PSL Season Is in Full Swing—but Are Pumpkin Spice Foods Actually Healthy?
As the temperature drops and the leaves begin to change, it’s the perfect time to get out for a fall ride surrounded by colorful foliage. More importantly, we’ve fully entered prime pumpkin spice season.
Walk into any store from now until New Years, and you’ll likely be hit with a wall of orange products. From pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin butter to pumpkin bagels and pumpkin spice almonds (seriously), there’s no shortage of options to get your fill of this peak fall flavor.
While it sounds delicious, is filling your diet with pumpkin spice everything really healthy? We tapped two dietitians: Natalie Rizzo, M.S., R.D., founder of Nutrition à la Natalie, and Lori Nedescu, M.S. R.D. C.S.S.D., founder of Hungry for Results to find out.
What’s in Pumpkin Spice Flavor and Is It Healthy?
Pumpkin spice flavor in its purest form is usually made up of pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and sometimes allspice or cloves. Those individual ingredients are actually good for you—it’s just fruit (yes, pumpkin is technically a fruit since the seeds are on the inside) and spices that can offer some health benefits. For example, cinnamon has been linked to diabetic blood glucose control, and ginger can help with digestion, explains Nedescu.
The problem is you aren’t likely to get enough of the spices in one pumpkin spice-flavored food to make any meaningful impact. Plus, “pumpkin spice” flavoring is very different from pure pumpkin. Most pumpkin spice foods and drinks contain very minimal amounts of real pumpkin if any at all, Nedescu points out, resulting in the end product being much less nutritious than it sounds. For example, a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks, contains something called “pumpkin spice sauce,” which contributes to the whopping 50 grams of sugar in a grande size.
Real pumpkin on the other hand is low in calories and contains fiber, potassium, and more than double the amount of vitamin A you need in a day. (Adults should aim for 25 g of fiber per day; adult women should get 2,600 mg of potassium per day and 700 micrograms (mcg) of vitamin A per day while adult men should get 3,400 mg of potassium per day and 900 mcg of vitamin A per day.)
Because pumpkin is loaded with these nutrients, you can eat a very filling portion for few calories, which is a plus for many of us looking to maintain our weight during the off-season when we may not be training as hard, says Nedescu. Since most people generally get more sodium than potassium, adding electrolyte-rich pumpkin to your diet helps balance that ratio and improve nerve-muscle connections, she says. And consuming vitamin A as we enter cold and flu season can boost your immune system, too.
The spices are a zero-calorie way to add flavor to a dish. That said, remember that packaged pumpkin spice-flavored products often have added sugar or salt to make them taste better, so that’s what you need to look out for on the label.
If you just want the flavor, Rizzo suggests looking for a premixed option that contains just cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice, which you can find in most supermarkets. Adding it to oatmeal, smoothies, or nuts will give your food that pumpkin pie flavor boost without extra calories.
But, if you’re eating pumpkin spice-flavored foods—such as oatmeal or yogurt—every day, stick to those that have less than 5 grams of added sugar.
While it’s okay for athletes to have a bit more added sugar before or during a workout because it provides a quick source of fuel, it’s worth noting that women shouldn’t have more than 25 grams of added sugar per day, and men should stick to consuming less than 36 grams per day, according to the American Heart Association.
But when it comes to pumpkin spice-flavored foods, it’s most important to think about the other ingredients in the food. “If the pumpkin spice is paired with whole grains, nuts, seeds, beans, legumes, or other fruits and veggies, it’s likely a good choice,” says Rizzo. “If it’s in a dessert or salty snack, you probably want to limit your intake.”
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The easiest and healthiest way to eat pumpkin is to look for 100-percent pumpkin purée. (Rizzo likes Libby’s.) “Essentially, you’ll want to look for canned pumpkin without any additives, which is just as good as roasting and puréeing it yourself, but without all the work,” says Rizzo.
What Should You Look For in a Healthy Pumpkin Spice Product?
We tend to get caught up in pumpkin products, which is fun, but typically lacks meaningful amounts of the vegetable itself, says Nedescu. Instead, look for pumpkin as a top ingredient on the label or make your own flavored foods by adding a scoop of 100-percent pumpkin purée (canned is fine) to foods such as smoothies, oatmeal, homemade energy bars, curries, or yogurt.
Otherwise, you can enjoy some packaged options. If you’re looking for a savory protein postride, Lantana Foods makes a pumpkin spiced hummus with white beans, pumpkin, tahini, and spices that has just 50 calories per serving. Or if you just love pumpkin spice and can’t get enough, try the Tazo Chai Pumpkin Spice Tea, which is a mixture of black tea, pumpkin, cinnamon, and ginger with no added sugar. It’s especially nice after a chilly fall ride. To fuel up before or during a ride, Rizzo suggests a Clif Spiced Pumpkin Pie bar because it has a combo of carbs including oats that provide long-lasting energy, but stick to eating those during a ride versus as a snack due to the high sugar content.
“The biggest ‘health’ benefit of pumpkin spice is hands down mood-related. It is seasonal and fun, which gets us excited and creates a positive feeling,” says Nedescu.
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