Raise your hand if, in front of the bar counter, you have chosen the vegan croissant convinced that you are making the healthiest choice. Maybe you’re lactose intolerant, maybe you’ve embraced a plant-based lifestyle, or maybe – and this is the most common case – you simply thought you’d keep yourself a little lighter. No judgement: it’s a reasoning that many people do.
The point is that vegan does not automatically mean healthier, and the industrial croissant you find in the pastry shop or at the bar is one of the most clear examples of this misunderstanding. Let’s see why, ingredient by ingredient.
What does the vegan croissant really contain?
Let’s take as an example the label of a vegan croissant without filling from one of the most popular brands in the catering industry:
If we then add an apricot filling, the following also come into play:
apricot filling 11.5% (sugar, apricot puree 40%, glucose-fructose syrup, gelling agent: E440; acidifier: E330; concentrated lemon juice, flavourings)
What does this label really tell us?
The list already speaks for itself, but let’s try to translate it for those who are not used to deciphering food labels – and there are still many of them, despite the growing attention towards what we put on our plates.
1. The list of ingredients is very long. For a simple croissant, finding over fifteen entries – many of them acronyms – is not exactly the sign of a minimalist and genuine product. The most recent research in the nutritional field continues to underline how the length of the ingredient list is one of the most intuitive indicators of the degree of ultra-processing of a food.
2. Margarine and vegetable fats. Instead of butter we find vegetable margarine with sunflower oil and shea fat. Warning: the absence of animal fats does not equate to lightness. However, these are refined fats, and margarine – even in modern versions without hydrogenated fats – remains an industrial product. (Read also: Margarine without hydrogenated fats: is it still bad for your health?)
3. The integral? Only 2%. If you choose the vegan croissant also because it seems more “whole” or rich in fibre, be careful: whole wheat flour represents just 2% of the product. Less than sugar, which appears much earlier in the list (remember: the ingredients are listed in decreasing order of quantity).
4. Emulsifiers and additives. E471, E472e, E322: are emulsifiers commonly used in the food industry. Recent studies — including some research published on Nature And Cell Host & Microbe — have turned the spotlight on the possible impact of certain emulsifiers on the intestinal microbiota, even if the scientific debate is still open and the quantities in individual products generally remain low.
5. The filling is almost all sugar. Glucose-fructose syrup, sugar, flavourings: the industrial filling has very little to do with real fruit. And glucose-fructose syrup, in particular, is one of the ingredients on which nutritional research in recent years has raised more than one alarm bell.
Vegan is not synonymous with healthy: the point
The market for vegan products has grown enormously in recent years, and with it also a certain trend towards health washing: the idea, often fueled by marketing, that anything plant-based is automatically better for your health. This is not the case, and nutritionists have been repeating it for some time now.
An industrial vegan croissant remains an ultra-processed product, rich in refined sugars and fats, with a nutritional profile very similar – if not identical – to that of the traditional croissant. The difference is in the origin of the ingredients, not in the overall quality of the product.
If you choose the vegan croissant for ethical reasons or due to an intolerance, great: it is a legitimate and respectable choice. But if you do it thinking you’re doing your health a favor, it’s worth knowing what’s really in it.
The real alternative? A homemade croissant or from a good artisan pastry shop, vegan or not, with a few quality ingredients. Or a different breakfast, perhaps less Instagrammable but decidedly more nutritious.
