Yogurt.

- Say who?

Harry Belzer.

- Who is Harry Belzer, and how did he come to this conclusion?

Mr. Belzer is a senior executive at NPD group, a market research group, who’s been following the food industry for decades:

“We started off with about 17% of all Americans eating yogurt in 2000, and we end the decade with something like 28% consuming yogurt on a regular basis,” he said. “No other category has seen that kind of increase in the absolute number of people using the product.” read more from the REFRESH blog…

Indeed, yogurt is a $4 billion industry with a substantial portion of supermarket dairy refrigerators dedicated to hundreds of varieties.

What you need to know:

Yogurt is healthy. This is largely based on the live & active “friendly” bacteria that help our intestines and keep us “regular”. While all yogurts have these probiotics, some are better at marketing their presence than others.In Europe, people have been enjoying the flavor and health benefits for centuries, but the US was relatively indifferent.

The problem with yogurt reaching mass market in America was its tart flavor. Not sweet enough. Food companies started to add fruit purees, sugar, colorings, and other goodies in order to make the products more appealing to American taste buds.

Oh, and a marketing blitz too.

Key marketing messages: Healthy, portion controlled, convenient, endless flavors, no cleanup.

Today yogurt enjoys a health halo status few foods reach. But most people who consume flavored brands regularly don’t notice the added junk that’s put in many products. Here’s an example of a strawberry yogurt from a leading brand:

Cultured Pasteurized Grade A Low Fat Milk, Sugar, Strawberries, Modified Corn Starch, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Nonfat Milk, Kosher Gelatin, Citric Acid, Tricalcium Phosphate, Natural Flavor, Pectin, Colored with Carmine, Vitamin A Acetate, Vitamin D3.

Who needs all that sugar and High Fructose Corn Syrup? Gelatin? corn starch?

Here’s what strawberry yogurt should contain:

Cultured Pasteurized Grade A Low Fat Milk, Strawberries, optionally – 1 tsp of sugar

What to do at the supermarket:

Buy PLAIN YOGURT. Not white yogurt that is lightly sweetened. Not Vanilla flavor. They’re all full of added sugar. Buy plain yogurt and sweeten it on your terms! Whether you add strawberries, a teaspoon of honey, or mix in some granola, you’ll be better off. Plus, plain yogurt can be purchased in bulk sizes, this providing an additional saving.

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You’re off to a meeting, flying to a conference, or simply got a hectic day to get through. You need an energy boost and don’t want a candy bar full of crazy ingredients. What do you do?

One healthy option is dried fruit, which, unlike their fresh cousins, can wait patiently in the pantry for over a year. We took a look at Dried Blueberries by Amport Foods, to see how good a (nutritious) deal we’re getting. Read more…

The days are getting colder and many families are switching from breakfast cereal to hot oatmeal. We took a look at Nature’s Path Organic Instant Hot Oatmeal – Apple Cinnamon to see just how good it would be to start of the day.

What you need to know:

The ingredient list (which does not appear on the company’s website) is short:

Organic rolled oats, organic evaporated cane juice, organic dried apple, organic cinnamon, sea salt, natural flavor.

Only 6 ingredients (good), but why is sugar #2 on the list? (In case you didn’t notice, “organic evaporated cane juice” is fancy-speak for sugar). At least we can understand what each ingredient is, expect for the last one. Natural flavor is a code word for some secret hush hush formula of herbs/spices/fragrances that gives this product a supposed edge over competitors. We’d rather have that spelled out for us too.

The nutrition panel says each packet contains 50 grams and will set you back 210 calories (before added milk). 64 calories come from the 14 grams of sugar inside. Since the FDA does not mandate labeling how much sugar is added to a product and how much is naturally present (through the apples, for example), it’s hard to know the exact ratio. It’s safe to assume though, as sugar in #2 in the ingredient list, that at least 3 teaspoons are added sugar, and not  sugar from the dried apples.

From a vitamin and mineral perspective, there are virtually non labeled as present, except for 10% iron. However, that’s simply because many organic products don’t get “artificially” fortified. We wouldn’t get too excited over all those B vitamins that most of us get enough of from other foods on a regular basis.

