The 10 Worst Sugary Cereals For Your Kids

I still have fond memories of sitting in front of the TV on Saturday mornings (back when Saturday Morning cartoons were cool) with a big heaping bowl of cereal. Usually something with a cartoon character on the box begging me to eat more. A new survey has put several popular kids’ cereals on a "should not eat" list. The Environmental Working Group reviewed 84 popular kids’ cereals and found that only one in four of them meet the government panel’s voluntary proposed guidelines for sugar. Below are the ten worst offenders they found by measuring the percentage of sugar in each cereal according to its weight. Kellog's Honey Smacks came in as the worst offender and they claim that a one-cup serving of Honey Smacks has more sugar than a Hostess Twinkie. Wow.

Amazon
Amazon
1
Kellog's Honey Smacks
55.6% sugar by weight
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Amazon
2
Post Golden Crisp
51.9% sugar by weight
3
Kellogg’s Froot Loops Marshmallow
48.3% sugar by weight
4
Quaker Oats Cap’n Crunch’s OOPS! All Berries
46.9% sugar by weight
5
Quaker Oats Cap’n Crunch Original
44.4% sugar by weight
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Amazon
6
Quaker Oats Oh!s
44.4% sugar by weight
7
Kellogg’s Smorz
43.3% sugar by weight
8
Kellogg’s Apple Jacks
42.9% sugar by weight
9
Quaker Oats Cap’n Crunch’s Crunch Berries
42.3% sugar by weight
10
Kellogg’s Froot Loops
41.4% sugar by weight

Why is too much sugar bad?

The EWG survey said, "Studies suggest that children who eat breakfasts that are high in sugar have more problems at school. They become more frustrated and have a harder time working independently than kids who eat lower-sugar breakfasts. By lunchtime they have less energy, are hungrier, show attention deficits and make more mistakes on their work." And "About one in five American children is obese, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has reported that childhood obesity has tripled over the past 30 years."

Filed Under: cereal, foods, kids

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