What’s The Best Yogurt?
Yogurts have long been a favourite snack for many hoping to lose weight. You’ll be surprised to learn that many of these yogurts have similar amounts of calories and sugar to a Cadbury flake. Not such a good snack after all!
The Shocking Truth
Cadbury Flake
Glenisk Greek “Style”
Nearly identical sugar content!
Below, I’ve listed yogurts per 100g, as this was the average serving size. A big surprise for most people will be that Glenisk are some of the worst offenders for sugar. These are specifically marketed as “organic” and “low fat”, but are some of the highest in both sugar, calories and have a high amount of ingredients.
The One Ingredient Rule
Yogurts in my opinion should have 1 ingredient – yogurt and also maybe probiotics but the jury is out on whether probiotics are actually that effective. The more ingredients the more it’s processed, if its highly processed its highly suspect, the horse meat scandal should prove that, as again meat should have 1 ingredient.
Protein per 100g in Yogurt is around 4g average, which isn’t that high compared to chicken for example, at around 25g per 100g and even broccoli has 3g of protein per 100g.
Understanding the Sugar Content
The 7 Sugar Sachet Test
When you’re comparing the sugar of any yogurt you buy, bare in mind that a sachet you would know from coffee shops is 3g, so Glenisk’s Greek “Style”, “Low Fat” and “Organic” yogurt has an equivalent 7 of those sachets in its 125g tub. Would you put 7 sugars in your coffee?
The Complete Breakdown
Here’s how popular yogurt brands compare per 100g:
Onken Natural Yogurt
The healthiest widely available option
Ingredients: 1 ingredient – yogurt
Old MacDonnells Natural
Available in convenient 100g pots
Ingredients: 2 ingredients – yogurt & probiotics
Muller Light
“Fat Free” but highly processed
Ingredients: 12+ ingredients including aspartame & phenylalanine
Sojade Soya Organic
0% Lactose option
Ingredients: 8+ ingredients and probiotics
Yoplait Chocolate
High sugar dessert yogurt
Ingredients: 9+ ingredients
Glenisk Greek “Style”
Low Fat but high sugar
Ingredients: 9+ ingredients
Glenisk Honey & Granola
Organic Low Fat – Highest sugar
Ingredients: 15+ ingredients
My Recommendations
Onken Natural Yogurt
Onken Natural Yogurt seemed to be the best brand I could find in convenience stores – so easily accessibly to most people. It had 69kcals, was low sugar and fat and had similar levels of protein to any other yogurt. However it seemed to only come in a large tub so would require portion control.
Old MacDonnells Natural Yogurt
Portion control is a big problem for a lot of overweight people so they may be better choosing Old MacDonnells brand instead as it was easily available in 100g pots.
Muller Light
Muller Lights Fat free yogurt while being low in calories, sugar and fat, is highly processed and contains aspartame a controversial artificial sweetener.
Key Takeaways
- Glenisk, Yoplait and most other big brand yogurts should be viewed in much the same way as any sugary treat, to be enjoyed in moderation
- You should always check your labels for sugar, fat, calories and artificial sweeteners like aspartame
- A truly healthy yogurt will be low in all of these
- The fewer ingredients, the better – ideally just yogurt
- Don’t be fooled by “organic” or “low fat” marketing – check the sugar content
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