Going shopping with the kids at this time of year turns into real endurance challenges for many parents. The fault lies with Easter eggs, one of the unavoidable traditions of the season. There is no aisle that is not filled with these oval chocolates wrapped in colorful paper.
The tradition began in the 12th century, in France, after the return of Louis VII from the Crusades. At the time, the king was received with a celebration and with various products from the explored lands. In addition to vegetables and meat, eggs were the protagonists. From then on, every year family and friends were presented with eggs made from the most diverse materials (from glass to wood). The versions we know today — the chocolate ones — only appeared a few centuries later in French pastry shops.
No matter how hard we try, they always end up in the hands of kids. Nutritionist Lia Faria warns that, despite being “typical sweets for this time of year”, the biggest problem is “the consumption portion” of these chocolates.
“It is very easy for a child or adult to eat most or all of a chocolate egg during Easter without being aware of the nutritional impact of that consumption. Chocolate eggs contain around 50 to 60 g of sugar per 100 g of product, and, taking into account that most of them weigh around 150 grams, we are talking about 75 to 90 grams of sugar per Easter egg, which corresponds between 15 and 18 packets of sugar.”, explains the specialist to NiT.
Still, Lia Faria says that everything is a question of “balance”. “The ideal is to divide the egg consumption over one or two weeks, and this way it is possible to enjoy these sweets without excessive sugar consumption”, he adds.
In all the eggs analyzed, the predominant macronutrients are, unsurprisingly, carbohydrates (of which sugars). The amount of saturated fat is also not satisfactory. The presence of these two nutrients results in chocolates that can provide more than the calories needed for an entire day, if consumed completely in a single day, especially for those who are losing weight.
So that you don’t make bad choices, NiT asked nutritionist Lia Faria to make a ranking of the worst white-label chocolate eggs on sale in supermarkets. “Some supermarkets, namely Pingo Doce, Auchan and Mini Price, did not have their own brand chocolate eggs. For this ranking, eggs from brands only available in these supermarkets, to the best of our knowledge, were used”, he warns.
The list includes eight and the one you should really avoid contains 527 calories and 60 grams of sugar per 100 grams. Therefore, if you eat this amount, more than half of what you are ingesting is sugar.
Click on the gallery and discover the eggs you shouldn’t consume this Easter, based on the amount of sugar.
