In this article, we’ll dive deep into Oreo’s dark secrets and why you shouldn’t have a lot of them.
Oreo, America’s favorite cookie, was first introduced in the market in 1912 by Nabisco. Today, Oreo is available in quite a few flavors, and people are bound to like at least one of them. That could be why over 4 million consumers had a minimum of eight Oreo packets during the surveyed 30 days in 2020.
What if every time you have Oreo, you’re one step closer to the most frightening health issues of the decade?
Having Oreos regularly can have adverse effects on your health. But are you fully aware of the risks they possess?
Here we’ll discuss how Oreos aren’t a healthy snack and why you should stop having them. For that, we need to look into Oreo’s nutrient composition.
Note: This label is for 2 cookies. You’ll find the nutrient composition for 5 and 10 cookies below.
Here are the main compounds that a person gets from having Oreos.
I don’t think anyone needs an introduction to what calories are. However, some might not know what it is technically.
A calorie is a unit of energy consumed by the body. Since energy is essential for living, calories are generally a good thing.
But when a body doesn’t burn calories, it accumulates in the body as fat. Specifically speaking, a person will gain a kg (2.2 pounds) when there are 7000 unburnt calories in the body.
So, it’s generally advised that women have a maximum of 2000 calories and men, 2500 calories in a day.
How many calories do you get by having Oreos?
From the table, we know that 2 cookies give 140 calories. This means that:
- 10 cookies give 700 calories
- 5 cookies give 350 calories
- 29 cookies give 2030 calories
- 36 cookies give 2520 calories
So, having 10 cookies can supply you with energy usually obtained from lunch or dinner. Also, a woman can exceed the daily intake limit of calories if she has more than 29 Oreo cookies, and a man can do the same by having 36.
Since most people have 5 to 10 cookies in one sitting (probably more in a day), they exhaust a good portion of their daily calorie quota. Not to forget that, they also consume other food in addition to Oreos, exceeding the daily limit.The excess calories accumulate to become fat and over time, leads to obesity, heart diseases, high blood pressure, and other diseases.
Although all fats are known to be heart-wreckers, only some are actually harmful.
Unsaturated fats (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated) have lower disease risks — they’re the healthy fats the body needs. Whereas trans fats are bad. There are also saturated fats that fall in between good and bad fat.
Irrespective of the type of fat, a person consuming 2000 calories a day shouldn’t have more than 78 g of total fat (FDA). And saturated fats should not account for more than 10 percent of the 2000 calories (1 g fat supplies 9 calories).
So, a person with a 2000 calorie diet should have only 23 g of saturated fats.
From the label, you can see that 33.33 percent of the fats in Oreo are saturated. Therefore:
- 10 cookies give 30 g of fat.
- 5 cookies give 15 g of fat.
- 26 cookies give 78 g of fat, of which 26 g is saturated.
So, a person can exceed the daily fat limit by having just 26 cookies a day.
Not only does Oreo supply harmful saturated fats, it does so in excess. Fats can accumulate in the arteries, causing heart diseases like stroke. Also, it can accumulate in the body and lead to weight gain.
Technically, sugars are carbohydrates. To the layman, sugar is a sweet-tasting, colorless, and water-soluble compound.
Being the heart of Oreo, sugar is what you should be the most concerned about. Oreo doesn’t just have sugar. It has added sugar — which is very different from healthy natural sugar.
Since the body absorbs added sugar directly into the body, it immediately boosts the blood sugar levels, messing with the metabolic system. Therefore, the AHA (American Heart Association) has recommended a daily intake limit for women (24 g), children (24 g), and men (36 g).
On the other hand, natural sugars are obtained from fruits and other natural products. These sugars don’t digest easily, therefore possess more minor threats than added sugars.
How much added sugar does Oreo have?
Two Oreo cookies contain 13 g of added sugar. This means that:
- 10 cookies give 65 g
- 5 cookies give 37.5 g
- 4 cookies give 26 g
- 6 cookies give 39 g
So, a woman or a child can exceed the daily sugar limit if she has 4 Oreo cookies. And a man can do the same by having 6.
Oreo is extensively high in sugar. Regular consumption of Oreo can cause many health issues, including tooth decay, diabetes, high blood sugar, and more.
In addition to high sugar, fats, and calories, Oreo is addictive.
The mystery behind Oreo addiction lies in its sugar and fat amounts. The combination triggers the brain’s pleasure center — the part drugs like cocaine act on.
A study conducted on rats showed that they were as addicted to Oreos as to cocaine.
This could be why people consume Oreo cookies without control.
Oreo cookies have high amounts of sugar, fat, and calories. Therefore, it can cause severe health conditions like diabetes, obesity, and heart diseases.
However, you can avoid the harmful effects by having it in moderation. It’s best you limit the Oreos consumption to 2 or 3 per day to stay within the advised daily intake limits.
