Nutritional balance of sugary chocolates - 2011

[PEREZGONZALEZ Jose D (2011). Nutritional balance of sugary chocolates. Journal of Knowledge Advancement & Integration (ISSN 1177-4576), 2011, pages 39-42.] [Printer friendly]

Nutritional balance of sugary chocolates

The nutritional balance of sugary chocolates was studied by Pérezgonzález in 20111. He found that a sample of chocolate bars, chocolate blocks and bonbons currently available in New Zealand shared a similar nutritional profile characterized as being low in protein, high in fat, high in saturated fat, low in fiber and low in sodium (Pérezgonzález, 2011b2). Chocolates with extra source of sugars (eg, added caramel) differed from other chocolates in also being high in sugars and high in carbohydrate (see profile in illustration 2).

On average, sugary chocolates have a nutritional balance of BNI 128.26s, being particularly unbalanced towards excess of sugars.

Illustration 1: Nutrition information (sugary chocolates)
BNI 128.26s 0.00
Food, 100g 2011 Ideal
Protein 3.9 23.2
Carbohydrate 69.5 63.9
Sugars 57.0 < 11.6
Fat 19.0 12.9
Saturated fat 12.1 < 5.2
Fiber 0.0 7.0
Sodium 0.103 < 0.465
Kcal 464.6 464.6
kJul 1943.9 1943.9
Illustration 2: Nutritional profile (sugary)
60% *
55% *
50% *
45% *
40% *
35% * *
30% * *
25% * *
20% * *
15% * *
10% * *
5% * * *
mid p c f fb
max s sf na
5% * * *
10% * *
15% * *
20% * *
25% * *
30% *
35% *
40% *
45% *
50% *
ideal % = grey cells; actual % = asterisk (*)

International standards

Sugary chocolates show small changes in their indexing across different international Recommended Dietary Intakes (RDIs), with the US/CAN index showing the largest discrepancies, namely because US/CAN standards allow for more sugars to be consumed (see illustration 3). Overall, however, all nutritional indexes are high and relatively similar to each other, which indicates that the nutritional composition of sugary chocolates would be deemed highly unbalanced in different countries.

Illustration 3: Nutritional balance across different RDIs (sugary chocolates)
Sugary chocolates average 128.26 128.26 98.26 128.26 124.26
Product100g Company BNI WHO US/CAN AUS/NZ UK
Perky Nana mighty Cadbury 102.96 102.96 72.96 102.96 98.96
Mars Mars 124.31 124.31 94.31 124.31 120.31
Mars caramel Mars 124.85 124.85 94.85 124.85 120.85
Crunchie Cadbury 132.34 132.34 102.34 132.34 128.34
Whittaker's rum & raisins Whittaker's 132.64 132.64 102.64 132.64 128.64
Pixie caramel Nestle 139.13 139.13 109.13 139.13 135.13
M&M's milk chocolate Mars 140.53 140.53 110.53 140.53 136.53

Correlations between indexes are also perfect and statistically significant. This suggests that the nutritional balance reported by the BNI™ index matches that of other nutritional standards. (Said otherwise, that sugary chocolates and bonbons tend to form a similar hierarchy when indexed using different international standards).

Illustration 4: Correlations between RDIs
BNI WHO US/CAN AUS/NZ
WHO 1.000
(sig.) .000
US/CAN 1.000 1.000
(sig.) .000 .000
AUS/NZ 1.000 1.000 1.000
(sig.) .000 .000 .000
UK 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000
(sig.) .000 .000 .000 .000

Author

Jose D PEREZGONZALEZ (2011). Massey University, Turitea Campus, Private Bag 11-222, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand. (JDPerezgonzalezJDPerezgonzalez).


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