How healthy are Special K snack bars?
Posted by kathryn in Snacks and Labels & advertising
I was wandering the supermarket over the weekend, looking at cereal bars. A client had asked about the Special K Bars and I wanted to take a look for myself.
What are they?
Made by Kelloggs, these snack bars are part of the Special K cereal range, they have a yoghurty drizzle and come in two flavours – original and mango & passionfruit.
They’re popular because each bar is low in fat (1.2g), carbohydrate (17.9g) and energy (419 kJ). The byline is “Delicious bars with light, crisp flakes of Special K and a yoghurt flavoured drizzle”.
Are they healthy?
Despite each bar having a low-ish energy and fat count, I’m not putting Special K bars in the healthy category. Part of the reason they’re so low in fat, etc is because they’re very light. Each bar only weighs 25g, meaning as well as “flakes of Special K” and a “yoghurty drizzle”, there’s a lot of air in there.
However, my main question is why does a small, cereal based snack bar need over 50 ingredients?
Yes, the mango and passionfruit bars really do contain that many ingredients. It’s a hard list to read, but includes:
- hydrogenated soy bean oil – a source of trans fats
- hydrogenated palm oil – a source of trans and saturated fats
- only 4.5% “mango and passionfruit flavoured pieces”, which are primarily made of apple puree concentrate, backed up with apricot and pear puree concentrate, and only 0.2% passion juice and 0.2% mango puree
- sugar and sweeteners disguised under five different names – sugar, barley malt extract, glucose, fructose and invert sugar
Healthy snacks are an important part of a good diet, but you’re better to eat something that’s a bit less processed.
05 September, 2007
Comments
Oh dear, old uncle W.K Kellogg would be disgusted! It’s a far cry from the simple corn flake. I’ve posted on Limes & Lycopene on the problem with nutritional labelling, if anyone is remotely interested, here: http://www.kathrynelliott.com.au/blog/2007/08/29/beware-the-word-natural.
What I find most amusing about Kellogg’s is when you visit the global company website is the final line on the Kellogg’s History page:
“Kellogg icons such as Tony the Tiger, Snap! Crackle! Pop!, Toucan Sam and Ernie Keebler are among the most recognized characters in advertising.” (http://www.kelloggcompany.com/company.aspx?id=39)
Phew! Lucky their final paragraph wasn’t, “Kellogg’s cereals such as X, Y and Z are among the most recognised and reputable in the health and nutrition industry”.
Thanks for your comment Paul. I should mention in this, I’m not specifically picking on Kellogg’s. Well that’s not true, I am picking on one of their products in this post! But while Special K bars are one of their products and I don’t think they’re very good, Kellogg’s are not alone in this. When I’m back from hols, I’ll be taking a look at some more products.
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