Break Fast Cereals
- Posted by CERC India
- Posted in Food
Key findings
Objective of our study was to check the content of fat, sugar and salt in breakfast cereals that are marketed to children.
All the ten variants of breakfast cereals were found to be exceptionally high in sugar (more than 12.5gm/100g)
None of the brands used the traffic lights labeling method.
- All eight variants were noted to be marketed aggressively
- Five variants had borderline results (between ‘acceptable’ and ‘high’ levels) for sodium content.
- All variants used the guidelines dietary allowances (GDA) based on recommendations for adults. None showed the GDA for children.
- One of the variant know to be aggressively marketed, had the highest amount of total sugar content, 37.9 gm per 100 gm.
- Two of the variants was found to be ‘acceptable’ but not ‘low’ in terms of fat content with 3.3 gm per 100 gm, leaving no room for improvement.
Areas of Action/Recommendations
- The study leads us to conclude that the breakfast cereals, widely marketed as a healthy choice of food, are actually high either in sugar, salt or fat.
- We affirm that it is the industry’s responsibility to reformulate their products and invest in new, healthier products of breakfast cereals.
