These Cereals Are So Sugary, We Might as Well Give Kids Candy Bars for Breakfast
Thu, 15 May 2014 15:43:45 PDT
The days of posting up at the breakfast table with a bowl of cereal, a quart of milk, and the back of a Kellogg’s-branded box for reading material are on the wane. With the rise of Greek yogurt, breakfast is become more of a cultured-milk game, and sales of cereal the likes of Grape Nuts and Corn Pops alike—are on the decline. Now, a new report from the Environmental Working Group on just how sweet some of the “kid-friendly” breakfast items really are delivers the equivalent of a swift kick to the down sector of the food industry.
While the sweeter end of the cereal spectrum has never had the best reputation for healthiness, the numbers from this new investigation are stunning: On average, cereals marketed to children have 40 percent more sugar per serving than those intended for adults. Honey Smacks, made by Kellogg’s, was the sweetest of them all, clocking in at 56 percent sugar by weight.
The report looked at a total of 1,500 cereals, including 181 that are specifically marketed to children. Only 10 of 181 contained little enough sugar to be suitable for kids, including Rice Krispies, Corn Flakes, Crispix, and Cheerios. EWG recommends that people avoid cereal with more than 4 grams of sugar per serving.
“When you exclude obviously sugar-heavy foods like candy, cookies, ice cream, soft and fruit drinks, breakfast cereals are the single greatest source of added sugars in the diets of children under the age of eight,” co-author Dawn Undurraga said in a press release. “Cereals that pack in as much sugar as junk food should not be considered part of a healthy breakfast or diet. Kids already eat two to three times the amount of sugar experts recommend.”
Joining Honey Smacks on the list of a dozen cereals that were more than 50 percent by weight—what EWG calls the Hall of Shame—are a number of lesser brands, like Mom’s Best Cereals Honey-Ful Wheat. But then there’s Frosted Flakes. Apparently, they’re not so great.
Instead sugary cereal, the EWG recommends breakfast alternatives like hot oatmeal and fresh fruit—or you can just stick with the yogurt you're probably already eating.
Related stories on TakePart:
• Attack of the Sugar Zombies!
• 12 Surprising Foods With More Sugar Than a Krispy Kreme Doughnut
• Jane Says: 130 Pounds of Sugar a Year Is Way, Way Too Much
Original article from TakePart
