When you’re cruising through the grocery store for something sweet, you might notice a resurgence of zero-sugar foods and low-sugar treats. These snacks, which were big in the ’90s, seem to be making a comeback.
Nabisco is about to have its own option with a planned rollout of Oreo Zero Sugar. This cookie promises to give you the same Oreo taste you know, but without added sugar. “Oreo Zero Sugar offers the classic taste of Oreo, while allowing you to keep your health and wellness goals,” the Oreo website description reads. The brand also notes that these cookies come in two per pack, noting that this is your “portion control and sweet tooth companion.”
But dietitians have concerns, both about what’s in this cookie and the messaging around it. “It’s okay to have a regular cookie in the context of a well-balanced diet,” Jessica Cording, RD, the author of The Little Book of Game-Changers, tells SELF. Here’s what’s in these cookies, plus what dietitians want you to keep in mind when it comes to sugar-free treats as a whole.
What’s in Oreo Zero Sugar?
The full ingredients list is on the official Oreo website. Here’s what these cookies contain:
- Unbleached enriched flour
- Maltitol
- Canola oil
- Palm oil
- Polydextrose
- Cornstarch
- Cocoa
- Baking soda
- Sorbitol
- Salt
- Soy lecithin
- Chocolate
- Artificial flavor
- Sucralose
- Acesulfame potassium
Worth noting: This cookie contains three artificial sweeteners (maltitol, sorbitol, and sucralose)—keep that in mind for later. The ingredients list for regular Oreo cookies is very similar, but includes sugar and high fructose corn syrup instead of the artificial sweeteners.
Nabisco points out on the label that this is “not a low-calorie food.”
Sugar content aside, Oreo Zero Sugar cookies have a similar nutritional profile to regular Oreos. “It’s basically an Oreo,” Scott Keatley, RD, cofounder of Keatley Medical Nutrition Therapy, tells SELF.
Two of the zero-sugar cookies contain 90 calories, while two regular Oreos have about 107 calories. (The standard Oreo label lists one serving as three cookies, so you have to do a little math to compare these one-to-one.) The fat content is almost identical too. The only big difference is that regular Oreos contain 9.3 grams of sugar for the same amount you’d eat of Oreo Zero Sugar.
You probably already know this, but sugar-free cookies are not a more nutritious food.
While Nabisco suggests that these cookies are healthy (or, at least, healthier than an average cookie), dietitians say that’s not really the case. “Swapping sugar with sweeteners doesn’t make it more nutritious, and it remains an ultra-processed food with little nutritional benefit,” Keri Gans, RDN, dietitian and host of The Keri Report podcast, tells SELF.
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