6 Yogurt Brands With Ingredients Dietitians Say to Avoid
While yogurt is touted as a healthy breakfast or snack, not all yogurts are health halos. Yes, there are plenty of smart nutritional choices, but some brands are loaded with added sugar, artificial flavors, and sweet toppings that they’re more like dessert in disguise, but advertised as yogurt.
Having too much sugar in your diet can lead to major problems like weight gain and obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Paying attention to the amount of added sugar in foods is vital for your overall well-being and the American Heart Association recommends no more than 6 teaspoons of sugar a day for women and no more than 9 teaspoons for me
Before thinking your go-to yogurt is a guilt-free option, you might want to check the label first. To help narrow down the list of yogurts, here are six yogurt brands that dietitians say to avoid.
Ellenos Yogurt
According to Susan Okonkowski, MPH, RDN, “Ellenos yogurt is just like a dessert, especially with the S’mores, Apple Crisp and Coconut Cream Pie flavors.” She says, “It’s a very unique yogurt that does have some added sugars and tastes like a rich treat.”
While the flavors are creative and no doubt, delicious, S’mores has 26 grams of sugar, Apple Crisp has 27 grams of sugar while the Coconut Cream Pie has 25 grams of sugar.
Noosa Yoghurt
Noosa Yoghurt is made on a fifth-generation dairy farm in Colorado that uses sustainable practices to create delicious and creamy yogurt. While it’s tasty, some of the flavors have too much sugar.
“With its sweet taste and creamy texture, Noosa Yoghurt is more reminiscent of a pudding or panna cotta than a breakfast or snack yogurt,” says Amy Brownstein, MS RDN.
She notes, “An eight-ounce container of blueberry yogurt has 18 grams of added sugar—36% of the recommended daily added sugar on a 2,000-calorie-per-day diet. Each serving contains more added sugar than protein, making this yogurt more of a dessert than a balanced breakfast or snack.”
YoCrunch with Oreo or M&M Topping
YoCrunch yogurt will satisfy a sweet craving, but in a very unhealthy way.
“This yogurt is topped with cookies and candy,” says Alexandria Hardy, RDN, LDN. “Even before the add-ins, it often contains 18-22g of added sugar, or 4.5-5.5 teaspoons. Once you mix in the toppings, you’re pushing 30+g – that’s more than a serving of Oreos!’
Oui by Yoplait Layered Desserts
Oui by Yoplait Layered Desserts isn’t hiding the fact that its yogurt is more like a sweet treat than a healthy option. While you should read the label, the name says it all.
“Oui by Yoplait Layered Desserts comes in various flavors and features a crème fraîche base layered over a graham cracker-style crust and topped with sweet sauces like caramel or fruit—mimicking a cheesecake,” says Nutritionist Rania Batayneh, MPH author of the bestselling book, The One One One Diet.
She explains, “Each jar has up to 270 calories, 16 grams of fat, and 16 grams of added sugar, but only 3 grams of protein. From both a nutritional and ingredient standpoint, this is an indulgent treat—not a balanced dairy snack.”
Haagen Dazs Strawberry Cultured Crème Yogurt Style Snack
Haagen‑Dazs Strawberry Cultured Crème Yogurt‑Style Snack is another terrible offender.
Batayneh says, “In a single 4‑oz cup you get 190 calories, 10 g of total fat (including 7 g saturated), 16 g total sugar (11 g added), but only 4 g of protein, which is low for a dairy snack.”
She explains, “It’s made with crème fraîche (cultured cream) and cane sugar, not a traditional yogurt base, which lends it a richer, more indulgent mouthfeel. “With nearly as much saturated fat and added sugar as some ice creams, this product is best viewed as a creamy treat, not a nutrition-first option.”
Yoplait Whips! Yogurt Mousse Chocolate
Yoplait Whips! Yogurt Mousse Chocolate is a flavored yogurt mousse that’s more of a dessert than anything and it contains harmful ingredients such as red #40, yellow #6, blue #1 dye, it’s also full of sugar–22 grams and 18 grams are added to be exact.
“Each serving contains around 25 grams of carbs and just 5 grams of protein, which is low compared to Greek or high-protein yogurts,” says Batayneh. “It’s designed to satisfy a sweet tooth—not to keep you full or support balanced nutrition.”
