These are the unhealthiest cereals for your kids

·27 Nov 2015

Cereals have become a staple for kids, teenagers, varsity students and adults in the mornings, thanks to the ease of preparation and delicious taste.

There are a wide variety of cereals available in South Africa, with most options being marketed with a mascot – from Coco the Monkey to Tony the Tiger, these characters take specific aim at children.

The biggest make-up of cereal is carbohydrates, meaning that it is unsuitable for low-carb-high-fat (LCHF) or Banting diets, which have gained prominence in recent years.

And despite claims of high vitamins, iron and minerals, most cereals pack in more sugar than anything else.

Sugar has been dubbed the food villain of our time – the sweet poison – and has been linked to heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes and obesity in both adults and children.

Boston-based Tufts University recently published research which found that sugar – sugary drinks in particular – may lead to an estimated 184,000 adult deaths each year globally.

BusinessTech investigated childrens’ favourite breakfast treats to see which pack the biggest sugary punch.

The cereals listed below are ranked according to their sugar content, which is used as the basis to determine the least healthy option. Cereals such as All-bran and High-fibre bran were excluded as they are not specifically marketed to the youth.

All measures are based on 100 grams of cereal, excluding milk and added sugar.

Cereal comparison

Cereal	Energy (kJ)	Fat (g)	Sodium (mg)	Carbohydrates (g)	Of which is sugar (g)
Kellogg’s Coco Pops	1525	1.5	699	83	36.0
Kellogg’s Strawberry Pops	1485	0.9	722	82	33.0
Bokomo Choco Scoops	1465	1.4	312	75	31.8
Nestlé Bar One	1683	5.7	162	75	30.0
Nestlé Milo	1625	4.5	98	73	29.3
Kellogg’s Coco Pops Crunchers	1612	2.5	310	78	29.0
Bokomo Choc Bitz	1813	17.1	166	60	27.0
Bokomo Frosted Flakes	1502	0.6	720	81	24.9
Bokomo Honey Crunchies	1398	1.2	3	69	23.7
Kellogg’s Frosties	1596	0.4	647	73	22.0
Bokomo Otees	1456	4.4	405	69	22.0
Jungle Oatso Easy	1640	9.0	393	62	14.0
Bokomo ProNutro	1565	7.3	246	56	14.0
Kellogg’s Corn Flakes	1351	1.0	623	70	8.0
Kellogg’s Rice Krispies	467	1.5	650	25	2.0

Kellogg’s Rice Krispies came out at the top in our findings, with a tiny 2 grams of sugar per 100 grams of cereal. However, this cereal is commonly eaten with added sugar to taste, which is not included in the tally.

This is common trend among cereals which one usually adds sugar to (such as Corn Flakes and Jungle Oatso Easy).

On the other side of the sugar cube, Coco the Monkey is leading the charge for the biggest sugar punch, with 36 grams of sugar per 100 grams of cereal.

The recommended portion size for a cereal breakfast is 30g, thus more than a third (11g) of a single portion of Coco Pops is sugar.

Close behind the chocolate rice pops is the strawberry variety, with Strawberry pops carrying 33 grams of sugar per 100 grams, with Bokomo’s Choco Scoops in third with 31.8 grams of sugar.

In terms of overall energy, Bokomo’s Choc Bitz – which have actual chocolate and vanilla chips in – are the biggest villain, carrying 1,813 kJ per 100 grams, and 17.1 grams of fat.