They’re threatening specifically because of their sugar. It’s a major cause of childhood obesity, dental disease and junk food addiction. But how can a concerned parent tell which sugary breakfast cereal is worst?
CNN made it easy earlier this year. Back on National Cereal Day – March 7 – the news leader pub-lished the results of a survey on kid-targeted more-candy-than-cereal breakfast products. And I missed it completely…
Making amends
I now profess to make amends for my unintentional oversight, bringing you an opinion-studded rundown of CNN’s picks of the most-health-threatening cereals…
How they measured
CNN researchers followed criteria outlined by the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), a service of the US Department of Agriculture.
According to the CACFP, breakfast cereals that contain more than 21.2 grams of sugar per 100 grams of dry cereal are officially ‘too sweet’. The ‘sweetness’ value is calculated by dividing the cereal’s grams of sugar per serving by the serving size in grams.
Here they come!
… In descending order, from sweetest to safest – which is a relative term in this context:
1. Cap’n Crunch: 0.45 grams
2. Lucky Charms: 0.37 grams
4. Frosted Flakes, Fruity Pebbles, Cookie Crisp, Cocoa Puffs, Apple Jacks (5-way tie): 0.33 grams
8. Trix, Reese’s Puffs, Froot Loops (three-way tie): 0.31 grams
11. Cinnamon Toast Crunch: 0.29 grams
12. Rice Crispies: 0.10 grams
13. Cheerios: 0.04 grams
The takeaway
Yup! The worst sugar offender of the bunch (Cap’n Crunch) was more than 10 times sweeter than the least-threatening choice (Cheerios). I didn’t even know Rice Crispies had any added sugar, but it’s got twice the sugar of Cheerios. Maybe that’s just ‘natural sugar’ in the mix…
If your kids want to eat cereal for breakfast (or snacks), the best ones are those ‘closest to nature’. Which, in other parlance, could be described as ‘least processed’.
Insidious plan
It’s clear that the cereal makers know sugar is addictive – as addictive as caffeine and nicotine, in fact. So each has been loading up its flagship brands with more and more sugar for years, trying to addict the most kids.
My take
Even though the ‘threat’ from sugary cereals targets kids, this post is for you, concerned parents. The kids are blissfully unaware of what they’re eating and what it’s doing to them. It’s up to you to take responsibility!
~ Maggie J.