company’s advertising would lead you to believe. He shared his results in this video that every parent should watch before serving Nutella for breakfast.
This is quite a shame because Nutella does such great work helping fund school lunch programs and bringing awareness to the number of kids going to school without breakfast. But this can’t make up for the fact that they are giving kids Nutella for breakfast.
According to Freedhoff, an average serving of two tablespoons contains five hazelnuts, a dash of skim milk powder, whey powder and cocoa powder, half a teaspoon of palm oil and 5.5 teaspoons of sugar. That’s the same amount of sugar contained in five Oreo cookies!
Ferrero, the makers of the famous spread, have previously gotten in trouble with parents who belatedly realized the company’s wholesome image is not telling the whole story.
In fact, Ferrero lost a $3-million class-action lawsuit led by a California mother who said the company used misleading advertising to sell Nutella.
“It is not healthy, breakfast does not love it,” said Freedhoff in his video. “You might love it, but this does not help to make a nutritious breakfast fun. It helps to make a nutritious breakfast non-nutritious.”
Here is the nutritional breakdown of Nutella:
Nutella Ingredients: sugar, modified palm oil, hazelnuts, cocoa, skimmed milk powder, whey powder, lecithin, and vanillin
Nutritional: Nutella contains 70% saturated fat and processed sugar by weight. A two-tablespoon (37 gram) serving of Nutella contains 200 calories, including 99 calories from 11 grams of fat (3.5g of which are saturated) and 80 calories from 21 grams of sugar. In addition, the spread contains 15mg of sodium and 2g of protein per serving.
In Freedhoff’s conclusion, he states, “Make no mistake: Nutella is spreadable candy.”
Healthy Alternative:
Ingredients:
- 2 cups hazelnuts, soaked
- ½ cup Agave
- 2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
- ½ Tsp Salt
- ½ Cup Raw cacao powder
- 6 Tbsp Raw Almond Milk
Method:
Drain and rinse the nuts and place in a food processor or high powered blender. Blend until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed. Once the hazelnuts turn into a smooth consistency, add the sweetener, vanilla, salt, and cocoa powder and blend until smooth. Add the milk in last and very slowly only as much as needed to reach your desired consistency.