There are 4 grams of fiber (about 16% of the daily value which is good.)

Summary – we would be happy to recommend this product if Nature’s Path would cut down on the added sugar. Even non-organic competitors such as Quaker Oats only have 12 grams of sugar.

What to do at the supermarket:

Generally, organic products tend to have short, understandable ingredient lists (but not always – we’ve seen plenty of organic junk food). This product has too much sugar than we would like. Look for other options with less than 8 grams of sugar in the per serving (2 teaspoons), especially if they don’t have any fruit inside.

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On Friday, Dannon Company announced it had settled a class action suit to the tune of $35 Million. The lawsuit was filed in early 2008, alleging that Dannon knowingly misled consumers in its marketing activities around its Activia yogurt line. The massive false advertising campaign convinced shoppers to pay 30% more for yogurt containing “probiotic” bacteria because of the products’ supposed health benefits.

While no nutritionist doubts the health benefit of yogurt, the question asked is what’s so special about Activia’s probiotics compared to other brands, and in and of themselves. Seems like a judge was going to provide the answer, but executives at Dannon decided to fog things up by dishing out millions of dollars AND not admitting to any wrongdoing.

In case you are wondering, here’s what you’ll find inside Activia Strawberry Yogurt. Read more…

Earlier this year, Glacéau, a subsidiary of Coca Cola, introduced yet another vitamin water, dubbed Vitamin Water 10, due to its low caloric content of [fill in the blank] calories per serving.

The “center for responsible hydration”, as Glacéau like to call itself on their flash website, informs the consumer that it’s naturally sweetened, has only 10 calories and tastes great.

Sounds like a big deal. So we went ahead and checked what all the fuss was about. Turns out there are 3 different sweeteners added to the water, not one.

Read more…

Dried fruit are a tasty snack. They are supposedly as good as fresh fruit nutritionally, and have the added benefit of being available throughout the year, easy to store, durable, and versatile.

We decided to take a look at a well known brand, Sunsweet, which has been selling an Antioxidant Blend for the past few years. While the main ingredients are dried fruit, we were also surprised to find added sugar and oils in the list.

Read on for a full review of Sunsweet Antioxidant Blend.

Read more…

It’s not the most important meal of the day. And it’s not the heartiest either. Lunch, the get-it-on-the-run or have-it-at-the-computer meal doesn’t get enough respect. And how could it, when products like Oscar Meyer’s Lunchable’s take its name in vain.

We tried and tried to find something healthy and nutritious among the dozens of Lunchable products. Unfortunately all we encountered was a nutrition desert, left in shambles by sodium blizzards and trans fat torrents.

Read on for an analysis of Oscar Meyer’s Lunchables Turkey & Cheddar Cracker Stackers… Read more…

Yogurt is healthy. We all know that. It’s also easy to digest and requires no chewing. Perfect for babies. No wonder there are plenty of options for parents to choose from. Stonyfield Farms is a respected manufacturer, using only certified organic ingredients, and even contributes 10% of its profit to various eco-causes.

So when it comes to their YoBaby line of yogurts, we had very high expectations. Let’s take a look inside the label…

Read more…

Lean Cuisine, A Nestle brand of frozen dinners, is very popular with dieters. “Lean Cuisine” is considered a nutrient content claim by the FDA, so all products under this brand are required to meet the “lean” criteria per serving: less than 10 grams of fat, less than 4.5 grams of saturated fat, and less than 95 mg cholesterol.

We decided to take a look at Lean Cuisine’s Shrimp and Angel Hair Pasta described by Nestle as:

Shrimp and angel hair pasta in a creamy seafood sauce with accents of sherry, tossed with red peppers.

Read more…

If you have young children, you probably recognize the Danimals brand of yogurt drink and may have even bought some for your children.

Was it the Hannah Montana co-marketing, The mysterious LGG,  No High Fructose Corn Syrup, or the promise of “helping kids stay healthy every day” that made you choose?

We decided to take a look inside the product, to see just what our kids are getting… Read more…