Breakfast Cereals: Healthy Or Not?

“Breakfast Cereals” are cereals which are made from processed grains and enrich with vitamins, minerals, macro and micro nutrients are known as cereal. It consist more ingredients like cocoa and natural sugar.

Fortified Breakfast Cereals.

The list of fortified breakfast cereals are:

Total Whole Grain.
Cracklin’ Oat Bran.
Special K Original.
Kashi GO Lean Original.

Benefits of Cereals in Your Breakfast.

A healthy breakfast energized your body and help you to start your day with full of energy as well as it is beneficial for your overall health. You must not skip this essential meal.

A healthy breakfast has many health benefits for all age groups. Such as:

Fulfill your daily nutrient requirements.
It is a quick and flexible option.
You can maintain a healthy body weight and can lose excessive weight.
You may increase its bio availability with added some fruits.
Ideal to control blood sugar levels.
You can concentrate more in your work.
Feel more energetic with high carb diet in morning.

Footnote. Breakfast cereals are made from refined grains and even more beneficial for your overall health for all age groups. You can start your day with full of energy.

Keto Breakfast Cereals.

Basically a keto diet means low carb diet. In this diet you prefer more calories from protein, fat and less from carbohydrate.

Generally, keto dieters focus to eat 20 grams of carbs per day. Having a low carb keto breakfast with cereals may have a good choice, because it contains quality of fiber and nutrients.

Therefore, it is consider as keto friendly meal. It is also a good choice for non keto eaters.

Now a days, a company named Magic Spoon launch a high protein and low carb cereal. Which also available with different flavours.

It provides 12 grams of high quality whey protein, 110 calories, 3 grams of carbs in per ¾ cup of serving.

They used a new kind of sweetener known as “Allulose” which is natural and have 10 percent calorie.

Footnote. If you are following keto diet breakfast, then you can add cereals with your daily meal plan because of its low carb and high nutrients. Magic Spoon launch a high protein and low carb cereal which is more ideal for keto dieter.

Read Now: Hyperbolic Fasting: Benefits And Side Effects

Healthiest Breakfast Cereals.

There are many types of cereals are available in the market with different flavours and shape. Such as-

What Breakfast Cereals are Gluten Free?

The gluten free breakfast cereals are:

Puffins.
Rice Chex.
Van’s Cinnamon Heaven.
Cocoa Pebbles.
Honey Nut Cheerios.
Honey Bunches of Oats.

What Breakfast Cereals are High in Iron?

The recommended daily allowance or RDA for iron is about 14 mg. Here are the topmost breakfast cereals which has the most iron content.

Grits (Made with Milk).

Ralston Enriched Bran Flakes. (100g contains 67.67 mg of iron).

Frosted Shredded Sweetened Wheat Cereal.

Wheat Chex.

Quaker Quick Oats.

Whole Wheat.

Barley (Made With Milk).

How Can You Choose The Right One?

According to the research it is proved that a healthy breakfast with a cup of cereal help you to maintain your ideal body weight.

But in market there are different types of cereals are available with different ingredients. So, choosing the right one is more important.

Essential components you should focus are:

Fiber.

It is good to prefer high fiber breakfast cereals. It is the main component that one should bookmark. Products with at least 4 to 5 grams of fiber are more efficient and recommended.

Added Sugar.

Most of the cereals especially for the children are loaded with sugar for boost up the taste. It is the worst ingredients found in cereals.

According to the several studies it is found that consumption of sugar in regular basis may leads several health issues^{(1), (2), (3)}.

Other studies shows that, it can spike your blood sugar and insulin levels as well as it may lead type 2 diabetes⁽⁴⁾, cancer and heart issues⁽⁵⁾.

Therefore, you must choose the one which less in sugar and high in fiber. For the sweetness you may add honey or brown sugar.

Calories.

If you’re calorie conscious then you must choose cereals, which lower in calories. Preferably not as much of 160 calories per serving.

Protein.

It is the vital component which required for several hormonal function and important for muscle building in our body ⁽⁶^,⁷^,⁸⁾. You must prefer cereals which have high quality of whey protein.

