The lead nutritionist at a trailblazing science and nutrition company has identified three breakfast cereals that present a “much better picture” in terms of nutrition, while also pointing out those best left on the shelf.
Dr Federica Amati, chief nutritionist at Zoe, highlighted the challenges parents face when trying to reduce “junk” food in their children’s diets amidst aggressive advertising campaigns.
This year, ultra-processed breakfast foods were listed among four key food types linked to a higher mortality risk (find the full list here). Yet they come with several claims about their health benefits labelled prominently on their packaging.
On the Zoe podcast, Jonathan Wolf, co-founder and host, expressed his astonishment at the “completely shocking” extent of these health claims: “They look like health foods that I should be giving my kids and I have listened to enough of these podcasts about ultra-processed foods to know that they are not.”
Dr Amati expressed her concern about children’s breakfast cereals, stating they were “a bit of a shocker”. While she didn’t want to “demonise” them, she believed they shouldn’t be relied upon as a full meal on their own, but rather as part of a meal accompanied by fresh fruit or an egg, reports Surrey Live.
She said: “Quite a lot of people find that giving children cereal first thing in the morning and then going to school is quick, it’s easy, you don’t have to cook. But there are a few things to consider. I think first of all it’s very unlikely that your child will be satiated and actually have enough nutrition from that bowl.”
Dr Amati advised against cereals with enticing descriptions like “golden honey nut”, “crunchy”, or “crisp” and instead recommended opting for plainer options. She said: “So things like Weetabix, like Shredded Wheat, things like Bran Flakes. They’re much more boring, a hundred percent. But they actually, when you look at the ingredient system, when you think about them in terms of what they’re offering nutritionally, it’s a much better picture than your Honey Loops and your Fruit Loops and your Frosties.”
However, she also warned that breakfast cereal “should not be your breakfast every day” and suggested exploring alternative options to mix up your breakfast routine like:
- fruit
- eggs
- yoghurt (natural or Greek, not the flavoured variety which is also full of sugar and ultra-processed ingredients)
- pancakes
- smoothies (though smoothies should not just be full of fruits, but instead contain things like yoghurt, kefir, nuts and avocado, which can help lower cholesterol without changing the flavour)
