Kellogg’s Causes Confusion

Posted By elissa on Aug 14, 2011 | 1 comment

Dr. Yoni Freedhoff of “Weighty Matters” flagged this mendacious “advertorial” from Kellogg’s on the UK version of WebMD.

Wow. Just wow. Although it purports to tell the “truth” about sugars, it conveniently blurs the distinction between “sugars” and “added sugars.” As such, they make it sound as if chowing down on sugar-sweetened, ready-to-eat children’s cereals is one of the healthiest things a kid could possibly do.

Ok, let’s play a little numbers game! As Kellogg’s conveniently notes, the so-called “Guideline Daily Amount” for a kid is 85g of “sugar.” But that’s total sugars… including the naturally-occurring sugars in fruits, vegetables and dairy products; in addition to the amounts of sugars added to processed foods (like bread, catsup, sweetened yogurt and – of course – breakfast cereals). So let’s create a hypothetical kid, who eats a relatively healthy diet containing milk, veggies, whole grain products and fruit. Over the course of the day, s/he consumes the following:

• 1 medium banana (14.4g sugar)
• 4 slices whole wheat bread (12g sugar)
• 2 8 oz. glasses of nonfat milk (24.6g sugar)
• a wedge of watermelon (17.7g sugar)
• 1/2 c. peas (3.7g sugar)
• 1 c. steamed broccoli (2.2g sugar)
• 4 oz. baked sweet potato (9.6g sugar)

(values from CalorieKing.com)

Anyone wanna add that up? It comes to 84.2g sugar. Our hypothetical kid has just about hit his/her 85g already… without eating a single piece of candy or drinking a glass of “Sunny Delight.” Ok, maybe you think I “cheated” with the watermelon and sweet potato… but it wouldn’t have come out much different if I had subbed more typical fare… like an 6 oz. glass of OJ (16 g sugar) and a half-cup serving of unsweetened applesauce (11.5g sugar). A little jelly or honey on the bread or a couple of cookies for dessert would easily put him/her over the top.

Are sugary kids’ cereals the devil incarnate? No… but they can be a significant source of added sugars.* And those added sugars are empty calories. Sure, Kellogg’s is correct that “no type of sugar is more nutritious than any other,” but this is specious. It’s not about the sugar, per se – it’s what you’re getting with your sugar. Take away the added vites and minerals, and you’re not left with much… just flour/starch and sugar. And kids’ cereals can be as much as 35% – 40% sugar… a little here and a little there can add up to a lot by the end of the day.

Seriously, sugar-sweetened cereals are the equivalent of eating vitamin-fortified dessert for breakfast. Shame on Kellogg’s for its dishonesty.

*particularly if more than one serving is eaten at a time. Suffice it to say, very few people measure their cereal, and a standard “bowl” typically holds 1 1/2 – 2 servings.