It’s pitched as the most important meal of the day, but with only eight per cent of cereals getting a green light for healthy sugar levels, many of us are waking up to poor nutrition as the results of a new report have shown. Adults and children have a hard job finding a healthy start to the day, as cereal companies continue to add large amounts of sugar to their top brands. The report showed that 31 cereals out of the 100 examined contained more than four teaspoons of sugar per recommended serving and only one of the 28 cereals specifically marketed to children was found not to be high in sugar (but was still high in salt).
A UK brand of chocolate crackles topped the sweet mountain with more sugar per serving than a Cadbury’s Chocolate Flake, followed closely by Kellogg’s Coco Pops Moons and Stars, Frosties and Ricicles which were over a third (37 per cent) pure sugar.
Many brands thought of as healthy, such as Kellogg’s All Bran, Bran Flakes and Special K did little to bowl over the researchers.
Starting the day with Special K, for example, would be almost the sugar equivalent to waking up to a bowl containing a portion of Tesco’s Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake Ice Cream.
Entitled, “Going Against the Grain”, the report analysed 100 leading cereals. Although sugar levels remained high, positive changes could be seen with reductions in salt content. Despite this, 100g of Tesco Special Flakes was still found to contain the same amount of salt as 100g of Walkers Ready Salted crisps.
The report went on to highlight that other issues included confusing labelling, and questionable health and nutrition claims allowing some companies to promote a wholesome image for their brand, while failing to emphasise the high sugar or salt content
Sue Davies. a senior figure at Which?, said; “Breakfast is important, and some cereals deserve their healthy image, but most simply don’t. It’s especially shocking that almost all those targeted at children are less healthy. With such little choice, it’s a daily struggle for consumers.
“Cereal manufacturers need to wake up to the fact that people want to eat healthily and provide them with the means to do so by reducing sugar and salt levels and making labelling clearer. With over a billion pounds spent on cereals every year, it’s time they rose to the occasion. ”
In January 2009, the researchers bought 100 cereals from the main supermarkets. Products were chosen based on their current market share. They excluded hot cereals and mueslis from the research because, despite growth in sales in recent years, they remain a small percentage of the market overall. They looked at the amount of fat, saturates, sugar and salt that the 100 cereals contained and applied industry standards of labelling where possible.
