Nutrition: Nutella: These ingredients are in the spread

“Start the day with a smile,” is the admonition of a well-known food giant. And sure. We would probably all like to be in a good mood and happy in the morning – and preferably right up to the evening. What should help us, at least that’s what a current advertisement suggests: Nutella. It makes you happy, it’s part of it. A spread heart on the bread symbolizes love that we are passing on.

But how much good are we really doing ourselves with the nut nougat cream from the Italian manufacturer Ferrero? And why nut nougat cream at all? “Actually, of course, the correct name should Sugar Fat Cream hot,” says Armin Valet, food and nutrition expert at the Hamburg consumer advice center.

Look at the ingredient list of the product, the reason for this is clear: the spread consists mainly of sugar, followed by palm oil. They must therefore be stated right at the beginning. Consumers do not know the exact amount.

Nutella: Sugar and fat are the main ingredients

Consumer advocate Valet specifies: “The cream consists of more than 50 percent sugar and about 30 percent from fat – mostly Palm oil.” In other words, more than half of what we smear on our bread with Nutella is refined sugar. Other ingredients are:

Soy lecithin, which is used as an emulsifier, i.e. as a binding agent, and vanillin for the flavor follow. Interesting: On the list of ingredients, the hazelnuts and skimmed milk powder are the only ones that are greased and thus highlighted.

Chris Methmann, Managing Director of the consumer protection organization Foodwatch, reported in an interview with our editors that random samples in Nutella also already impurities detected by mineral oil. According to Methmann, this could get into food through machines, for example, or through the drying of nuts on asphalt.

Nutritional values ​​in Nutella are equivalent to a candy bar

power with these ingredients the morning really the day? From a health and nutritional point of view, probably not. The nutritional values ​​correspond roughly to those of a chocolate bar such as Snickers. And for few people such a bar would seriously be an adequate breakfast – certainly not for the children. Also read: Diabulimia – When diabetes and an eating disorder come together

It is also clear to nutrition expert Valet: “This is not a spread to be recommended, especially if you eat it in large quantities.” Much more it contributes to the fact that children develop unhealthy eating routines on the breakfast table and later obesity is promoted as a result. The same applies to certain diseases that are associated with sugar and saturated fatty acids – such as diabetes or cardiovascular diseases.

Nevertheless, parents and grandparents in particular keep buying Nutella. “It just tastes delicious” isn’t the only thing they get consumer advocates heard again and again as an argument. And there’s something to that, explains Valet: “We know from studies that our reward center in the brain jumps particularly at this combination of sugar and fat, which is also contained in Nutella.”

Nutella popular worldwide – also thanks to clever marketing

The fact that Nutella has established itself on breakfast tables not only in Germany but worldwide is not only due to this, but also to a clever and consistent approach marketing strategy. The sweet spread is now sold in most European countries, including North America and Australia, but also in some countries in South America, Africa and Asia – such as China, Japan and Turkey.

For years, the cream has been presented in advertising in the context of many positive qualities – such as a healthy breakfast, joy, performance and professional sports. A US court even upheld the adjectives “healthy” and “nutritious” in combination with Nutella “misleading advertising”. In Germany, too, Foodwatch managed to ensure that corresponding commercials with the national soccer team were discontinued in 2012. Also read: Foodwatch warns inflation will lead to nutrient deficiencies

The hype surrounding Nutella is difficult to understand from a nutritional point of view. Also that there is now even one World Nutella Day there (February 5), seems strange to experts. “Obviously it wasn’t Ferrero who called the day himself, but a fan – at least that’s the official version,” says Valet. “I don’t know if that’s true or if that’s also part of the whole myth.” If you look at what other world days there are – such as World AIDS Day, World Cancer Day or World Water Day – , such a day is “more than irritating” for an unhealthy product.

There are no really healthy alternatives – but for everyone who absolutely wants to have something sweet for breakfast, at least products whose composition from the point of view of nutrition expert Valet are significantly cheaper: “Especially with organic products, there are spreads that really deserve the name nut nougat cream,” says the consumer advocate. “The hazelnut content is up to 45 percent.”

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