April 16, 2025, 9:01 am | Read time: 3 minutes

Little cookie monsters: Kids love cookies. Manufacturers know this too and use animal shapes or popular characters on packaging to appeal to the young audience. However, they tend to use less whole grain flour, as a market check by the Consumer Center of Bavaria shows. The majority of children’s cookies are made from white flour, which provides significantly fewer vitamins, minerals, and fiber than whole grain.

More than Half of the Cookies Are Made Entirely of White Flour

The consumer advocates evaluated the ingredient lists of 33 children’s cookies from supermarkets, organic stores, and drugstores. Their findings:

• 18 products contain only white flour.
• 8 products have a whole grain content.
• 7 are made entirely of whole grain flour.

You can find the list of examined cookies here.

Are Children’s Cookies Healthy? Here’s What Matters

Whole grain provides more fiber, which ensures longer satiety and better digestion. And: “Early exposure to whole grain can positively shape taste preferences and promote healthy eating habits in the long term,” says Jutta Saumweber, head of the Food and Nutrition Department at the Consumer Center of Bavaria. Therefore, it is always advisable to choose the whole grain variant for grain products and offer them to children.

Also interesting: 7 foods that promote brain development in toddlers and babies

More on the topic

Nutrition What Whole Grain Means and What to Look for When Buying Bread

Nutritional Value Check How Unhealthy Is Toast Really?

Marketing Tricks of the Manufacturers

What also caught the attention of consumer advocates: Children’s cookies often appear healthier than they are, advertising with claims that say little about the actual nutritional value. To get an accurate impression of the quality of the cookie, looking at the ingredient list is essential.

Examples of Healthy-Sounding Claims

Examples of such healthy-sounding claims at a glance:

• “Ideal snack,” “valuable grain,” “natural”: According to the Consumer Center, all these claims are not legally defined, so they say nothing about the actual nutritional value.
• If the packaging says “multigrain,” it does not mean that the product contains whole grain flour. The term only indicates that at least three types of grain are included.
• Even if the manufacturer uses spelt, it does not automatically mean that the cookie is healthier than the wheat variant. According to the Consumer Center, it is also crucial here whether whole grain flour was used.
• “Sweetness from fruits” sounds healthier: However, this ultimately refers to sugar, which comes from fruit juice concentrates, for example.

Also interesting: Whole milk or low-fat milk–which is healthier for children?

What Parents Can Do if the Child Refuses Whole Grain

If you want to give your children healthy cookies, you should focus on whole grain. But what if the child rejects the whole grain variant? Patience can help. Children sometimes need time to get used to the taste of whole grain.

Daniela Krehl, nutrition expert at the Consumer Center of Bavaria, advises: “You can first offer a product that is a mix of white flour and whole grain flour. This way, the taste is not as intense, yet it has more nutrients than just white flour.”

*With material from dpa