What's in Your Cereal?

Do you know what's in the cereal you're feeding your children? That "Delicious and Nutritious!" message on the box may just be hype, according to a recent report that exposes what's really inside the carton (more often than not): serious spoonfuls of sugar and salt in each serving.


Consumer Reports' nutrition ratings report (November 2008 issue)
found that some popular cereals marketed to children are 40-50
percent sugar, comparable to a glazed doughnut. Considering that
most children eat more than the standard serving size (1 cup),
your child may be consuming much more than you've bargained for.

The report compares the nutrition information of 27 leading
cereals, giving each cereal a rating of "very good," "good" or
"fair." Only four of the 27 cereals were rated "very good" -
General Mills' Cheerios (at the top of the list), Kix and Honey
Nut Cheerios, and Quaker Oats' Life. With regard to sugar
content, Post's Golden Crisp and Kellogg's Honey Smacks were
rated "fair," with more than 50 percent sugar by weight per
serving, and nine other cereals were determined to have at least
40 percent sugar. Kellogg's Rice Krispies, long considered a
relatively healthy cereal with little sugar, rated only "fair"
due to high sodium content and zero grams of dietary fiber. The
report suggests parents look for cereals high in fiber (5 grams
or more), low in sodium (140 milligrams or less) and low in sugar
(1 teaspoon or less per serving).

What's the lesson to be learned here? The next time you're
strolling the cereal aisle deciding what's best for your family,
spend some time reading those nutrition labels on the back of the
box before tossing it into your shopping cart. The ingredients
list will tell you a lot more about what's inside the box than
the colorful characters and happy messages on the outside ever
will. Your doctor can give you more information on the essentials
of proper nutrition.