13 Unhealthiest Yogurts on Grocery Shelves

Eating yogurt a few times a week is a delicious and convenient way to help support gut health while fueling your body with protein, calcium, and other essential nutrients. The benefits of yogurt are wide-reaching, including a reduced risk for cardiovascular disease, improved bone health, less weight gain over time, and emerging evidence suggests it may even help reduce markers of inflammation. Add some fruit, a sprinkle of chia seeds, or a dab of honey, and you have a well-balanced, tasty snack.

But you can't just grab any yogurt from the dairy aisle if want to support your overall health. Many popular yogurt brands add absurd amounts of sugar while touting these little cups as "alternatives" to dessert. The thing is, some of these yogurts can be just as sugar-packed as the cake or pie that they're trying to emulate.

Even "diet" yogurts aren't always healthier—they often rely on artificial sweeteners like acesulfame potassium, which some studies suggest could impact the gut microbiome and weight gain. With all this conflicting information, figuring out which yogurts to avoid can be tricky.

To make things easier, we've rounded up 13 of the unhealthiest yogurts on grocery store shelves so you can focus on the good stuff. Yogurt is supposed to be healthy, so don't let misleading marketing fool you! Read on, and for some healthy options, don't miss The 15 Healthiest Yogurts on Grocery Store Shelves.

The Unhealthiest Yogurts

• The Greek Gods Strawberry With Honey Flavored Greek Yogurt 'Style'
• Yoplait Light Strawberry & Harvest Peach
• Yoplait Cherry Cheesecake Whips!
• YoCrunch Low Fat Vanilla with M&M
• Yoplait Original French Vanilla Yogurt
• Oui French Style Strawberry Whole Milk Yogurt
• Oui by Yoplait Dairy-Free Vanilla Yogurt
• Dannon Creamy Classic Peach Mango
• LALA Piña Colada Yogurt Blend
• Cabot Triple Cream Vanilla Bean Greek Yogurt
• LALA Banana Berry Frusion Yogurt Smoothie
• Danimals Strawberry Flavor Pouches
• Chobani Flip S'more S'mores

The Greek Gods Strawberry With Honey Flavored Greek Yogurt 'Style'

With 23 grams of sugar per serving, The Greek Gods Strawberry With Honey Flavored Greek Yogurt is a high-sugar snack that doesn't deliver the benefits you'd expect from Greek yogurt. It contains 15 grams of added sugar from cane sugar, brown cane sugar, and honey—equivalent to about 3 teaspoons of sugar. Plus, despite being strawberry-flavored, it contains no actual fruit. Its "Greek yogurt style" label is also misleading, as the 7 grams of protein fall short of typical Greek yogurt standards.

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Yoplait Light Strawberry & Harvest Peach

At first glance, Yoplait's "Light" yogurt may seem like a good option with its low calorie and sugar counts. However, both the Strawberry and Harvest Peach yogurts use the artificial sweetener, acesulfame potassium.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

While in recent years aspartame has taken the heat for the potential dangers of artificial sweeteners, acesulfame potassium may pose its own risks, as non-human studies have shown a correlation between the sweetener and blood sugar control. Although long-term tests have not been conducted, it's best to consume this artificial sweetener in moderation and not rely on it as an everyday go-to.

Yoplait Cherry Cheesecake Whips!

Many consumers swap their after-dinner slice of Devil's Food Cake for a cup of sweetened yogurt like Yoplait's Cherry Cheesecake Whips!, but that might not be the healthy swap you think it is.

While a single serving contains just 2.5 grams of fat and provides 10% of your daily vitamin D, calcium, and vitamin A needs, it also packs 18 grams of added sugar, with sugar listed as the second ingredient. This dessert-like yogurt may leave you feeling unsatisfied and craving more, so it's worth considering whether this is the best choice to curb your sweet tooth.

