You might not think of cornflakes as a sugary cereal, but seven of the 12 we tested contain two or more teaspoons per 100g. Do you think you’re having a healthy start to the day when you tuck in to your cereal?
In our cornflake test, we found Asda Smartprice cornflakes had the most sugar with 9.3g of sugars per 100g. The Co-operative Simply Value had less than a third of this, and the lowest sugar content of all those we tested (at 2.9g per 100g).
However, adding sugar on top of your cereal will of course increase this. If you add a couple of teaspoons to a 30g bowl of Kellogg’s cornflakes, you’ll be consuming as much sugar as in the same serving of Kellogg’s Frosties.
Just a spoonful of cereal
Now the salt content of cornflakes has dropped over the years. But while Kellogg’s has reduced its salt from 1.8g (in 2009) to 1.3g per 100g, its cornflakes are still the saltiest of all on test. The Co-operative Simply Value cornflakes contained the least salt, with 0.5g per 100g. And the cornflakes that came highest in our taste test were all among the sweetest or saltiest.
Convo commenter Catherine took action following our last breakfast cereal investigation telling us:
‘I was appalled to read this report, it shocked and surprised me. I have discussed this with others too and i was not alone in assuming that all breakfast cereals are kind of healthy – how wrong we were! I might as well as have eaten cake! I’ve been having dizzy spells from blood sugar fluctuations, and no wonder! I have switched to shredded wheat and weetabix and have been feeling much better. Thank you, you have educated me and my family about how irresponsibly these cereals are marketed.’
Realistic portions sizes?
When it comes to portion size, most people would be surprised at the reality of the recommended serving size. Most packs recommend a serving size of 30g with 125ml of semi-skimmed milk, but we have often questioned how realistic this is; 30g is the size of a small box found in variety packs – a very small bowlful. And M&S recommends a perhaps more realistic serving size of 50g.
And when it comes to added vitamins and minerals, all of the cornflakes we tested were fortified, with the exception of Lidl. Most contain a variety of B vitamins and iron, needed to release energy from food and to make red blood cells, which carry oxygen around our bodies. However, some also contain vitamins D or E.
Do you take the nutritional value of your cereal into consideration when making your choice? How do you start a nutritionally sound day?
Loading ...
