Kettle Korn not as healthy as it looks
Jill Nicholls, a New Zealand Registered Dietitian takes a closer look at NZ Kettle Korns’s lightly salted, slightly sweet popcorn.
Label speak’’ is clever marketing that makes claims that sound good, but are often irrelevant. After a glance at the alluring package, I was keen to find out if ‘‘label speak’’ is promoting NZ Kettle Korn?
NZ Kettle Korn says it has only four, all-natural ingredients – this is highlighted on the front of the pack. The ingredient list tells us the four are popcorn, sugar, corn oil and salt in that order.
‘‘Made in small batches’’ with the NZ made kiwi logo on the front of the package makes you think it is a boutique snack and not a mass produced and unhealthy snack food from the USA.
The back of the packet goes on to tell us that the history of Kettle Korn originated in Germany and is over 200 years old.
So this product seems to be ticking all the boxes for the well known adage, ‘‘Eat real food, only what your Grandmother would recognise’’.
The back of the packet further supports this with:
* All natural * Vegetarian and vegan friendly * Gluten, peanut, soy and dairy-free * A wholegrain product * A healthier snack alternative * 100 per cent Kiwi made (and proud of it).
The only place you can really make an informed decision as to whether something is healthy or not is in the nutrition information panel.
Here we find the facts and learn that the total fat per 100g is nearly 19g (almost 20 per cent fat) and the sugar is nearly 25g per 100g (25 per cent or a quarter sugar).
Although it is pointed out that popcorn is a wholegrain snack, the fibre content is not listed. I suspect this is because it is not that high.
So, yes, NZ Kettle Korn is another product using ‘‘label-speak’’ and confusing the consumer.
My advice is never believe the hype on the front of a packet. Always turn it over and find the nutrition information panel. Once you find the percentage of fat and sugar, the only other question you need to ask yourself if it is high, is ‘‘what ingredients have caused this product to have this amount of sugar/ fat’’?
Sometimes it can be real food like dried fruit or nuts which at least will make you feel full for quite a while but, in this case, the 25 per cent sugar is just added white sugar.
Plain popcorn can be a healthy snack if you just pop the corn in the microwave without butter or oil, and flavour it with a bit of spice, such as cinnamon. It is easy to chew so, therefore, an easy snack to overeat on.
Portion size is important. NZ Kettle Korn suggests a 25g serving which is appropriate and would only give you 1 teaspoon of sugar but, like crisps, the packet is 150g and easy for less than six people to eat in one sitting.
This makes NZ Kettle Korn yet another snack food contributing to the obesity epidemic, but pretending in its marketing that it is not.
❚ Jill Nicholls is a New Zealand Registered Dietitian.