RodrigoPeres.com: How healthy is your CEREAL?

How healthy is your cereal?

ResultsPersonalTraining.org

Breakfast is said to be the most important meal of the day. I have to agree, it is TRUE… and a lot of people still skipping it and most of the time the excuse is TIME. “Don’t have time for your health, you will find TIME for illness and to go to the GP”.

Breakfast has positive effects, affecting our mental and physical performance throughout the day, as well as our mood, weight and long-term health. A good breakfast gives us the energy we need to face the day, and apart from a healthier, happier start to the day, you are going to kick start your body functions after an overnight fast (Breakfast -----> Break Fast -----> Break Your Fast) and breakfast will speed up your metabolism too, plus, many researches has found that by eating breakfast the likelihood of picking a chocolate bar or/AND a bag of crisps later on the day as a snack diminishes.

Is your breakfast cereal a nutritious start to the day?

There are 100s of cereal out there and I can say that the majority are high in Sugar, Salt (yes salt, many people only think about the sugar and fat), Fat and Trans Fat – don’t forget the Monsanto's GMO corn – which is linked to cancer tumours and an increased risk of premature death in both men and women (if you look at pics of the lab mice, you won’t believe it. It looks like they have ping pong/ tennis ball inside of them).

Unfortunately, not all cereals are healthy, even though they may seem like they are. Apart from the general rule that you should avoid any breakfast cereal that turns your milk “fluorescent”, there are a few things you should know when picking one out.

While some cereals may seem healthy because they have the words "grain" or "fibre" in their names and the picture on the box makes them look like they contain wholesome ingredients, don't be fooled.

READ THE LABEL

The only way to truly tell if a cereal is good for you is to read the label. The first ingredient on the list should be a whole grain, so you should literally look for the words "whole" or "whole grain."

Next, you should choose a cereal that is:

HIGH in fibre
LOW in salt
LOW in Sugar
LOW in fat
Fortified / added vitamins & minerals

A 30g serving size from a good cereal you should get at least
10% Fibre = 3g and high would be over 6g.

AVOID cereals with over:

9% fat or over 2.7g of fat (per 30g serving)
27% sugar or 8g of sugar (per 30g serving) and
180mg of sodium per 30g serving (0.18grams of salt)
If choose to look at per 100g instead of servings, then that would be 0.54g of Salt.

You should also be on the lookout for unhealthy ingredients such as "partially or hydrogenated" which indicate that the cereal contains Trans Fat.

Many cereals are now fortified with essential vitamins and minerals, so you may want to choose fortified brands for added health benefit.

Did you know?

~ 32 out of the 50 cereals in the UK were high in sugar and
~ 12 out of the 14 cereals (86%) aimed at children had excessive levels of added sugar and
~ Cereals marketed for children, all except Rice Krispies were high in sugar.

SUGAR
The cereal highest in added sugar was Kellogg’s Frosties, which is 37% sugar.

Own-brand chocolate rice cereals from several supermarkets came a close second at 36% sugar.

These included:

· Tesco Choco Snaps

· Sainsbury’s Choco Rice Pops

· Morrisons Choco Crackles

· Lidl Crownfield Choco Rice

· The Co-operative Choco Snaps

· Asda Choco Snaps

These were followed by:

· Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut Cornflakes

· Kellogg’s Coco Pops

· Honey Monster Sugar Puffs

These all had 35% sugar

Several supermarket brands of honey nut cornflakes had 33.6% sugar. Even cereals marked as ‘healthy’ such as Kellogg’s All-Bran Flakes (22%) and Special K (17%), were high in sugar.

Alpen Original Muesli had 23.1% sugar, although this included sugar from fruit, while Dorset Cereals Simply Delicious Muesli had 16.8% sugar, though this was all from fruit.

SALT
Only eight of the 50 cereals analysed did not meet the 2012 target of a maximum of 1.1g salt per 100g breakfast cereal. These were:

· Asda Cornflakes

· Lidl Cornflakes

· Kellogg’s Cornflakes

· Marks and Spencer Cornflakes

· Tesco Cornflakes

· Nestlé Cheerios

· Kellogg’s Special K

· Rice Krispies

FAT
Most cereals were low in fat (3% or less) though several contained medium levels of fat (between 3 and 20%). Those with the highest levels were:

· Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut Clusters (15%)

· Quaker Oat So Simple (8.5%)

· Dorset Simply Delicious Muesli (7.4%)

· Alpen Original Muesli (5.8%)

· Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut Cornflakes (5%)

Several other brands and own-brand equivalents contained between 3 and 5% fat.

