Cereal makers lowering the sugar content
By Elena Conis, Los Angeles Times
Want to feed your kids a healthy breakfast without drowning them in sugar? It’s a challenge — but it’s getting a little easier.
Major cereal makers are rolling out less-sugary versions of some of their sweetest brands. In December, General Mills — maker of Lucky Charms, Trix and many other breakfast staples — announced that it would cut the sugar levels in all of its children’s cereals to 9 grams or less per 3/4 cup serving. Last month, Post Foods announced that it had already lowered the sugar in its Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles cereals to 9 grams per serving.
Those are big changes: Lucky Charms and Trix used to pack 14 grams of sugar per serving, and Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles used to weigh in at 12 grams of sugar per serving.
Children can still load up on sugar at breakfast time, warns Dr. Wendy Slusser, medical director of the Fit for Healthy Weight Program at UCLA’s Mattel Children’s Hospital. Just check out the nutrition labels on other popular brands such as Quaker Oats’ Cap’n Crunch (12 grams of sugar per serving) or Kellogg’s Honey Smacks (15 grams of sugar per serving).
At those levels, a bowl of breakfast cereal could go a long way toward the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s recommended limit of 48 grams of added sugar for children consuming 2,200 calories a day. In fact, children with big morning appetites could easily get half their quota before their day really starts.