This information isn't always obvious from the front of the pack and brands display their nutrition guides differently. Therefore, it’s up to us, the consumers, to examine the nutrition label (usually found on the back) of the packet to see how much sugar it contains.
As a quick guide, any food which has 5g of sugar or less per 100g is a low sugar food. In teaspoon terms, 4.2g is one teaspoon.
Food which has more than 15g of sugar per 100g is ‘high in sugar’. So check the label under the ‘Per 100g’ column. All labels should display this information.
If you’re determined to find a low sugar cereal, they are out there, but they’re few and far between!
Following are 10 Breakfast Cereals which are low in sugar:
1. Porridge Oats 0.5g - 1.5g
Porridge oats are made with wholegrain rolled oats and nothing else. Brands achieve their textures and flavours by rolling and milling their oats in different ways.
Oats, including oatbran, provide a good source of soluble fibre and have no added sugar or salt. Most brands of plain porridge oats contain between 0.5-1.5g of naturally occurring sugars per 100g.
Oats with added fruit, syrups and other flavours have much higher levels of sugar. A 50g serving made with water provides around 170 calories.
Example porridge oats include:
Cereal
|
Sugar per 100g
|
Flahavan's
Irish Porridge Oats
|
0.5g
|
ASDA Extra
Special Jumbo Oats
|
1.1g
|
Quaker Oats
|
1.1g
|
Sainsbury‘s
Scottish Whole Rolled Porridge Oats
|
1.1g
|
ASDA Smart
Price Porridge Oats
|
1.5g
|
Tesco Finest
Porridge Oats
|
1.5g
|
2. Spelt Flakes 0.5g - 1.7g
Spelt (an ancient form of wheat) has been hailed as a super-food. It’s a great alternative to wheat, and keeps you satisfied for longer than other grains.
Spelt has a delicious nutty taste which some people may find easier to digest than wheat.
Use them as a substitute for regular oats to make porridge, or mix half oats and half spelt flakes. Alternatively, just add cold milk and some dried fruit and nuts to make a muesli. A 50g serving with 125ml semi skimmed milk provides 215 calories.
Cereal
|
Sugar per 100g
|
Kallo Organic
Puffed Rice Cereal
|
0.7g
|
Rude Health
Puffed Rice Cereal
|
0.7g
|
3. Puffed Wheat 0.5g – 2.0g
Puffed wheat is just that - 100% wheat grains which have been heated until they puff up like popcorn. This is one of the lightest cereals with an average box weighing just 160g. You could consume the entire contents of a box (dry) for 568 calories.
Plain puffed wheat are low in fat with no added sugar or salt. They're also high in fibre with 8g per 100g of cereal.
A 15g serving with 125ml semi skimmed milk provides around 116 calories.
Cereal
|
Sugar per 100g
|
Sainsbury’s
Puffed Wheat
|
0.5g
|
Morrisons
Puffed Wheats
|
1.3g
|
Rude Health Puffed
wheat
|
1.5g
|
The Good Grain
Company Puffed Wheat
|
2.0g
|
4. Shredded Wheat 0.7 – 0.8g
The original Shredded Wheat brand by Nestle is one of the lowest sugar cereals. However this applies to the plain original varieties, not those with added fruit, nuts or honey for example.A 45g serving with 125ml semi skimmed milk provides around 215 calories.
Major supermarkets have their own brands with similar or the same sugar content. As a comparison, Nestle Honey Nut Shredded Wheat has 16g of sugar per 100g.
Cereal
|
Sugar per 100g
|
Nestle Shredded Wheat
|
0.7g
|
Nestle Shredded Wheat
Bitesize
|
0.7g
|
Sainsbury's Wholegrain Mini
Wheats
|
0.7g
|
Morrisons Neat
Wheats
|
0.7g
|
Morrisons
Bitesized Mini Neat Wheats
|
0.7g
|
ASDA Wholegrain
Wheats
|
0.7g
|
Aldi Harvest
Morn Bitesize Wheat Shreds
|
0.7g
|
Tesco Wheat and
Mini Wheat Pillows
|
0.8g
|
5. Puffed Rice Cereal 0.7g
Most big name plain puffed rice cereals fall into the medium range for sugar levels. However, the two organic brands shown here have no sugar or salt added.
They're made with 100% wholegrain brown rice and are naturally low in fat.
A 22g serving with 125ml semi skimmed milk provides around 140 calories.
Cereal
|
Sugar per 100g
|
Kallo Organic
Puffed Rice Cereal
|
0.7g
|
Rude Health
Puffed Rice Cereal
|
0.7g
|
6. Ready Brek and Ready Oats 1.0g
Ready Brek and Ready Oats are made with finely milled wholegrain rolled oats and wholegrain oat flour. This produces a very smooth porridge with no lumps.A 30g serving with 125ml semi skimmed milk provides an average of 170 calories.
Ready oat cereals are generally fortified with vitamins, iron & calcium. Examples include the following brands which all have the same amount of sugar.