BEST Top 10 by the Telegraph
1. Beggar's Mantle Muesli
2. Alara Date with Cocoa Organic Muesli
3. Lizi's Granola
4. Sharpham Park Honey Puffs
5. Food Doctor Papaya Passion Muesli
6. Optivita Berry Oat Crisp
7. Gorilla Munch
8. Biona Wild Berry Crisp Granola

LOWEST in SUGAR
SHREDDED WHEAT > Teaspoons of sugar per serving: 0.
Teaspoons of sugar when you add milk: 1¼. Calories with milk: 189.
Fat per 100g of cereal: 2.2g.
Salt per 100g: Trace.
Sugar per 100g: 0.7g.

HIGHEST in SUGAR
FROSTIES > Teaspoons of sugar per serving: 3½.
Teaspoons of sugar when you add milk: 5¼. Calories with milk: 245.
Fat per 100g of cereal: 0.6g.
Salt per 100g: 0.9g.
Sugar per 100g: 37g.

COCO POPS > Teaspoons of sugar per serving: 3½.
Teaspoons of sugar when you add milk: 5¼. Calories with milk: 233.
Fat per 100g of cereal: 2.5g.
Salt per 100g: 0.75g.
Sugar per 100g: 35g.

Cereal and Health Conditions

> Anaemia
~ What to eat: Healthwise Bran Flakes, Healthwise Sultana Bran, Special K.

~ How they help: These cereals are richest in iron, needed for the manufacture of haemoglobin which transports vital oxygen around the bloodstream and to body tissues. A 40g bowl provides between half and two-thirds of the Recommended Daily Allowance, helping to prevent the classical symptoms of anaemia, such as tiredness, weakness and pale skin.
However, the iron in cereals is less well absorbed and requires the presence of vitamin C (eg from a glass of orange juice) to be absorbed.

> Obesity
~ What to eat: All-Bran Plus, Healthwise Sultana Bran, Special K, porridge oats, Commonsense Special K, Shredded Wheat, Weetabix.

~ How they help: These cereals are high in fibre and/or have a low GI (raise blood sugar levels relatively slowly) which can curb mid-morning snacking by helping you to feel full for longer.

> Heart disease
~ What to eat: Healthwise Bran Flakes, Special K , Healthwise Sultana Bran, Optivita Berry Oat Crisp

~ How they help: They all have high levels of folic acid fortification, providing at least half of the RDA in one bowl. According to a recent NOP survey for Kelloggs, 80% of Britons are unaware of the role folic acid can play in combating heart disease as Folate lowers homocysteine.

> High cholesterol
~ What to eat: Porridge oats, Oat Bran Flakes.

~ How they help: Oats provide lots of a soluble fibre which binds to cholesterol in the gut aiding its removal from the body. 2-10g daily can produce small but significant decreases in the levels of LDL cholesterol.

> Osteoporosis
~ What to eat: Ready Brek, All Bran Plus, Special K

~ How they help: They provide particularly good quantities of nutrients essential for building or maintaining strong bones. Ready Brek is rich in calcium - one bowl made up with milk provides 90% of the Recommended Daily Allowance. All Bran Plus is also a good provider of calcium (one bowl with milk provides 35% of the RDA), while Special K provides at least half the daily amount of vitamin D ? known to boost mineral density and help prevent fractures. High-fibre cereals are generally better in the battle against osteoporosis because they naturally contain another bone mineral - magnesium - in the whole grain.

> Stress
~ What to eat: Optima Fruit And Fibre

~ How it helps: It's rich in carbohydrate which may boost calming serotonin levels in the brain, and also fortified with B vitamins required for a healthy nervous system. Research by Professor Andrew Smith at the University of Bristol, found that subjects who ate breakfast, particularly fortified cereal, every day perceived themselves as less stressed, and less depressed than those who skipped breakfast.

> Cancer
~ What to eat: Shredded wheat, All Bran Plus, All Bran Bite Size, Healthwise Bran Flakes, Sultana Bran, Shreddies, Weetabix

~ How they help: Wheat fibre is known to encourage the excretion of oestrogen from the body and contains substances called lignans which weaken the effect of oestrogen on breast tissue. Both these factors may reduce the risk of the breast cancer.

High-fibre breakfast cereals also speed the passage of potential carcinogens through the gut and, according to the Cancer Research Campaign, half of all bowel cancer cases could be prevented by eating a diet high in cereal fibre. Most people eat about 12g of fibre daily, whereas a healthy amount is about 18g. One bowl of wholewheat cereal is an easy way to help fill this fibre gap.

Remember!

“Breakfast like a king,
lunch like a prince and
dine like a pauper”

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