Jan 29 2008
Nutri-Grain: Now, This Is Just Ridiculous
I was feeling a little hungry this morning (odd, since I don’t usually). After sizing up the contents of the vending machine at work I decided to avail myself of a “Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain cereal bar” — at least, that’s what the manufacturer likes to call them.
I have vague memories of eating these things occasionally in the past, and I seem to recall them being sweet but otherwise reasonable breakfast bars based on whole wheat. But these memories are either the product of effective television advertising or just plain wrong. Check out the ingredient list on this sucker:
Filling (high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, strawberry puree concentrate, glycerin, sugar, modified corn starch, sodium citrate, citric acid, sodium alginate, natural and artificial strawberry flavor, dicalcium phosphate, modified cellulose, caramel color, malic acid, red #40), enriched flour (wheat flour, niacinamide, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate [vitamin B1], riboflavin [vitamin B2], folic acid), whole grain oats, sugar, sunflower oil, high fructose corn syrup, contains two percent or less of honey, calcium carbonate, dextrose, nonfat dry milk, wheat bran, salt, cellulose, potassium bicarbonate (leavening), natural and artificial flavor, mono- and diglycerides, propylene glycol esters of fatty acids, soy lecithin, wheat gluten, cornstarch, vitamin A palmitate, carrageenan, niacinamide, sodium stearoyl lactylate, guar gum, zinc oxide, reduced iron, pyridoxine hydrochloride [vitamin B6], thiamin hydrochloride [vitamin B1], riboflavin [vitamin B2], folic acid.
Holy crap. At least I’m not going to get beriberi, but if I was eating nothing but Nutri-Grain bars I think that would be the least of my worries. Apart from the disturbing length of the ingredient list, here are the most appalling things about this “food”:
- High fructose corn syrup is the first ingredient. Ordinary corn syrup is the second.
- It’s made almost entirely with white flour.
- “Whole grain oats” is a total cop-out — the bar is sprinkled with them but otherwise contains no visible oats. The “wheat bran” is listed in the “under 2%” section, between dry milk and salt. Indeed, the fiber content of the bar is a rather nebulous “<1%”.
- The bar contains 140 Calories, of which 25 are from fat and 50 are from sugars.
Anything would have made a healthier breakfast than this. Fig Newtons, despite being popularly considered a dessert, are better for you than this bar. A frickin’ donut would have contained less sugar and more protein. A piece of white toast with jam would have looked like health food by comparison.
And yet people buy these. If ol’ John Harvey were still alive he’d be livid. Well, in between giving people enemas, at least.
This crap should be illegal.
haha, you fell for a nutri-grain bar. They should come with a tag *caution, the nutri does not refer to nutricious, nor does the grain refer to whole grains*
Sadly, I’m not the only one. I tried Google searches for “nutri-grain healthy” and “nutri-grain unhealthy” and it would appear that the Internet consensus is that these things are good for you. An Amazon reviewer refers to these as “a nutritious snack food that is especially good for people on the run.”
And check out this horribly irresponsible piece of marketing from Kellogg’s: http://www.nutri-grain.com/HealthySnacking.html
Nutri-Grain bars – better for you than a bucket of cheese fries with ranch dressing.
Sadly, the bucket o’ fries probably has a lower glycemic index and better protein profile. The problem is stopping before you eat the whole bucket…