Are breakfast cereals really a healthy choice?

Think breakfast and the chances are you’ll think of a bowl of cereal. Yet breakfast cereals are a relatively modern invention.

You need to look beyond the claims and healthy images on the packaging, which are often misleading

Before the beginning of the 20th century, breakfast in this country was usually bread and meat if you could afford it. It wasn’t until 1906 that Dr John Harvey Kellogg, an American Seventh Day Adventist and health reformer, founded with his brother the snappily named “Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flakes Company” and changed our breakfast-eating habits.

Dr Kellogg was a vegetarian and cornflakes were invented to provide a nutritious meat-free breakfast for the patients at his sanatorium. Other companies soon jumped on the bandwagon and we now have hundreds of different breakfast cereals to choose from. They’re quick and easy in the morning and many products are designed to appeal directly to children (as anyone who watched the last series of The Apprentice will know). According to a recent Which survey, we eat more breakfast cereal in this country than anywhere else in Europe. But are they really a healthy choice?

If you walk down the breakfast cereal aisle of any large supermarket, you will be bombarded with claims promoting the nutritional content of the various products – 'high in fibre', 'wholegrain', 'added vitamins', 'low fat', 'with prebiotic', etc and yet the Which survey of the 100 best-selling cereals found that more than half had very high levels of sugar and only 15 had a healthy salt content. The survey also identified cereals that claimed to help weight-loss, e.g. Special K (“stay slim with Special K”), but were high in sugar.

The Which report looked at levels of fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt in each of the cereals analysed using the 'traffic light system' developed by the Food Standards Agency (FSA). This uses red, amber and green symbols to identify whether each of these ingredients is high, medium or low for the product. Incredibly, only one cereal, Shredded Wheat, received a green light in all four categories.

Children’s cereals

Of the 28 cereals identified by Which as “children’s cereals”, only one (Rice Krispies) did not get a red light for its sugar content, although it only managed an amber rating and its salt content was high. In fact 16 of the 28 children’s cereals were more than ⅓ sugar (some almost 40% sugar), which is alarming given the rise in childhood obesity. These included Whole Earth Organic Tasty Cocoa Bears, whose wholesome image may lull parents into assuming they were a healthy choice, and Nestlé Cookie Crisp whose packet claims: “Whole grain cereals are an important part of a balanced diet”.

So how do I choose a healthy cereal?

One of the problems is that there isn’t a single, unified labelling scheme to make nutritional data clear to consumers. You need to look beyond the claims and healthy images on the packaging, which are often misleading. Ignore the Guideline Daily Amounts (GDAs) and the values per serving (these are often much smaller than the portions people actually eat) and look at the nutritional data per 100g: this way you can compare like with like. According to the Foods Standards Agency, the levels to look for per 100g are as follows:

Other options?

You can choose a sugar-free muesli or have porridge for breakfast, neither of which were analysed in the survey but both offer a healthier nutritional profile. And of course, there’s no law saying that you have to eat cereal for breakfast, here are some other suggestions for a healthier start to the day:

• Boiled or poached eggs with wholemeal or rye toast
• Fruit Smoothie with dairy or soya yoghurt
• Sardines on wholemeal or rye toast with grilled tomatoes
• Sugar-free peanut butter on wholemeal or rye toast

Or, you could go back to what we were eating before the breakfast cereal revolution took place: wholemeal or rye bread with a couple of slices of cold meat or cheese.

The advice given here is not intended to replace medical advice. Always consult your GP if you are concerned about your health.

Clare Jones, BA(Hons), Dip ION, mBANT
Nutritional Therapy 07985 166606.
If you would like to make an appointment for a personal nutrition consultation with Clare, please contact her on the above number or visit Clare’s website: www.clarejones-nutrition.co.uk