Breakfast quiz:
Kellogg’s Honey Smacks cereal contains how much added sugar by weight?
a) 10%
b) 20%
c) 30%
d) 40%
Answer: Sorry, trick question. The correct answer is ‘none of the above’, because Honey Smacks is actually more than 50% added sugar by weight.
Now, you’d probably expect that from a cereal with the somewhat misleading word ‘Honey’ in its name. (Remember when they used to be called ‘Sugar Smacks’? Ah, for those simpler, more bluntly marketed times of yore…) But Honey Smacks is far from alone in turning breakfast into dessert.
In a study recently released by the Environmental Working Group, two-thirds of the 84 popular cereal brands surveyed exceeded federal guidelines for sugar content. And that includes 25 cereals manufactured by General Mills, which was a “Premier Sponsor” of the recent annual meeting of the American Dietetic Association.
Absolutely unsurprisingly, cereal manufacturers are fighting the federal guidelines–which are voluntary, by the way–tooth and nail. I don’t have a quote from the manufacturers to give you, but if I did it would no doubt run along the lines of cursing the socialist nanny state the U.S. has become, and reasserting the God-given right of American parents to turn their children into diabetics before they are old enough to vote.
Yes, parents can certainly read the nutrition facts printed on the cereal box and make intelligent nutrition choices, but wouldn’t it be better if they didn’t have to wade through a minefield of unhealthy choices (masterfully marketed to their kids) in the first place? The sad fact is that cereals such as these are mainstays in the diet of many American school kids, and in many areas of the country it’s not easy to find healthy alternatives.
Unfortunately, the Environmental Working Group didn’t include a list of low-sugar cereals, which would be a helpful aid to harried and hurried parents at the market. I’ll try to dig one up and report back.
Do you have a healthy cereal alternative you’d like to recommend?
© 2010 by Mark Sloan, MD
Mark Sloan, MD has been a pediatrician and a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics for more than 25 years. His book, Birth Day was named a finalist for the 2010 Northern California Book Awards in Creative Non-Fiction, and named one of fifty notable Bay Area Books of 2009 by the San Francisco Chronicle. Read his complete biography here. Also, find more Dr. Sloan via his new blog here.
4 Comments
Cereal is never a good option for breakfast as it it so processed. Read the book, Cereal Killer by Watson. Many question the health of any grains. It wasn’t until agriculture started that humans started having health issues. If one chooses to eat grains then they should be whole and soaked to get rid of the anti-nutrients.
Susie,
I agree with you that processed cereals ideally shouldn’t be a part of a child’s diet. But in working with many families whose children are already overweight or headed in that direction—I’d estimate that to be about a third of the children in my practice—I find that the best chance for healthy, permanent change is to meet them where they currently are in their lives.
For these families, often with multi-generational decades of unhealthy eating habits behind them, recommending a radically different diet at the first visit almost never works. I find the best initial approach is to pick one or two relatively easy changes, such as switching to smaller plates (and hence smaller portions), reducing soda, juice and sports drink intake, and substituting lower-sugar cereals as first steps. We talk about painlessly increasing exercise, too—walking the dog, biking to school, etc. I also refer families to a Healthy Living class, a clinical health educator for motivation and coaching, and perhaps to our pediatric dietitian if there are specific dietary concerns.
When the family returns, and the child’s weight has hopefully stabilized, parents and kids are often motivated by that initial success to move on to more challenging lifestyle changes. The goal, of course, is to help the entire family adopt a healthy, fruit-and-veggie-heavy diet.
So I believe there is a role for lower-sugar cereals in child nutrition—and for government regulation of the cereal industry—mainly as an early stepping-stone on the way to a much healthier diet.
Take care,
Mark Sloan
marksloanmdblog.com
We eat a variety including rice & corn chex, rice krispies (too much salt, I know), raisin bran, Barbara’s shredded spoonfuls, cheerios, and shredded wheat. We don’t eat cereal every morning but it is quick and easy which helps on hurried days.
Our family loves to keep a bowl of 4-grain cereal (similar to oatmeal) soaking in whey on the counter. Each morning we can empty the soaked grains into our pan, and quickly heat them up for a yummy bowl of grains, fruit, nuts, raw milk, butter, sea salt and syrup. We have to remember to replace the used bowl with a fresh bowl of water, grains, and whey – but the tasty results are worth it!
Nourishing Traditions agrees that families are better off banishing sugar filled cereals, but soaked grains and sweetners like syrup offer a nice similar alternative that is more nutritious for our bodies.
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