This is how much sugar is packed into South Africa’s favourite cereals in 2024
Although cereals are often associated with convenience and high sugar content, many of South Africa’s most popular breakfast cereals have significantly reduced their sugar levels in recent years.
Cereals have long been a staple breakfast choice for South Africans of all ages. However, there has been a noticeable shift toward healthier options, with brands cutting sugar content and introducing more health-conscious alternatives.
Brands that are known for offering healthier breakfast options, like Futurelife, have become more popular and expanded their range to include items such as kids’ cereals.
This trend has also been followed by South African retailers, who now offer diet-friendly, home-brand cereals, although those will not be looked at here.
South African consumers have become increasingly mindful of the ingredients in their food, leading to a growing demand for healthier options.
Parents, in particular, are steering away from overly sugary cereals for their children. This shift has also been influenced by the rising cost of sugar over the years.
Sugar price increases may have slowed down, but they remain comfortably above the latest Consumer Price Inflation figure of 4.4% for September.
Sugar, sweets and dessert prices dropped from 15.5% in May to 7.0% in August.
BusinessTech analysed nearly 90 cereals available in South Africa to examine their sugar content.
We found that nine cereals contained 25 grams or more of sugar per 100 grams—meaning a quarter of each serving is sugar, with one cereal having one-third of sugar.
This marks a significant decline compared to 2022, when 17 cereals exceeded the 25-gram mark.
Cereals on the market for years have been decreasing their sugar content.
Some longstanding cereal brands have made efforts to reduce sugar content. For example, Bokomo’s Creme Soda Otees, which consistently topped the list with the highest sugar content at 38.6 grams per 100 grams, now contains 32.5 grams.
Similarly, Kellogg’s Coco Pops, once one of the most sugary cereals, has reduced its sugar content by nearly 10 grams.
Kellogg’s, once dominating the high-sugar category, has cut sugar levels across nearly all its cereals.
However, cereals like Coco Pops Big Five and Coco Pops Fills, which haven’t made adjustments, remain some of the country’s most sugary options.
Other brands have also followed suit, lowering sugar levels and expanding their healthier offerings, such as granola and oats. Nestlé’s Milo cereals remain among the most sugary, with 29 grams of sugar per 100 grams.
Coco Pops Big Five – 33.0g of sugar per 100g
Otees Cream Soda – 32.5g of sugar per 100g
Milo Duo Energy – 29.4g of sugar per 100g
Milo – 29.4g of sugar per 100g
Coco Pop Fills – 28.9g of sugar per 100g
On the healthier end, 11 cereals have less than 10 grams of sugar per 100 grams.
Oatso Easy Original, with only 1 gram of sugar, is the least sugary option, followed closely by Bokomo’s Wheat Crunchies and Futurelife Smart Food Zero Original.
Popular cereals like Weet-Bix, Corn Flakes, and Rice Krispies all contain less than 10 grams of sugar.
The table below outlines the nutritional information of 88 popular kinds of cereal in South Africa, ranked by the highest sugar content per 100 grams.
The recommended serving size for a bowl of cereal is 30 grams, and the details below do not account for added milk or sugar, which can significantly change the sugar content.
The grams of sugar per 100 grams can be interpreted as a percentage – thus, the worst offender (at 33 grams per 100 grams) can be read as one-third of any serving size being sugar.
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