Your favourite cereals could be packing a spoonful (or 5) of sugar.
Nothing says ‘quick and easy breakfast’ like a bowl of cereal to tide you over until lunch – but research from Action on Sugar shows that 47% of cereals contain a recommended daily maximum sugar intake for a 4-6 year old (that’s 19g of sugar, equivalent to 5 teaspoons).
Longstanding family favourite cereal like Kelloggs Frosties, which can be found in most retailers, packs a hefty 37g of sugar per 100g serving which is more sugar than half a packet of chocolate chip Maryland cookies (31g of sugar). Another sugar offender is the Malt O Meal ‘Marshmallow Mateys’ sold at Sainsburys – tucking into a 100g serving of these in the morning is the equivalent to eating more than 2 Lotus Biscoff Krispy Kreme doughnuts which works out to be around 41g of sugar.
If you’re thinking ‘who has 100g worth of cereal in the morning?’, then the answer may be more people than you think. It is very easy to underestimate the amount of cereal you’re free pouring in if you don’t have some measuring scales on hand, and many people often end up eating 100g of cereal (which is 3x the usual serving size of 30g) in the morning without even realising!
Breakfast is often deemed ‘the most important meal’, after all (the clue is kind of in the name), it is breaking our overnight fast which helps to kickstart our metabolism, fuel our brain and body, and provides essential vitamins and nutrients to keep us going throughout the day.
So, should we really be consuming these sugar-laden cereals at the crack of dawn?
Excessive sugar intake usually contributes to people eating in a calorie surplus, which can lead to weight gain. Being overweight majorly increases your risk of health conditions such as heart disease, some cancers and type 2 diabetes – with diabetes rates expected to soar to 1.3 billion by 2050.
And if you’re trying avoid a hefty pricetag of a dentist trip and look after your dental health, we would encourage you to steer clear from these cereals as sugar is one of the main causes of tooth decay.
Kickstarting your morning with a bowl of cereal also makes for a very unbalanced breakfast. Have you ever had a bowl of cornflakes and you’re then ravenous a mere hour later – keeping an eagle eye on the clock, desperately waiting for it to strike 12pm just so you can tuck into your lunch? That’s because your breakfast is lacking essential nutrients such as protein, which is key to keeping you full and satisfied.
If you’re wondering what you’re going to sit down and eat in the mornings now, then we’ve got you covered.
We have plenty of protein-rich and balanced breakfast ideas for you to take your pick from. Just head over to: Breakfast Recipes to find your new breakfast.
Our personal favourites here at Healthy You is the comforting bowl of apple pie porridge (who said you can’t eat apple pie for breakfast!) and the egg muffins for a savoury start to your day.
Could your breakfast be packing up to 40g of sugar?