6 Ice Cream Brands That Are Mostly Air and Additives
Unless you are in denial, you probably understand that ice cream isn’t a diet food. Although it is delicious and nothing beats a cool, sweet cone of the frozen dessert on a hot summer day, it isn’t going to help you shave inches off your waistline. However, that doesn’t mean all brands are equal regarding health. Some popular brands found at your local grocery store contain artificial ingredients, flavors, and preservatives. Here are 6 ice cream brands that are mostly air and additives.
Edy’s
Edy’s ice cream is delicious, but many artificial colors and additives are on the ingredient list. Tara Collingwood, MS, RDN, CSSD, LD/N, ACSM-CPT, a Board Certified Sports Dietitian and co-author of the Flat Belly Cookbook for Dummies, recently told us that the flavors are commonly made with polysorbate 80, carrageenan, and high-fructose corn syrup.
Kemps
Kemps is popular and tastes great, but the ingredient list isn’t the best and includes additives, artificial flavoring, and high fructose corn syrup. Guar gum, mono- and diglycerides, and carrageenan are a few of the worst culprits.
Great Value
Great Value ice cream at Walmart will definitely save you money, and shoppers maintain it is delicious. However, you might be compromising your health. Collingwood explains that Walmart can sell it for less than most of the competition because they keep costs down with “synthetic colorings, assorted emulsifiers, and titanium dioxide for extra whiteness.”
Blue Bunny
Blue Bunny is readily available at most stores across the country. However, the popular ice cream uses additives, artificial flavors, and high fructose corn syrup in its pints. Certain flavors are healthier and made with higher quality ingredients compared to others, so make sure to check the label of the flavor. Vanilla, for example, is made with just milk, cream, sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla.
Turkey Hill
Turkey Hill is another big national brand of ice cream that offers a lot of bang for the buck in terms of taste. However, it is made with ingredients similar to Kemps and Blue Bunny: artificial food coloring, cellulose gel, cellulose gum, soybean oil, and mono- and diglycerides, just a few of the names on the ingredients list, which also includes high fructose corn syrup.
Blue Ribbon Classics
If you have done any research on ice cream, you probably already know that many of kinds of frozen treats you consider ice cream, actually aren’t. Collingwood points out that Blue Ribbon Classics, a popular grocery store ice cream, is marketed as “frozen dairy desserts” and is “not true ice cream.” Ingredients include dairy milk solids, palm kernel oil, high-fructose corn syrup, artificial colors(Yellow 5, Blue 1), and artificial flavors.
