Check your cereals for sugar content

While we all like to think of a bowl of cereal at breakfast as getting the day off to a healthy start, in fact many brands contain a worrying amount of sugar as discovered by the research done by Action on Sugar who reveal:

• Manufacturers claim to be improving the nation’s breakfast but in fact the highest sugar containing cereals have either increased or stayed the same since 2012.
• 14 out of 50 cereals contain a third or more (≥33.3g/100g) sugar, or 8 teaspoons per 100g
• Companies should look to the success of the salt reduction programme and reduce sugars, now.

As parents should be aware of the dangers of hidden sugars, especially in breakfast cereals, which are contributing to the excess sugar intake and Britain’s escalating obesity epidemic and to tooth decay. 

The highest sugar cereals were found to be:

• Aldi’s Harvest Morn Choco Rice with 39g/100g (an 18 per cent increase since 2012)
• Kellogg’s Frosties with 37g/100g (the same as 2012)
• Morrisons Honey & Nut Corn Flakes with 36.3g/100g (an 8 per cent increase since 2012)
• Sainsbury’s Honey Nut Corn Flakes with 36.3g/100g (an 8 per cent increase since 2012)
• Kellogg's Crunchy Nut  with 25g/100g (the same since 2012)

However some products have improved by lowering their sugars content. The largest reductions included:

• Aldi’s Harvest Morn Crunchy Honey Nut Corn Flakes with a 19 per cent reduction from 34.4g to 28.0g/100g and
• Honey Monster Puffs (previously Sugar Puffs) with a 17 per cent reduction from 35.0g to 29.0g/100g.

There is no reason why cereals that are high in sugars can’t be reduced as there are identical products with less sugar.  For example:

• Sainsbury’s Honey Nut Corn Flakes (36.3g/100g) contains 43 per cent more sugars than Lidl’s Crownfield Corn Flakes Honey & Peanuts (20.8g/100g).  
• Kellogg’s Special K (with 17g/100g) contains 36 per cent more sugars than Lidl’s Crownfield Special Flakes Rice & Wheat (10.9g/100g).

High fibre, lower sugar and salt cereals can still play a part in a healthy diet, and if you read the labels you can find healthier options available. For example:

• Shredded Wheat Original (0.7g/100g sugars) (which ranked the healthiest cereal in 2012), and
• Quaker Oats Oat So Simple Original (1.0g/100g sugars), both made with no added sugars, and
• Weetabix (4.4g/100g sugars).

According to Action on Sugar there have been notable achievements among food manufacturers in reducing salt content since the 2012 survey, with the likes of Lidl’s Crownfield Corn Flakes coming down by 1.02g/100g (60 per cent) and Simply M&S Cornflakes coming down by 0.45g/100g (36 per cent). All cereal manufacturers are being asked to follow their success with reducing salt, which has lowered the nation’s blood pressure, and to reduce sugars. 

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