Meiji Yogurt Tablets

Though I am old (all of 46), I'm not old enough to have first hand experience with those old cigarette ads in which they extol the health virtues of smoking. These ads came to mind when I was considering the history of advertising for products which say that they carry some health benefits when clearly those products are anything but healthy. It's amazing what a company will tell you in order to help you silence the cognitive dissonance that comes along with doing something you know isn't good for you.

Across the top of this candy, which is loaded with sugar (first ingredient on the list), it tells you that it has healthy yogurt cultures and calcium. If you consume the whole box, you'll get 300 mg. of Calcium, but you'll also need to make a dentist appointment after chewing 18 tablets of mostly sugar. For the record, this isn't an insubstantial amount of Calcium to get from a snack since most adults require about 1000 mg. per day. Each tablet is a mere 6 calories.

The tablets are kept from getting moist by being kept in two handy blister packs. They're slightly rough on the outside, but not as chalky or powdery as a SweetTarts (the closest American cousin to this). The flavor is sweet and mildly sour with a really nice, smooth mild yogurt flavor. You can suck on one, or bite into it. Both are pleasant experiences, but biting into it releases a larger sense of the flavor and floods your tongue with a rather sugary textural sense which I found gratifying.

I really, really like these and will definitely buy them again, but I'm not fooling myself into thinking I'm doing it to fill my stomach with healthy bacteria or to get Calcium. I just like the taste and texture. They're a great sweet to keep in your desk or whatever bag you carry around for when you want a nice sweet pick-me-up because they won't go damp or stale. If you enjoy yogurt, there's a very good chance you'll like these.