McDonald’s Does it Again… to Oatmeal

Not Very McWholesome

McDonald's Turns Oatmeal Into the Next Breakfast Dessert. Photo: McDonalds

As a devout lover of oatmeal (see here and here), I could not help but feel ambivalent about seeing it as a new trend in to-go breakfasts.  When Starbucks started selling the porridge a few years ago — perfectly branded as “Perfect Oatmeal” — I though it was a genius move on their part:  Finally, a truly healthy, real food breakfast at America’s most ubiquitously overpriced purveyor of the morning jolt.

Nevertheless, I’m kind of embarrassed to say, I never tried the Starbucks oatmeal.  And it wasn’t just because I realized that in addition to the real food I would be happy to consume (whole-grain rolled oats and dried fruit), they also added all kind of perplexing stuff (oat flour, calcium carbonate, salt, guar gum, caramel color, reduced iron, vitamin a palmitate, niacinamide, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, thiamine mononitrate, folic acid).   It was because I just couldn’t stomach the $3 ticket price for a food that I could make myself, very quickly, which would be both tastier and healthier, at a minute fraction of the cost.

So back to Mickey D’s.  Echoing its attempt to give us healthier options — or is it to capture a larger share of the market? — McDonald’s has also recently rolled out an oatmeal offering.  And as with their smoothie program, I am open to considering the merits of such an offering.  Because if there is an effective way to deliver food cheaply to communities that need it, it’s through McDonalds.  But, while not surprising, it turns out that just as with their “Real Fruit” Smoothie, the McDonald’s oatmeal is a dish full of promise that fails to deliver — hard.

The principal issue, unsurprisingly, is sugar.  The oatmeal that McDonald’s delivers is a glycemic bomb.  The standard version,  which features brown-sugar, apples, cranberries, raisins, and a “touch of cream”* contains 32 grams of sugar.  If you happen to be health conscious and order yours brown sugar-free, your oatmeal still packs 18 grams of sugar.

As Mark Bittman points out in today’s New York Times: the McDonald’s product contains more sugar than a Snickers bar and only 10 fewer calories than a McDonald’s cheeseburger or Egg McMuffin. Even when you order it without the brown sugar it has more calories than a McDonald’s hamburger.

As I’ve pointed out before, one of our culture’s biggest dietary failings is in conflating breakfast with dessert.  A dessert is a dessert is a dessert, and is meant to be enjoyed as one.  Don’t get me wrong — you can eat oatmeal for dessert too, and that’s something I do sometimes.  But a breakfast should never involve this much sugar.

McDonald’s, you disappointed me with your falsely fruity claims on the smoothie front.  But converting one of my favorite whole foods into a sugar-delivery system? This is personal.

*Complete McDonald’s Oatmeal Ingredients list: Whole grain rolled oats, brown sugar, food starch-modified, salt, natural flavor (plant source), barley malt extract, caramel color. Apples, calcium ascorbate (a blend of calcium and vitamin C to maintain freshness and color). Dried sweetened cranberries (sugar, cranberries), California raisins, golden raisins, sunflower oil, sulfur dioxide (preservative). Milk, cream, sodium phosphate, datem, sodium stearoyl lactylate, sodium citrate, carrageenan.

How to Make Oatmeal . . . Wrong [NYTimes]

Earlier:

The New Paragon of Smooth? Defrosting McDonald’s “Real Fruit Smoothies”

Recipe: Cinnamon Oatmeal with Blueberries and Candied Ginger