Trying EXPENSIVE candy... is it worth it?

In our house gummy bears and candy are treats that have to be earned (or used for bribing, if we're being honest ).  My kids will tell me their friends get to eat a whole packet of gummy bears, and I tell them, "I don't care what your friends are doing"... That makes me sound like I'm becoming my mom,... whom is awesome, BTW, but didn't we all have those arguments: 'all my friends are doing it', and our parents said 'so what?!'.

I was at a local health/supplement/nutrition store the other day and came across these gummy candies called "Smart Sweets" that boast having only 1g-3g of sugar per serving, which is the whole baggie (50 g).  The little bag of candy cost $4.29.
I wanted to try them because I had seen them on HealthNut Nutrition's youTube vlog, and  they were advertised in the WW weekly handout.

But, damn people, $4.29 for little bag of gummies?!  I bought them anyway.

<pity party>I'm not even making money on this blog.  I don't even have one follower </pity party>

The flavor we bought was the "Berry Sweet Fish", and contained exactly 10 fishies.  We each tried one, and yes, they were good. Here's the critic's take on it:

Michael: "Delicious"

Matthew: "They're tasty.  I wonder how it tastes so good with less sugar?"

But is the cost trade off worth it for the amount of small amount of candy, just so you have less sugar? Time to go into Nerd Mode, or rather, just turn up the dial on Nerd Mode.

For comparison, I chose two additional options of gummy candies you can get at most supermarkets.  I chose Welch's Fruit Snacks, because they boast fruit being the first ingredient, and having no artificial colors/colours or flavors/flavours (see what I did there?).

The second option I went with is SunRype FunBites, which have no artificial colors and flavors, no preservatives and are made of 100% fruit.  Did you also know it's a Canadian company located in Kelowna, BC, in the Okanagan Valley?  Uh-huh, go Google that.

We need a chart, or a report... as if I don't do enough reports while at work, here's another.  The servings are all different, so for comparison I break it down to comparing 10 g of each candy.

Candy	Smart Sweets	Welch’s Fruit Snacks	SunRype FunBites
Ingredients	Prebiotic soluble fiber from tapioca, pectin, natural fruit flavor, citric acid, malic acid, carrageenan, fruity and vegetable juice (for color), coconut oil, stevia leaf extract, carnauba wax	fruit puree (grape, peach, orange, strawberry, raspberry), corn syrup, sugar, modified corn starch, gelatin, concord grape juice from concentrate, citric acid, lactic acid, natural and artificial flavors, ascorbic acid (vitamin c), alpha tocopherol acetate (vitamin e), vitamin a palmitate, sodium citrate, coconut oil, carnauba wax, annatto (color), turmeric (color), red 40 and blue 1	Apple &/or pear & raspberry puree concentrates, apple &/or grape &/or pear juice concentrate, citrus pectin, elderberry juice concentrate, natural flavour, lemon juice concentrate, apple powder
Cost As Is	$4.29 / 50 g / 1 serving	$3.99/264 g 12 serv @ 22 g each	$3.48/112 g 8 serv @ 14 g each
Cost per their serving	$4.29	$0.18	$0.46
Nutrition per serving
Calories	80	70	45
Sugar	3 g	10 g	11 g
Interesting?	Fibre 28 g (what the what?)
For Comparison
Cost per 10 g	$0.85	$0.15	$0.31
Nutrition per 10 g
Calories	16	31	32
Sugar	0.04 g	4.5 g	7.85 g

This is interesting, SunRype has the most sugar, BUT, remember, that's naturally occurring sugar in the fruit!  And the ingredient list is wonderful.  Obviously the Smart Sweets is coming in with the lowest calories and sugar and the ingredient list is surprisingly short.  To answer Matthew's question in his critique, ... stevia is how they did it.  And Welch's, well... that ingredient list isn't the greatest, but the sugar is coming in-between the competitors.  What's up with "red 40 and blue 1" when the package says 'no artificial color'?


Here's a pros and cons chart, but I'm flipping the row/column axis on you.

Candy	Pros	Cons
Smart Sweets	Low Sugar Lots of Fibre Good flavor and texture No artificial color or flavor Vegan friendly (if that's your thang)	Expensive Not readily available
Welch’s Fruit Snacks	Contains fruit puree and juice Good tradeoff between sugar and calories	Corn syrup and sugar No artificial color claim is questionable “Gummy texture” is too soft according to my kids
SunRype FunBites	All natural fruit No added sugar or artificial ingredients	Sugar content is still high It’s not a “gummy bear” texture.  It’s more comparable to a thick piece of fruit leather, or dried fruit, which I don’t mind, but might not be what you’re expecting

Final Thoughts:

• If you have the cash to burn and you're a hipster, go with the Smart Sweets.
• If you're all about being as natural as possible, go with SunRype FunBites.
• If you're a mom trying to find balance and let your kids have a treat once in a while, go with Welch's Fruit Snacks.

Have you tried the Smart Sweets?  Do you like gummy candies?

I have a recipe for homemade gummy-like treats that I could share with you in the future, would you want to see it?

And remember guys, gals, and unknowns, I'm not a nutritionist I'm just sharing my opinion.