Easter Sunday is coming this week and there have been concerns from nutritionists over the sugar content of Easter eggs. Approximately how much sugar is there in one egg and is it safe for children to consume several chocolates in one sitting?
A survey done by the Irish Examiner reveals that one regular sized Easter egg easily contains approximately 72 teaspoons of sugar or 15 times more than the recommended intake of sugar in children. Additionally, 20 percent of children celebrating the Easter Sunday will be given at least 5 eggs this weekend in celebration of the holiday. What's more is that relatives, especially doting grandparents, often vie to give the best and biggest eggs to children in their families.
Eva Orsmond, of Operation Transformation fame recommends parents to look at the nutritional information of the chocolate eggs and consult with other parents if it's okay to give their children treats. "It is a great idea to check in with the parent first to ask if chocolate is a suitable gift," Dr. Osmond said.
A 500g Easter egg contains roughly 2550 calories. The average person would need to spend over two hours running at 12kph to burn this off!
— Brad Howell (@bradhowell) April 18, 2014
Metro published an extensive report on popular chocolate brands to see how much sugar they contain. In 100g of Easter egg chocolate, Nestle's choclates including Aero, KitKat and Smarties have nearly 62 grams of sugar, 27g of fat and over 522 calories. Mars chocolates including Mars, M&M's, Milky Way and Maltesers have over 58 grams of sugar, 29g of fat and 528 calories.
This is followed by Cadbury's popular chocolates including Twirl, Crunchie, Dairy Milk, Dairy Milk Caramel and Flake with more than 56 grams of sugar, 30.5g of fat and 530 calories. Thorntons' chocolate eggs contain 54 grams of sugar, 32g of fat and 543 calories. Guylian Easter chocolates contain 50 grams of sugar, 34g of fat and 552 calories.
A hundred grams of Lindt Easter chocolate contains 41 grams of sugar, 31g of fat and 540 calories while Ferrero Rocher Easter chocolates contain 39 grams of sugar, 45g of fat and over 600 calories. Meanwhile, Green and Black's organic dark chocolate Easter eggs have the lowest sugar content at around 28g with 42g of fat and 580 calories.
Just because Easter eggs have high sugar content doesn't mean you should deprive yourself from eating them. If you opt to make your own Easter chocolate eggs instead, the video below features a great recipe.
