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A Ranking of Chocolate Bars Strictly by Sugar Content

This article is written by a student writer from the Spoon University at Haverford chapter.

Ah, chocolate bars. The epitome of impulse buys when you really just went to CVS to get more of your favorite shampoo and some chapstick (sidebar: has anyone ever really finished an entire chapstick before losing it?). Either way, you get up to the counter and there they are, all the candies you love, cherish, and wish would stop staring directly at you.

So when you officially give up and let your self-control take a backseat, here’s a ranking of those beauties from least amount of sugar to wow-I-didn’t-know-this-had-this-much-sugar to I wish you hadn’t told me.

Unfortunately, all of the nutritional content was taken straight from the nutrition label on the back of each chocolate bar, so you know it’s real.

chocolate bars

GIF courtesy of giphy.com

17. Hershey’s Cookies’n’Creme

chocolate bars

Photo by Nicole Witte

Hershey’s Cookies’n’Creme comes in first place with this lone candy bar (that matters) still hanging out in the teens with 19 grams of sugar.

16. Snickers

chocolate bars

Photo by Nicole Witte

Snickers helps you to do it better. I don’t really know if this is true but I did eat a Snickers bar almost every day for about 3 months in high school and I don’t quite remember any particular improvement attached to that habit. Either way, it comes in at second with 20 grams of sugar.

15. Kit-Kat

chocolate bars

Photo by Nicole Witte

Now we have a three-way tie with the first being my favorite candy bar, Kit-Kat. Maybe you went for this one because you can have four bars so you feel like you’re getting the most out of it, or maybe you got it so you could try to eat one like a Kardashian. Either way, not the worst choice at 21 grams of sugar.

14. Payday

chocolate bars

Photo by Nicole Witte

I don’t know many people who reach for a Payday when choosing a chocolate bar, but it’s actually better than most. Coming in for the three-way tie at only 21 grams, it still beats the suggested daily serving of sugar of 24 grams (or 6 teaspoons) for women and 36 grams (or 9 teaspoons) for men.

13. Reese’s

chocolate bars

Photo by Nicole Witte

This one brightened my day a little. It’s obviously not great to blow all of your daily sugar intake on one candy, but I’m at least glad Reese’s are below the suggested serving size (for women, as I am one) at 21 grams of sugar. What I would give for Reese’s to only have 1 or 2 grams of sugar…

12. 100 Grand

chocolate bars

Photo by Nicole Witte

If we’re being candid here, the only thing I remember about 100 Grands is that I used to try to trade them for Milky Ways if I got one on Halloween. But they only have 22 grams of sugar so maybe I should’ve gone for them instead of the Milky Ways.

chocolate bars

GIF courtesy of giphy.com

11. Crunch Bar

chocolate bars

Photo by Nicole Witte

Crunch bars have always been a classic movie theater candy in my opinion. They also make the cut for the daily sugar serving suggestion at 23 grams of sugar.

10. Almond Joy

chocolate bars

Photo by Nicole Witte

And we’ve hit the magic number with Almond Joy’s containing 24 grams of sugar in one serving. Well shit. You know what this means, the rest of these candy bars are equal or worse, meaning they contain more sugar than you should really eat in one day.

#SpoonTip: The amount of sugar you should consume in a day can vary depending on your activity level and dietary needs.

9. Mounds

chocolate bars

Photo by Nicole Witte

Surprise! Still at 24 grams of sugar so these are still “allowed”. Also like Paydays though, I haven’t heard someone say “Mounds are my favorite candy bars” in a long time, or maybe ever.

8. Twix

chocolate bars

Photo by Nicole Witte

Another one. Twix has 24 grams of sugar which technically means I could eat it and not feel that bad because I’m still hitting the suggested daily discretional calories.

7. Heath Toffee Bar

chocolate bars

Photo by Nicole Witte

What a great ice cream topping. And still, we’re at 24 grams. But if we have ice cream, and only put like, a few pieces of a Heath Bar on top, maybe we’ll be ok? Let’s not talk about it.

6. Hershey’s Chocolate Bar

chocolate bars

Photo by Nicole Witte

It seems a lot of people felt like 24 grams was a good amount to stop at for the sugar content. I would’ve guessed this chocolate bar would have been lower on the list, but we all make mistakes.

chocolate bars

GIF courtesy of giphy.com

5. Butterfinger

chocolate bars

Photo by Nicole Witte

And now we’re getting into the tough info. Butterfingers coming in at 28 grams of sugar in one bar. I mean, I guess 4 more grams probably won’t kill you.

4. Milk Chocolate M&M’s

chocolate bars

Photo by Nicole Witte

Containing a brutal 31 grams of sugar, we’ve reached M&M’s. I didn’t expect this one because in my head, M&M’s are so tiny that there’s no way eating a bunch of tiny pieces of chocolate could have that much sugar.

3. Baby Ruth

chocolate bars

Photo by Nicole Witte

Full disclosure: I have never eaten a Baby Ruth. If you feel particularly strongly about this small blurb under the photo, send me an email and I will replace this will your feelings on Baby Ruth bars.

2. Milky Way

chocolate bars

Photo by Nicole Witte

This one is brutal. Milky Ways really take a jump with 35 grams of sugar in one bar. Really tough to see. I honestly was personally offended by this one because I eat a lot of Milky Ways. I guess I’ll think twice next time, and then probably still buy it.

1. Three Musketeers

chocolate bars

Photo by Nicole Witte

This one has 40 grams of sugar. 40 f*cking grams of sugar in this chocolate bar. I mean, yeah, they taste amazing and I’m sure this amount of sugar is partially responsible, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. I just like the candy bar. But I’m still upset.

chocolate bars

GIF courtesy of giphy.com

Nicole Witte

Haverford '17

I'm currently a junior English major, psychology minor at Haverford and I play field hockey there. Due to my heightened activity level as an athlete, I'm perpetually hungry and would say that food is one of my great passions. I also really love to write, so writing about food is about as good as it gets.