Question: Why is breakfast the most important meal of the day?
Studies show that, compared to their breakfast-skipping peers, kids who eat a morning meal have better concentration, more acute problem-solving skills and improved hand-eye co-ordination in school.
Breakfast provides the body with glucose, a simple sugar that the brain and muscles rely on. Glucose is also used to make acetylcholine, a brain chemical important for memory.
Eating breakfast, breakfast cereals in particular, has also been shown to help overweight kids slim down while skipping breakfast has been linked to further weight gain. Studies reveal that breakfast eaters - kids and adults - have lower body weights than those who forgo the meal. Eating more calories at breakfast and fewer later in the day also seems to thwart weight gain in middle-aged adults.
And starting the day with a bowl of whole grain breakfast cereal may also guard against heart failure, a condition in which the heart's ability to pump blood is weakened. A Harvard-based study found that men who ate whole grain breakfast cereal every morning were 28 per cent less likely to develop heart failure over 24 years of follow up. Eating whole grain cereal two to six times per week lowered the risk by 22 per cent.
Question: On hectic mornings, a bowl of cereal is pretty convenient. What should you look for on the label?
Choose whole grain. Read the ingredient list to find out if your favourite cereal is mostly whole grain or mostly refined carbohydrate. Look for a whole grain - like whole wheat, whole oats, whole rye, whole triticale, or whole brown rice - as the first ingredient on the list.
While 100 per cent bran cereals aren't truly whole grain cereals, you can consider them as such since they are a concentrated source of bran that's missing from refined grains. When whole grains are milled, scraped, refined and heat-processed into flakes, puffs or white flour, all that's left is the starchy endosperm. That means you end up with significantly less vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, protective plant chemicals, and fibre.
Limit refined sugar. The sugar numbers on nutrition labels include both added sugars and naturally-occurring sugars found in fruit and milk products. The sugars you want to limit are refined sugars such as glucose, dextrose, sucrose and high fructose corn syrup. These are added to breakfast cereals for flavour, texture and browning.
Added sugar doesn't automatically make a cereal unhealthy. Just try to choose cereals that have 8 grams or less per serving. Cereals with dried fruit like raisins, blueberries and cranberries may have more than 8 grams of sugar per serving and that's okay. (They'll also have more fibre, which is a good thing.)
Watch for hidden sodium. It's not just fast foods that harbour sodium. Some high-fibre breakfast cereals can deliver as much as 20 per cent of your daily sodium requirement in one small serving! Choose the lowest sodium cereal possible, with no more than 240mg per serving. Kashi Organic Bite Size Whole Wheat, Post Shredded Wheat and Kellogg's Mini-Wheats are all sodium free.
Keep serving sizes in check. A Food Guide serving of ready-to-eat cereal is 30 g, which will vary depending on the density, or weight, of the cereal. In general, a serving size of flake cereal is typically 3/4 to 1 cup (175 to 250 ml). The serving size for denser cereals like granola and muesli is 1/3 to 1/2 cup (75 to 125 ml). If you're counting calories, manage your portion size by reading the serving size information on the nutrition label - and then measure out that amount.
LOOK ON THE LABEL:
- Whole grain or 100% bran
- At least 5 grams of fibre
- No more than 8 grams of sugar (two teaspoons worth)
- No more than 240 milligrams of sodium.
Question: Which cereals are the healthiest choices?
I rated ready-to-eat breakfast cereals among all the choices in the grocery store, 27 scored as a "best bowl". Here are just a few of the winners based on nutrients per serving:
BEST BREAKFAST CEREALS:
| Brand name | Fibre (g) | Sugar (g) | Sodium (mg) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compliments Balance 10 Whole Grans and Flax | 5 | 4 | 30 |
| Kashi Go Lean | 5 | 9 | 95 |
| Kellogg's All Bran Buds | 11 | 7 | 200 |
| Nature's Path Flax Plus Flakes | 7 | 4 | 140 |
| PC Blue Menu Whole Grain w/ Almonds | 6 | 8 | 160 |
Question: What about kids' cereals? Aren't most full of sugar?
Many are, yes. A recent U.S. study from Yale University found that cereals marketed to kids have 85 per cent more sugar, 65 per cent less fiber and 60 per cent more sodium than those aimed at adults. Among them: Reese's Puffs, Corn Pops, Lucky Charms, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Cap'n Crunch.
Yes these cereals are full of sugar. But they are also a way to get vitamins, minerals and calcium-rich milk or soy beverage into your child's diet. If this type of cereal is the only way to get your child to eat breakfast before he heads off to school, I recommend mixing your child's favourite cereal with a healthier whole grain, low sugar cereal.
