A new research conducted by consumer organization Which? has revealed that many popular breakfast cereals contain high levels of fat, salt and sugar. Of the 275 different brands of cereals that were checked for sugar, salt and fat content using the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) criteria, more than three-quarters had a high level of sugars, while a fifth had a high level of salts and another 7% had high level of saturated fat.
The findings also revealed that of the 52 brands specifically targeted at children 88% had more than permissible amount of sugars while 13% were high in salts, and 10% were high in saturated fat.The three worst offenders for children were Quaker Oatso Simple Kids, Kellogg's Coco Pops Straws and Mornflake Pecan and Maple Crisp. These findings would come as a rude awakening to the parents who thought that cereals were safe diet for breakfast.
With some much public concern about obesity and diet-related diseases, Which? has raised concerns over the products being unhealthy and has urged the manufacturers to be more responsible and make products which contains permissible levels of these nutrients which would make the use of their products much safer and healthier.
It has also urged the cereal manufacturers to adhere to the colour-coding standards put forth by FSA of red, amber and green labels on front of the packs so that it would be easier for shoppers to pick out healthier products even though the cereal manufacturers are against this labelling scheme.