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YoCrunch Low Fat Vanilla with M&M

Real M&Ms on top of yogurt may sound delish, but it is hardly a good-for-you choice for many people. Not only does YoCrunch's LowFat Vanilla with M&M have 15 grams of added sugar (more than what kiddos should be consuming in an entire day per the American Academy of Pediatrics), but it is made with artificial ingredients too. If you enjoy this yogurt, treat it as what it is—a dessert.

Yoplait Original French Vanilla Yogurt

"When searching for a healthy yogurt, the goal is not necessarily no sugar. However, Yoplait's French Vanilla has a significant amount by the dietary guideline standards. With the goal being 25 grams of added sugar or less per day, one serving of this yogurt will deliver over half your daily limit. Since there isn't a lot of protein per serving either, you might find yourself hungry soon after, too," says Caroline Thomason, RD, CDCES, a dietitian in Washington, DC.

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Oui French Style Strawberry Whole Milk Yogurt

"This product appears to be healthier based on the packaging, but when you take a look at the nutrition facts, it's not all that different from other brands that are high in sugar. With 19 grams of sugar, and 14 grams coming from added sugar, this is not my first pick for a healthy yogurt that is going to keep me full for long," says Thomason.

Oui by Yoplait Dairy-Free Vanilla Yogurt

Ok, Oui by Yoplait Dairy-Free Vanilla Yogurt is absolutely delish. But with that much saturated fat, you are well on your way to exceeding the limit the American Heart Association recommends (for those following a 2,000-calorie diet, that is a max of 13 grams per day). Plus, the measly 1 gram of protein this yogurt provides is a far cry from what Greek yogurt can give us.

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Dannon Creamy Classic Peach Mango

The sugar content is what gets us when considering this Creamy Classic Peach Mango yogurt from Dannon. While this option is relatively low in calories and fat, it does provide added sugars. And with only 4 grams of protein per serving, it may not do much for you in the satiety department.

LALA Piña Colada Yogurt Blend

It may be more nutritionally in your favor to just drink a regular pina colada instead of this sugar-packed Mango Yogurt Blend from LALA. Although a serving of this yogurt provides 15% of your daily calcium and vitamin D needs, sugar is the second ingredient on the list (there are 17 grams of added sugars in this option). We recommend plain, unsweetened sugar with fruit on top instead.

Cabot Triple Cream Vanilla Bean Greek Yogurt

Cabot's Triple Cream Vanilla Bean Greek Yogurt is one of the unhealthiest Greek yogurts because of its high sugar content and low protein levels. With 21 grams of sugar and only 11 grams of protein, it leans more toward a dessert than a healthy snack.

 25 Unhealthiest Greek Yogurts—Ranked by Sugar Content

LALA Banana Berry Frusion Yogurt Smoothie

Yes, LALA's Banana Berry Frusion Yogurt Smoothie is packed with Vitamin C, providing 100% of your daily nutritional needs, but that's about the only thing this yogurt smoothie provides in the nutrition department. This smoothie contains a whopping 27 grams of sugar, which equates to more than 100 calories coming from this sweet stuff. According to the American Heart Association, women should eat no more than 100 calories a day from sugar, so one of these smoothies would have you exceeding that measure.

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Danimals Strawberry Flavor Pouches

Danimals pouches may have pretty Disney princesses on the front of their box, but with 11 grams of sugar (7 grams of added sugar) in only 3.5 ounces of these Strawberry Flavor Pouches, it is important to remember that these options do contribute to a child's (or adult's) overall added sugar intake. While we do love that these are colored with beet juice and vegetable juice for color (goodbye artificial coloring!), we aren't too sure what "natural flavors" include, so it may be best to leave this one for a once-in-a-while treat.

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Chobani Flip S'more S'mores

Chobani Flip S'more S'mores has an impressive amount of protein (9 grams per serving). But it also contains quite a bit of added sugars (14 grams per serving). While this yogurt is made with quality ingredients, you can opt for a less-sugary choice, like a plain Greek yogurt, and top it with berries or some dark chocolate chips.