14 Of The Unhealthiest Store-Bought Frozen Yogurts

There's a lot to love about FroYo. Frozen yogurt is commonly seen as the healthy alternative to ice cream, a rich, creamy frozen dessert that's big in flavor while also delivering some all-important calcium, protein, and beneficial gut bacteria. However, aside from the fact that the frozen yogurt you're eating may not really be yogurt, it may also not be as healthy as you think. Like ice cream and other frozen desserts, frozen yogurt can get its flavor and texture from a host of additional ingredients, including added sugar, various stabilizers or thickeners, and sodium.

The added sugar levels in some frozen yogurt products can be pretty extraordinary, and contribute to some fairly worrying outcomes. It's recommended that men consume no more than 36 grams of added sugar daily, with 25 grams recommended for women. Some frozen yogurt products can deliver almost this entire recommended intake in a single serving. Other frozen yogurts also have a shockingly high level of saturated fat, presenting further concerns for your health. In this article, we looked, first and foremost, at the added sugar content of frozen yogurt products. We also took saturated fat and sodium levels, as well as additional ingredients, into account when choosing our unhealthiest options.

These days, frozen yogurt comes in many shapes, sizes, and flavors, with its flavors often rivaling the highest quality ice cream. So when Kroger promises a Caramel Praline Low Fat Frozen Yogurt in its Deluxe range, it's easy to view it as a great choice and a healthy alternative. With 22 grams of added sugar per serving, though, this frozen treat is far from healthy, despite being low in fat. In fact, the product has more added sugar than equivalent Kroger products: The retailer's Churned Caramel Delight Light ice cream has slightly more fat than the frozen yogurt, but less total sugar, containing 19 grams per serving.

It goes to show, then, that just because something's marketed as "low fat," doesn't mean it's healthy. All of this added sugar can create a huge impact: A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine examined the relationship between added sugar consumption and mortality risk, and found that folks who consumed higher levels of added sugar had a greater chance of death from cardiovascular disease. The study also pointed out that most US adults eat more added sugar than they should.

Simple Truth? Simply sugary, more like. Okay, that's not the best wordplay in the world, but you'll see what we mean when we break down the nutritional content of the brand's Sea Salt Caramel Frozen Greek Yogurt Bars. The Kroger-owned product line focuses on offering items that are free from a host of artificial ingredients, flavors, and preservatives, but the retailer still manages to pack 12 grams of added sugar into each of these dessert bars. While this covers 24% of your daily value according to the nutritional label, if you follow the recommendations for added sugar limits, it's way more than that.

It's also worth noting that the serving size for these frozen Greek yogurt bars is just 66 grams, making almost a fifth of the product pure added sugar. All that sugar will do your teeth no favors. When you consume sugar, it reacts with the bacteria in your mouth, causing it to eat away at your tooth enamel, contributing to decay. Remember, it's not just added sugar that does this — natural sugars can too, and with this product containing 17 grams of sugar overall, your mouth isn't going to thank you.

Blue Bunny is a major name in the frozen dessert market, and the company has made its name by producing an almost-endless amount of ice creams. It's also added frozen yogurt to its output, but we've gotta be honest with you here: Its options aren't that healthy. Blue Bunny's Vanilla Bean Frozen Yogurt, for instance, is still high in added sugar and contains 14 grams of added sugar per serving. It also has a fairly high total sugar content, packing 21 grams into its ⅔-cup serving size.

As a processed dessert, it's hardly surprising that this frozen yogurt is full of sugar, but the amount is still pretty shocking. It's useful to remember that sugar isn't just added for flavor. It shows up in processed foods to help its texture, improve its shelf life, and crucially, to help foods freeze better. Unfortunately, though, with all of those culinary benefits come an impact on your nutritional intake and your potential health, so it's important to keep an eye on your intake.

One of the best things about frozen yogurt is how versatile its flavor can be. This is proved by Friendly's Vienna Mocha Swirl Frozen Yogurt, which combines coffee, fudge, and chocolate flavors in every bite. Sadly, though, all of that flavor comes at a cost to your added sugar intake, and this FroYo has a lot of it. With 17 grams of added sugar per serving, each ⅔-cup will knock out over a third of your daily value.

Importantly, this frozen yogurt is also one of the fattiest on the market. Each serving has 4.5 grams of saturated fat, providing 23% of your recommended daily value. It's really the sugar content we're most concerned with here, however. Because dietary sugars are processed through the liver, the organ can be put under significant strain when you eat too much of them. Over time, this can lead to the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, per a study published in Hepatology Communications. The impact of this disease can be pretty severe, and lead to a host of associated illnesses and conditions, making controlling your added sugar intake very important.

Frozen yogurt dessert bars are all the rage, and 365 by Whole Foods Market has definitely caught onto the zeitgeist. Its Mango Greek Yogurt Low Fat Dessert Bars certainly seem like they're healthy, with the word "organic" loudly displayed on the box and the packaging promising just 80 calories per bar. If you look at the nutrition facts label, though, you'll see that things aren't totally smooth sailing. Each bar comes with 9 grams of added sugar in a 60-gram serving size, which covers almost 20% of your daily value, and more than that if you follow the AHA guidelines.

It would be unfair of us not to point out that this amount is lower than a lot of other frozen yogurt dessert bars out there. That doesn't necessarily make this a healthy choice, though. Instead, it might be worth looking for dessert bars that are even lower in sugar. Clio's Zero Sugar Mixed Berry Greek Yogurt Bars can be a great choice here. Sweetened with erythritol, each bar has 7 grams of protein and is totally keto-friendly, even with a generous coating of chocolate on the outside. Sign us up!

Peach flavors go exceptionally well with yogurt, so it was only a matter of time before a food manufacturer made a frozen yogurt with its fruity notes. If you're expecting the nutritional benefits of peach in Kemps Peachy Keen Frozen Yogurt, though, you might be left downhearted. This frozen yogurt is packed with added sugar, and provides 22 grams per serving, stirred into the product in the form of liquid sugar and corn syrup, as well as being a component in its peach swirl. Each ⅔-cup serving also has 2 grams of saturated fat — a small, but noteworthy amount.

We spend so much time thinking about what sugar does to our bodies, that we often forget to consider what it does to our brains. Importantly, that effect can be profound. Our brains need glucose to function properly, and it plays an important role in memory and focus. Interestingly, though, having too much glucose can be just as impactful on memory as having too little. A study published in The Journals of Gerontology found that when older adults ate more sugar, they had more trouble remembering things.

How unhealthy can vanilla FroYo be? As it turns out, pretty unhealthy. Favorite Day's Vanilla Frozen Yogurt is a strong example of a product that's way unhealthier than it looks, with each serving containing 15 grams of added sugar — roughly 30% of your FDA-approved daily value. Aside from this, it has 2.5 grams of saturated fat, covering 13% of your allowance.

We're also slightly unsettled by the presence of carrageenan on its ingredients list. This additive shows up pretty much everywhere, and is particularly common in smooth, scoopable products due to its ability to thicken and emulsify. However, ongoing research has found carrageenan can have an inflammatory effect on the gut, and may contribute to bloating or symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, per Healthline. It's worth remembering that carrageenan doesn't have any nutritional benefit, and nor do foods necessarily need it — and there are a host of additives out there that are used instead of carrageenan, that don't have the same controversial reputation. If we were you, we'd give this product a miss.