CR Wicked Sister High Protein Chocolate Pudding

Wicked Sister High Protein Chocolate Pudding | Chewsday Review

It’s chocolate pudding… but make it protein. With “no added sugar” and 15 g of protein per serve, Wicked Sister High Protein Chocolate Pudding is spoon-feeding us some bold claims. Let’s lift the lid and see if the proof really is in the pudding.

Ingredients

Positives

Sugar is 5.2g per 100g which is well within guidelines. This sugar is likely coming from the milk and banana puree – there is no added sugar.
Sodium is 99mg per 100g, comfortably below the 400mg guideline, as expected.
Total and saturated fat are both well within guidelines.
The price comes in at $3.00 per 170g tub ($17.60 per kilo), this is similar to the average price of a 170g tub of yoghurt.

Negatives

I’d love to see calcium listed on the tub . Considering it has a range of milk products in the ingredients list it’s likely to contain some calcium, but just how much remains a mystery!
This product uses three different sweeteners in place of sugar. While in Australia and New Zealand sweeteners in our food supply are tightly regulated and the evidence suggests they are safe, we don’t have a lot of evidence for their use in children. There isn’t an obviously ‘better’ choice between sugar or sweeteners. Opting for foods containing sweeteners is not our standard recommendation. Like all foods, the overall picture of what we eat matters more than any single food – the choice comes down to individual preference, so choose what feels right for your family.

Marketing

There are loads of ‘health’ claims on this product with the biggest one being “15g of protein per serve”. They’re not wrong, this product does contain over 15g of protein per tub (16.3g actually if you look at the tub!). This comes from a mix of ingredients like milk protein concentrate and skim milk powder. Should you add it to your shopping list for the protein factor alone? Probably not. Most children already get around four times the protein they need. You’ll find protein in lots of common foods like yoghurt, cheese, milk, nuts, seeds, tinned beans, legumes and even bread so there’s often no need to buy into ‘high protein’ claims if your kids eat a variety of these foods. Keeping in mind a young child (4-8 years) needs only 20g of protein per day, so if they ate the whole tub, they’d be meeting more than three quarters of their daily protein needs.
“No added sugar”- correct.
“Gluten free” – also correct and as expected.
“Natural colours and flavours” and “no preservatives” – sure.

Alternatives

There seems to be a lot of buzz around high protein puddings at the moment. So, should you rush out and buy one for your kids? From a nutrition perspective, they’re definitely not my first pick, especially for little ones – you’ll get better bang for your buck with yoghurt (check out yoghurt reviews here) or other dairy snacks that contain a bit of calcium, like the Bluey chocolate custard. From a taste perspective, it wasn’t something anyone in my family enjoyed – we didn’t even get through the tub.
Looking for more on choosing products for your family? My Baby, Toddler and Family Mealtimes memberships include a comprehensive product selection guide for more than 15 categories of foods.

The composition of food products changes regularly. The nutritional values of the products in this Chewsday Review were correct at the time of publishing.