Cheetos Natural White Cheddar Cheese Puffs – An Artificial Color Free Alternative
Written: Apr 24 '09
Product Rating:
Pros: No preservatives, artificial colors or flavors. Organic ingredients, great flavor and texture.
Cons: Still not low in calories. You can't have everything.
The Bottom Line: Cheetos Natural White Cheddar Cheese Puffs is a snack you can feel good giving to your active (read not overweight) kids without the worry of artificial ingredients.
mongkut's Full Review: Cheetos Natural White Cheddar Cheese Puffs 8 Oz
Like many people I heard about the British Food Standards Agency (FSA), the UK version of the FDA, calling for a ban on six artificial coloring agents. At the time I thought this sounded interesting and wanted to find out more about the research behind this decision but got caught up in life and soon forgot all about it. (I think this is the kind of consumer short term memory loss manufacturers count on every time their products kill a few people. Remember the Ford Pinto or the Firestone Tire fatalities?
Well, recently I was reading a review by one of our esteemed writers, Beckish, who mentioned artificial colors and this brought the matter back to my mind. Thanks Beckish!
I started reading the information available on the internet about the Southhampton University study of Professor Jim Stevenson. The study links coal tar based artificial colors such as Red 40, Yellow 5 & 6, and others to hyperactivity and a decrease in IQ in children.
Several hours, and a ton of anecdotal reports from parents, later and I had seen enough to prompt me to take a hard look in our pantry. What I found was a snack and cereal shelf loaded with this garbage. I promptly emptied the shelf of anything containing any of the listed artificial colors and nearly filled a trash barrel. Everything from fruit loops to flaming hot cheetos to even fruit roll ups had to go.
Now I’m replacing these snacks with natural alternatives. Surprisingly one of the biggest offenders in our pantry, Frito Lay, has some very decent alternatives in their Natural product line.
The Snack
Cheetos Natural White Cheddar Cheese Puffs are part of the Frito Lay Natural products line. Products in this line contain no preservatives, artificial flavors, or artificial colors. Natural White Cheedar Cheetos come in an 8oz bag that features the word Natural on a brown field.
The puffs are the same size and shape as standard cheetos puff but are a pale yellow as opposed to the unnatural bright orange of the regular cheetos puffs. Another difference is that the natural puffs are made with organic corn meal and organic sour cream is used as a natural flavoring along with cheddar cheese. The puffs also include two probiotic bacteria normally found in yoghurt, Acidophilus and Bifidus. I’m not sure if the form they’re in is really beneficial but it’s nice to see them listed among the ingredients.
Our Experience
Let me start off by saying that like any snack food these need to be eaten in moderation. My seven year old is an extremely active ball of energy who can burn off calories almost as fast as he eats them. Unfortunately way too many kids these days spend a disproportionate portion of their free time camped out in front of the TV or video console and even a “relatively” healthy snack is just additional calories they don’t need.
For my son these cheetos, along with some other snacks I’ll review soon, solved the dilemma of letting him have a snack we’d feel comfortable with him eating. From his standpoint they’re just darn tasty. I actually think the flavor is far better than regular cheetos puffs and the texture is virtually the same. There also doesn’t seem to be nearly as much residue as the orange variety. No glowing orange cheeto dust is a good thing.
Great taste, nice texture, and no artificial ingredients makes this snack a winner in our house.
Serving Size: 1 oz / Servings Per Container: 8 Calories 150 / Calories from Fat 80 Amount Per Serving and/or % Daily Value* Total Fat 9 g (14%) / Saturated Fat 1.5 g (7%) / Trans Fat 0 g Cholesterol 0 mg (0%) / Sodium 290 mg (12%) / Total Carbohydrate 16 g (5%) Dietary Fiber 1 g (3%) / Sugars 1 g / Protein 2 g Vitamin A 0% / Vitamin C 0% / Calcium 2% / Iron 0% Vitamin E 10% / Riboflavin 2% / Vitamin B6 2% / Phosphorus 4% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
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