Cereal seems like the perfect choice for a quick breakfast on busy mornings, but is the cereal you start your day with really good for you? The quality of ready-to-eat breakfast cereals varies widely between nutritious and sugar-laden junk. Choose a healthy low-sugar cereal that's high in fiber, vitamins and minerals, and add calcium- and protein-rich skim milk for a healthy start to your day.
Sugar
Some breakfast cereals are more than 40 percent sugar and contain more than 12 g, or 3 tsp., of sugar per serving. The American Heart Association recommends women limit added sugar to 24 g, or 6 tsp., per day and men limit it to 36 g, or 9 tsp. to curb rising rates of obesity and heart disease. Kid's cereals are not the only ones high in sugar. A 1 cup serving of General Mills Basic 4 is one-quarter sugar and Quaker Natural Lowfat Granola is one-third sugar, with an amazing 4-1/2 tsp. per 2/3 cup serving. Choose cereal with 8 g of sugar or less per serving.
Whole Grains and Fiber
To find out if a cereal is made from healthy, high-fiber whole grains, look at the ingredient list. If whole wheat or whole grain is listed first, the cereal contains a high percentage of whole grains. Just because a cereal is high in fiber doesn't mean it's whole grain -- it may be made from refined grains with fiber added back in, which means it's lacking cancer-fighting phytochemicals. Choose a whole-grain cereal with at least 3 g of fiber per serving, and aim for 3 to 5 servings of whole grains and 25 to 40 g of fiber per day.
Saturated andTrans Fat
Choose a healthy cereal with less than 3 g of total fat per serving, and zero trans fat. Trans fat is a man-made fat used to improve the taste and texture of foods, but it is especially damaging to heart health. Manufacturers are allowed to claim a product has zero trans fat if it has 0.5mg or less per serving, so search the ingredient list for partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, the name for trans fat. Even small amounts can quickly add up to the daily recommended limit of 1 percent of your calories per day, which is just 2 g of trans fat for a 2,000 calorie diet.
Other Considerations
Choose a cereal that contains 100 to 200 calories and at least 2 g of protein per serving, and 10 to 25 percent of important vitamins and minerals, including iron, folate, and vitamins B-6 and B-12. Add skim milk, nuts and fresh fruit to increase nutrition, and drink all the milk left in the bowl when you've finished the cereal.
References
- Clemson Cooperative Extension: Choosing Breakfast Cereal
- Harvard School of Public Health: Finding Sugar in Cereals Takes Detective Work
- American Institute of Cancer Research: Breakfast Cereals: A Little Healthier, But Gr-r-reat?
- American Heart Association: Whole Grains and Fiber
- Harvard School of Public Health: Breakfast Cereal Sugar Content List
- MayoClinic.com: Trans Fat is Double Trouble for Your Heart Health
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