Cereal
|
Sugar per 100g
|
ASDA Ready Oats
|
1.0g
|
Morrisons
Instant Hot Oats
|
1.0g
|
Ready Brek
(Weetabix)
|
1.0g
|
Sainsbury's
Ready Oat Cereal
|
1.0g
|
Tesco Instant
Hot Oat Cereal
|
1.0g
|
7. Cornflakes 2.7g – 4.0g
Corn flakes can have very high sugar content, depending on what sort you buy. However, if you opt for the plain varieties, you'll be consuming far less sugar since the majority of corn flakes fall within the low to medium sugar range.A 30g serving with 125ml semi skimmed milk provides around 170 calories.
Those corn flakes listed here all have less than 5g of sugar per 100g.
Cereal
|
Sugar per 100g
|
Tesco Value
Cornflakes
|
2.7g
|
Sainsbury's
Cornflakes, SO Organic
|
3.2g
|
Sainsbury's
Cornflakes, Basics
|
3.4g
|
Morrisons
Savers Corn Flakes
|
3.7g
|
Doves Farm
Organic Corn Flakes
|
4.0g
|
Kallo Wholearth
Organic Classic Cornflakes
|
4.0g
|
8. Oatibix 3.2g
Oatibix made by Weetabix are produced using 100% wholegrain oats. They're low in sugar, saturated fat and salt. However, this only applies to the original Oatibix biscuits (24s).Oatibix Bitesize, Oatibix Flakes and Oatibix Bitesize with fruit, all have higher levels of sugar.
One serving provides 189 calories.
Cereal
|
Sugar per 100g
|
Weetabix
Oatibix
|
3.2g
|
9. Grapenuts 3.4g
Grape-Nuts are a high fibre, low fat cereal made from crunchy wholegrain wheat and malted barley. They are also very low in sugar and an excellent source of folic acid and iron.
Plus they stay crunchy in milk!A 45g serving of Grape Nuts served with 125ml of semi skimmed milk provides 216 calories.
Cereal
|
Sugar per 100g
|
Post Grapenuts
|
3.4g
|
10. Wheat Biscuits 2.5g – 4.4g
Wheat Biscuits are generally a low sugar cereal as long as you stick to the plain varieties. They're made with wholegrains and have a low glycaemic index. This means they keep you fuller for longer by releasing their energy slowly. Plain wheat biscuits are also low in fat and sugar.
Varieties with added fruit, chocolate and syrup etc all have higher levels of sugar.
A 30g serving of Sainsbury's Basics Wholewheat Biscuits when served with 125ml semi skimmed milk provides 183 calories.
Some low sugar wheat biscuits include:
Cereal
|
Sugar per 100g
|
Morrisons
Savers Wheat Biscuits
|
2.5g
|
Sainsbury's
Wholewheat Biscuits, Basics
|
2.5g
|
Doves Farm
Organic Whole Wheat Cereal Biscuits
|
3.3g
|
Aldi Harvest
Morn Wheat Biscs
|
4.4g
|
ASDA Wheat
Bisks
|
4.4g
|
Essential
Waitrose Wholewheat Biscuits
|
4.4g
|
Sainsbury's
Wholewheat Biscuits
|
4.4g
|
Tesco Wheat
Biscuits
|
4.4g
|
Weetabix and Weetabix
Organic
|
4.4g
|
It’s interesting to see that basic, value brands tend to have less added sugar than supermarkets regular brands. For example, Tesco Value Corn Flakes have 2.7g of sugar per 100g compared with 8.9g for Tesco Corn Flakes.
Another point to note about the sugar content in cereals, is that not all cereals with a medium or high level of sugar, have added refined sugar. Take Alpen’s ‘No added sugar’ muesli. It has no sugar listed in its ingredients, yet the nutrition label shows a sugar content of 16.3g per 100g, which puts it in the ‘high’ category.
However, this isn’t as bad as it sounds. Alpen’s ‘No Added Sugar’ muesli gets its sweetness from the natural sugars found in the dried fruit content. And because dried fruit is nutritionally beneficial, this is a far healthier type of sugar. There is little difference in calories between the two varieties. Alpen's muesli contains 357 calories per 100g, whereas the No Added Sugar Alpen has 352 calories per 100g.
So don’t get caught out by hidden sugars in your cereals. Reading the nutritional label and the ingredients listed on the packet can tell you all you need to know. This article ‘Serving and Portion Sizes, How to Read Nutrition Labels’ explains how to read nutrition labels, while ‘Guidelines to Healthy and Unhealthy amounts of Fat, Salt and Sugar’ explains how much we need of each nutrient and how much sugar, salt and fat is high, medium or low’.
Becoming more 'sugar aware' can help you make informed decisions about the amount of sugar you're really eating in your breakfast cereal. The information's all there on the pack!
Related Articles:
15 Super High Fibre Breakfast Cereals - Read Post
Guidelines to healthy levels of fat, salt and sugar - Read Post
© Diets and Calories 2012
0 comments:
Post a Comment