Does it matter that Nutella isn't good for you?

A San Diego mother is suing Ferrero, the maker of chocolate-hazelnut spread Nutella, for claiming the product is a "nutritious" part of a healthy breakfast. Athena Hohenberg claims she was "shocked" to learn that Nutella was actually "the next best thing to a candy bar." The plaintiff hopes the claim will become a class action lawsuit, so that other mothers can share in any monetary judgement. Is her anger justified?

Yes. Nutella is junk food: Nutella's main ingredients are sugar and palm oil, says Travis Saunders at Obesity Panacea. "Roughly half the calories in Nutella are from sugar, and the other half are from fat." A single serving contains precisely no Vitamin A or C, and "just 10 percent of [your] recommended intake of Vitamin E." So in what way, exactly, is this "nutritious"?

"Nutella — delicious? Yes! Nutritious? Probably not"

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

No way. This lawsuit is ridiculous: Here's some advice for Hohenberg, says Amy Scattergood at L.A. Weekly. "If you normally feed [your kids] good food, a jar of Nutella now and then isn't going to kill anyone." Sure, it isn't any better than the "Froot Loops and Egg McMuffin and supersized Coke" you might buy your kid from time to time. But you don't need a lawsuit to keep your children safe. "A little responsible parenting" will do just fine.

"California mother sues Nutella: OMG it's not health food"

If Nutella was healthy, it would be awful: Whole Foods made its own chocolate hazelnut spread a few years ago, says Richard Gorelick in The Baltimore Sun, and it was a "much better-made product." It had none of the "hydrogenated oils" prevalent in European foods, and "nothing artificial." But the result was "completely without appeal." Put simply, "Nutella is so good because it's bad."

"Morning reading — wine smuggling, Nutella and Let's Move"