Why the lawsuit against Nutella is bunk.

[WhiteTara]

http://www.slate.com/id/2300390/

This will make everyone happy to know that Nutella won a lawsuit about its nutritional value. Dig in! I'm getting my spoon now!

Go Ahead, Eat Chocolate for Breakfast
Why the lawsuit against Nutella is bunk.
By Nadia Arumugam
Posted Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2011, at 8:17 AM ET


Nutella for breakfast? Go for it.

Athena Hohenberg used to serve her kid Nutella first thing in the morning. She says Ferrero's labeling and television marketing convinced her that the chocolate-and-hazelnut spread could form part of a wholesome, balanced breakfast for her 4-year-old daughter. Then a friend told Hohenberg that, nutritionally, Nutella resembles a candy bar, and Hohenberg—shocked and angry—filed a lawsuit against Ferrero in California. Similar criticisms have been lobbed at Ferrero in the U.K., over a TV commercial that again promoted Nutella as family-friendly breakfast food. The Advertising Standards Authority received 31 complaints that the ad falsely leads viewers to consider the spread healthful by concealing its high amounts of sugar and fat, and the ASA was under pressure to ban it.

At the end of June, however, the ASA rejected those complaints—and rightly so. Indeed, judge Marilyn Huff, who will preside over the Ferrero USA hearing on Aug. 29, should follow the ASA's lead. Nutella isn't the breakfast demon that Hohenberg and others make it out to be, certainly not when consumed as advertised.

On packaging and on TV, no one tucks into half a jar with a spoon, or a bare finger; it's applied judiciously on a slice of wheat toast. The label's example of "a tasty yet balanced breakfast" includes a glass of skim milk, orange juice, and Nutella on whole-wheat bread. A recent U.S. commercial shows three kids passing up on heart-healthy whole-wheat toast with customary disdain, until it's gilded with Nutella. So, yes, Ferrero is touting Nutella as nutritious fare, but not uniquely. It's nutritious as part of a larger landscape of wholesome foods that by themselves lack the taste appeal and indulgence of chocolate. Nutella makes the medicine go down.

snip

You're lucky if your child eats breakfast at all. In a recent study undertaken by Kellogg's on breakfast habits, 40 percent of mothers interviewed said their kids don't. Other research shows that 37 percent of young adults miss breakfast, too. Folk wisdom holds that it's the most important meal of the day; now science confirms this really could be the case. A 2005 article reviewing more than 30 studies on breakfast consumption by children and adolescents surmised that skipping breakfast was linked to a higher intake of high-fat snacks throughout the day and that eating breakfast could positively benefit cognitive function and academic performance. There's also a consensus that breakfast-eating children have better overall nutrition and lower Body Mass Indices. Convincing parents that breakfast is fundamental isn't the problem; the challenge lies with convincing the kids. This is where Nutella, or rather its hint of cocoa, steps in. There's no incentive like chocolate.

snip

Our problem with Nutella may, in part, be fused with entrenched cultural beliefs about chocolate. Chocolate is perceived as both a reward and a guilty pleasure: a rare indulgence permissible on special occasions, or savored in secrecy. The premise that we should embrace this "treat" as functional, everyday fare is entirely at odds with such deeply embedded ideas, and so we reject it. Or sue it.

[ejpoeta]

1. how is it any worse than that box of captain crunch or any other sugary cereal?

look at that 'balanced breakfast' that is part of? you will see it is the same mix of other things... a glass of milk, a glass of orange juice, some fruit, some toast or something that is all the four food groups that that thing they are selling you isn't. I tend to give my kids toast and they will have honey on it. I will put some butter on it ( tend to put it on sparingly as that is how i have always been) and then a little honey). they love that! but it could just as easily be cinnamon sugar. We did that a lot as kids. Or brown sugar... did that too. Or peanut butter... or nutella.... or jam.... any of those things is fine as long as you do it sparingly. When I make pancakes my oldest would pour half a bottle of syrup on it if I didn't keep an eye on her.

[Warpy]

2. That was my point on another board

that "as part of this nutritious breakfast" has been getting junk food sugary cereals off the hook for decades and Nutella basically did the same thing.

Put it on whole grain bread fortified with soy flour and add a glass of milk and the kid is both happy and well fed.