U.K.: Cereals Can Have Nearly As Much Fat As Sausages

EDINBURGH (The Scotsman), July 19, 2006: Breakfast cereals can contain the same amount of sugar as a chocolate bar and almost as much fat as sausages, according to a report which says manufacturers are not doing enough to produce healthier foods. A study by the London-based consumer group Which? found more than three-quarters of cereals it tested had high sugar levels, rising to 88 per cent of products specifically targeted at children. One-fifth of all cereals tested had high levels of salt and 7 per cent contained high levels of saturated fat. Kellogg's Coco Pop Straws had 34g of sugar per 100g - comparable to a two-finger Kit Kat - while some puffed wheat cereals had more sugar per 100g than a Toffee Crisp. Jordan's Crispy Nut Four Combo had the highest fat content at 28.5g per 100g - the same amount per serving as a McDonald's McBacon Roll, according to the report. And Sainsbury's Crunchy Oat Cereal had 20.3g of fat per 100g - nearly as much as the chain's own thick pork sausages. Health experts say that reducing the amount of salt in our food by half would prevent 70,000 strokes and heart attacks in the UK each year. Sue Davies, chief policy advisor at Which?, said: "At a time when there is growing concern about childhood obesity, it is simply not good enough that cereals marketed at children were among the worst offenders for sugar and for some in salt." She added there had been little improvement since the organisation conducted a similar survey two years ago. Researchers surveyed 275 different types and flavours of cereals from leading brands and the UK's four largest supermarket chains. They looked at the amounts of sugar, salt and fat per 100g and compared these to Food Standards Agency "traffic light" guidelines to work out high, medium and low content - indicated on labels as red, amber and green colour codes. Asda and Morrisons' Golden Puffs were both the worst offenders for sugar at 55g per 100g of the cereal. Kellogg's All-Bran and Morrisons' Right Balance had the highest amount of salt per suggested portion size. Of the cereals targeted at children, the three worst offenders were Quaker Oatso Simple Kids, Kellogg's Coco Pops Straws and Mornflake Pecan and Maple Crisp. They would all get "red lights" for sugar content. Television nutritionist Carina Norris said: "The trick is to go for the plainer cereals such as no-added-sugar and no-added-salt oats. The more added items are in a cereal brand, the more salt and sugar are likely to be in it. Cereals are still healthier than a cooked breakfast, it is just a matter of choosing the right one." The Association of Cereal Food Manufacturers, whose members include Jordans, Kellogg's, and Weetabix, said salt content in cereals had been cut by an average of 33 per cent between 1998 and 2005. It said: "There is no evidence to show breakfast cereals make a significant contribution to energy, fat or sugar in the diet of the UK population, and there is no evidence to show that reducing energy density or the sugar content of breakfast cereals would make a change to the bodyweight of the UK population." An Asda spokeswoman said: "We have 70 Asda brand cereals. This gives customers what they consistently ask us for - variety. "However, it does seem crazy that we can drop on to a blacklist for sugar on products with a high fruit content but not one single spoonful of added sugar." Kellogg's said: "A serving of Kellogg's Coco Pops Straws provides 12 per cent of the guideline daily amount for sugar, which is half the amount that would be contained in two slices of toast with jam or marmalade." A Sainsbury's spokeswoman said all the store's breakfast cereals were clearly labelled. "A large percentage of the fat content in this product will be from the presence of roasted hazelnuts, sunflower seeds and sesame seeds - all of which are a natural source of good fats such as omega 3 and 6," she said. By Alastair Jamieson ©2006 Scotsman.com