Footnote. Before go with cereal you must focus on the ingredients such as fiber, calorie and protein. You may add some fruits, yogurt and low fat or skimmed milk. You may also consume cereal bars in your breakfast.

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The Dark Side of Breakfast Cereals at Market.

Majority of companies marketed breakfast cereals as healthy option. They specified on the box as low fat, low sugar and whole grain. However, their ingredients are refined grains and sugar.

They basically target the children with attractive packaging, colours and cartoon characters.

According to studies it is found that children prefer the foods that packaged with popular cartoon characters ^(9),(10).

Another study showed that such companies are misleading people with false health claims ⁽¹¹^),(12).

Footnote. Breakfast cereals with false health claims misleading people by providing low quality grains with other ingredients. Parents should focus on the quality before buying such products and must avoid attractive packaging.

Read Now: What Is Metabolism And How It Works?

Prefer Natural Breakfast.

If you want to be fit then you must not skip your breakfast at any cost. It is the best choice to go with unprocessed or natural breakfast. Such as-

Brown bread with non-fat milk.
Dry fruit like nuts, dates ⁽¹³⁾.
Fruit juice.
Sprouts.
Whole Eggs.
Greek Yogurt.

Other studies confirm that consuming a grain-based breakfast along with eggs assist you to reduce up to 65% of your weight ⁽¹⁴⁾.

According to a study, it is found that a breakfast consists with high protein reduced hungers and increase fullness among the teenage⁽¹⁵⁾.

Footnote. In the market we have found several products with cheap ingredients. Therefore, you must prefer a natural and unprocessed breakfast which must consists all nutrients.

Frequently Asked Questions.

1. Which are the best breakfast cereal for diabetes mellitus or which breakfast cereals are low in sugar?

Nowadays, majority of persons are suffering from blood sugar. However, there are many brand available in the market those are sugar free, such as;

Post Bran Flakes.
Wheaties.
Cheerios.
Barbara’s Bakery Puffins.
Fiber One.
Quaker Crunchy Corn Bran.

2. What are the fortified breakfast cereals?

Fortified foods means those foods that have nutrients added to them which are not naturally occur. According to FAO, cereals or cereals based foods are one of the most fortified foods. List of the topmost 9 fortified breakfast cereals;

Wheat flakes.
Kashi Overnight Muesli.
Kashi Golean Crunch.
Porridge.
Nature’s Path Maple Pecan Crunch Cereal.
Quaker Overnight Oats.
Cornflakes.
Muesli.
Oatmeal.

3. Which breakfast cereals has the most protein?

According to a report by United States Department of Agriculture, they enlist 10 topmost breakfast cereals which have maximum amount of protein, those are;

Familia (12 grams).
Kashi GoLean (13 grams).
Post Selects Great Grains Protein Blend Cereal.
Kashi Whole Wheat Biscuits.
Nature’s Path Optimum Power Blueberry Cinnamon Flax Cereal.
Kind Health Grains Clusters.
Special K Low Fat Granola.
Bear Naked Peak Protein Original Granola.
Cascadian Farm Protein Granola.
Quaker Protein Instant Oatmeal etc.

4. Are cornflakes a healthy breakfast cereals?

Yes, cornflakes with low fat milk bookmark as a part of a healthy breakfast but its low in fiber. Therefore, comparatively wholegrain cereal are far better choice. To increase its nutrition value and taste for the children you may add some piece of fruits.

5. How much cereals should you eat in breakfast?

It is depends upon your calorie intake. Usually eat one serving is more recommended at breakfast or you may consume it during lunch. The common serving size for children is 25-30 grams and for adults 30-45 grams. You may eat five days in a week.

Bottom Line.

Breakfast cereals are contains highly processed grains along with sugars, carbs and other ingredients. Company’s often misleading people with false health claims and attractive packaging.

You must focus on the ingredients list before purchasing. The cereals must contain high fiber and low in sugar.

It is always recommended that start your day with healthy breakfast contains macro and micro nutrients and protein. Apart from cereals, several healthy breakfast options are there such as whole eggs, brown bread, Greek yogurt which are full of vital nutrients and vitamins.