Is a GoGurt a Healthy Go or a Junk Food No?

June 1, 2010   28 Comments

The convenience of yogurt in a tube is phenomenal. No need for spoons and SO easy to pack make GoGurts a potential healthy choice for parents looking for something fun to add to lunch boxes.

GoGurts are made by Yoplait, and as you can tell by the packaging, are directed at children. I can't make it past the dairy section without my kids screaming for them. They love anything with Scooby Doo, Dora, SpongeBob, Spiderman, etc. (you get the picture).

Do I want to say these are the HEALTHIEST snack ever? Yes. Can I do that? No.

The first clue that you have to their healthiness is the taste. I tried one called, "Shaggy's Cool Punch". It was SO sweet and tasted like punch.

The second clue is the second ingredient on the box. First you have milk, then you have sugar. In plain yogurt (which is healthy - see FAGE), the ingredients include solely milk and cultures. No sugar is added to plain yogurt and while we cannot expect children to eat plain yogurt, we can expect them to eat DIY Yogurt that has less added sugar.

How much more sugar than plain lowfat yogurt? Well, Yoplait added more than a teaspoon to each tube of yogurt. Which doesn't seem like that much, except that we are looking for a healthy snack.

And then there are the artificial colors and flavors which are added to Gogurts. Do you really need them to make it taste good? Does it need to have Blue #1 to get a child to eat it? Not with a teaspoon of sugar in it and the cool packaging!

Yoplait is coming out with a GoGurt called Simply Gogurt. The reason for this Gogurt review was that one of you asked me to review Simply Gogurt. Unfortunately, I was unable to find it at my local grocery store. Here is Yoplait's marketing line:

It's the deliciously fun filled tube with simple ingredients. Plus it's free from artificial colors, flavors and sweeteners. Just the goodness of 100% Yoplait® yogurt.

This sounds hopeful, but there is still the same amount of sugar in the tube of Simply Gogurt. I was able to find the nutritional information on the Yoplait site.

So, plain yogurt has 4.5 grams of sugar for 70 grams of yogurt, and the Simply GoGurt has 10 grams of sugar for 70 grams of yogurt. To put this in perspective, ice cream has about 15 grams of sugar for 70 grams (depending on the ice cream). So you are halfway between healthy and treat.

My suggestion is to buy the Simply Gogurt if you can find it. Then, treat it like a dessert. It is a "sometimes" snack versus an every day addition to the lunch box. Just be aware that you can do better with DIY Yogurt.

I don't want to be a super duper Grinch - but there is also the packaging to consider. A big tub of yogurt is much better for the planet versus a cardboard box and 8 plastic tubes. Okay, enough preaching for today :)

Anybody buy GoGurts? What is your strategy with these snacks?

Want to read about snacks?
20 Yummy Potato Chips for 120 Calories
Jamie Oliver's Delicious Cheesy Corn
Try Rhubarb - In Season Now and Super Yummy
KINDa Fabulous: A Nutritionally Dense Snack Bar