Girl Scout cookie season is something thousands of cookie-lovers look forward to every year, despite the controversy the organization has met in recent years for using ingredients like palm oil. Likewise, when the Girl Scouts introduce a new cookie (or candy bar!), there's a fair amount of intrigue.
For the 2013 season, the Girl Scouts have introduced Mango Creme cookies, which at first glance looks like a nice addition to their repertoire. The cookie sandwich features a mango-flavored filling amongst vanilla and coconut cookie shells. The full title of the cookie is actually "Mango Cremes With Nutrifusion™." What is Nutrifusion™, you wonder? It is a combination of various ingredients and concentrates that provide some vitamins. Jezebel refers to it as "bullshit."
Let's be clear here -- even with Nutrifusion™, the Mango Cremes are still a cookie, not some sort of magical health food. In fact, a serving of three cookies gives you 20 percent of your daily saturated fat intake. While there is no high fructose corn syrup, there is palm oil, along with "nutrients from natural whole food concentrate of (cranberry, pomegranate, orange, grape, strawberry, shitake mushrooms)." We're guessing that's where the Nutrifusion™ comes in.
Health-wise, the Mango Cremes With Nutrifusion™ are slightly healthier than some other Girl Scout cookies (roughly three Mango Cremes are equivalent to two Tagalongs, based on saturated fat intake). The Girl Scouts claim the cookies feature "better for you" benefits thanks to the 15 percent Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) of Vitamin B1 and 5 percent RDI of Vitamins A, C, D, E, and B6 per serving."
These cookies may be delicious (we haven't tried them), but there's no need to force a square peg in a round hole here -- the "nutrients derived from fruits" don't suddenly turn a cookie into the health-equivalent of eating an apple. Let's just let a cookie be a cookie.
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