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COPYRIGHT 2005 Australian Consumers' Association
For many of us, ready-to-eat breakfast cereals are still a staple food, and a good one can be the perfect kick-start to the day. It's commonly acknowledged that breakfast is an important meal, so it's best not to skip it. If you don't have the time to sit down to eat, there's a growing range of on-the-go breakfast options to choose from (see Quick breakfasts, CHOICE, September 2004), which are better than no breakfast at all--but a good cereal is generally a better choice.
We looked at over 180 cereals and mueslis to find the ones that are best for you nutritionally. See the tables and Best choices in each category for details. Generally, for everyday eating you're looking for a cereal that's high in:
* Carbohydrates and fibre--providing fuel to get you through the morning, both physically and mentally. Adults should be aiming for about 30 g of fibre in a day, and a high-fibre breakfast cereal is a good starting point. Do our fibre quiz, below right, to see if you're getting enough.
But you also want your cereal to be not too high in:
* Fat (fortunately the fat content of most cereals is minimal).
* Sugar--added sugar can displace more nutritious ingredients and just provide 'empty calories', so sugary cereals are best eaten in moderation.
* Sodium--we're all advised to limit our sodium intake. Most dietary sodium comes from salt in processed foods, including breakfast cereals.
Breakfast cereals often contain added minerals (such as iron) and vitamins (mainly B vitamins), which can make a useful contribution to your diet. Folate, for example, is important for women of childbearing age because it can help reduce the risk of having a baby with neural tube defects like spina bifida, and fortified cereal can be a good source (see our Folate report in CHOICE, November 2004). But as so many cereals have vitamins and minerals added, it's more useful to look at fibre, fat, sugar and sodium content when comparing them.
BEST CHOICES
More than a third of the 1S0 breakfast cereals we reviewed (not including the mueslis) are 'high' or 'very high' in fibre. Of these, just over 40 don't have too much fat, sugar or salt, so are good, healthy choices. See the Breakfast cereals table (page 10)--any cereal in the 'high' or 'very high' fibre category that doesn't have a x for fat, sugar or sodium is a good option.
The cereals that tend to be high in fibre are wheat biscuits, wholegrain cereals and bran cereals. Just check carefully when choosing bran ones--three of the saltiest cereals we found are all bran-based.
Brekky biggies: our verdict
These are the 10 top-selling breakfast cereals in Australia. Considering that we wouldn't recommend four of them for everyday eating and a further three we'd only rate as OK, it's lucky that we have many more to choose from on our supermarket shelves.
Taking into account fat, sugar and sodium as well as fibre content, we've rated them:
* [thumbs up] = good choice.
* OK = not bad, but there are better choices.
* [thumbs down] not recommended for everyday eating.
Market share, Our Brand volume (%) * rating SANITARIUM Weet-Bix 17.5 [thumbs up] KELLOGG'S Nutri-Grain 7.9 [thumbs down] KELLOGG'S Corn Flakes 6.6 [thumbs down] KELLOGG's Just Right 6.4 OK UNCLETOBYSVita Brits 5.6 [thumbs up] KELLOGG'S Coco Pops 5.2 [thumbs down] UNCLE TOBYS Flakes Plus 4.4 OK KELLOGG'S Sultana Bran 3.7 [thumbs up] KELLOGG'S Special K 3.1 OK KELLOGG'S Rice Bubbles 2.4 [thumbs down] * Market share figures are from Retail World's Australasian Grocery Guide 2004.
WHAT WE WANT FOR BREAKFAST
Over 800 people responded to our online poll, asking "What's important to you in choosing a breakfast cereal?" The votes went to:
* Healthy choice (high fibre, low fat, low sugar): 60%
* Taste...
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