BRAND-NAMEB R A N D - N A M E RRATINGA T I N G A “yogurt-coated,” “high-fi ber” romp through the cereal aisle BYB Y JAYNEJ A Y N E HURLEYH U R L E Y & BONNIEB O N N I E LIEBMANL I E B M A N f healthhealth sellssells anywhereanywhere iinn tthehe ssupermarket,upermarket, it’sit’s inin thethe cerealcereal I aisle.aisle. YouYou don’tdon’t ppickick a ccerealereal aass mmuchuch aass yyouou ddoo a hhealthealth pproblemroblem (“Can(“Can hhelpelp llowerower ccholesterol,”holesterol,” ““MayMay rreduceeduce tthehe rriskisk ooff sstroke,”troke,” “Lose“Lose 1100 ppoundsounds tthehe hhearteart hhealthyealthy wway,”ay,” ““OptimizedOptimized gglycemiclycemic rre-e- sponse”)sponse”) oror a ddietiet sstrategytrategy ((SouthSouth BBeach,each, WWeighteight WWatchers,atchers, SSpecialpecial KK,, GoLean). Or,Or, youyou gogo byby whichwhich ingredientsingredients areare missingmissing (“low(“low carb,”carb,” “75%“75% lessless sugar,”sugar,” “no“no transtrans fats”)fats”) oorr wwhichhich aarere ppresentresent ((“rich“rich iinn aantioxidants,”ntioxidants,” ““FiberFiber One,”One,” “Protein“Protein Plus,”Plus,” “whole“whole grain”).grain”). EitherEither wway,ay, thethe ccompetitionompetition fforor yyourour eeyeballs,yeballs, yyourour hhealthealth cconcerns,oncerns, aandnd yyourour pocketbookpocketbook isis fi erce.erce. Here’sHere’s howhow toto ignoreignore thethe latestlatest fadsfads (like(like fakefake yogurtyogurt coatingcoating oror a dustingdusting ofof wholewhole ggrains)rains) aandnd ffocusocus oonn tthehe iingredientsngredients tthathat ccount.ount. e gave whole-grain (or mostly also help prevent diabetes, constipation, had more than 16 grams of sugar. That’s Wwhole-grain) cereals two possible diverticulitis, and obesity. no worse than the 8-gram sugar limit paths to a Best Bite and one way to be- for cereals with less fi ber. Exception: come a Super-High-Fiber Best Bite: 2. High-Fiber. added sugar plus sugar from the fruit in raisin brans brings their total to around 1. Low-Sugar. Shredded wheat, with six grams of fi ber 20 grams. and zero sugar per serving, clearly de- Cereals like the original serves a Best Bite. But so do other whole- 3.3. Super-Super- Cheerios, Wheaties, grain (or mostly whole-grain) cereals and Total are Best Bites that are high in fi ber (at least fi ve grams High-Fiber.High-Fiber. and are hard to criti- per serving), regardless of how much More than a dozen cize. After all, a bowl sugar they have. We lifted the sugar limit popular, mostly of Wheaties or Total is because of: whole-grain cereals basically whole wheat have at least 8 grams with a little sugar and some vitamins. ■ Fruit. We didn’t of fi ber, enough to And all three brands easily stay under our want to penalize high- send you galloping toward your daily limit of eight grams of sugar per one- or fi ber cereals—mostly . g raisin brans—that get fi ber goal. Those are the Super-High-Fiber n i two-ounce serving. r a Best Bites in our chart. W sugar from fruit as k But at three grams of fi ber per serving, c i And your options now go beyond the N well as corn syrup and : none of them give your breakfast a strong s o t tiny pellets in All-Bran to the fl akes, o other added sweeten- h push toward the latest daily fi ber targets P . clusters, and more in cereals like General h ers. Unfortunately, c from the National Academy of Sciences’ a B Mills Fiber One Honey Clusters, Weetabix Nutrition Facts panels e Institute of Medicine: g r o Organic Crispy Flakes & Fiber, and Kashi J don’t distinguish between added sugar ■ 21 grams for women 51 or older d n a Good Friends. and sugar from fruit. r r ■ a 25 grams for women 50 or younger B Just remember that fi ber isn’t every- l e ■ Weighty servings. Many high-fi ber o ■ L 30 grams for men 51 or older thing. As the cereals on pages 11 and 12 : ) p cereals are heavy (often thanks to their o t show, a handful of claims, ingredients, ( ■ 38 grams for men 50 or younger n fruit or bran), so their serving size is typi- o i t and tricks can trip you up. a r t The average American gets only about cally two ounces, versus one ounce for s u l l i The information for this article was compiled by o half those levels, which are designed to lighter cereals like Wheaties or Cheerios. t o h PhotoP illustration (top): Loel Barr and Jorge Bach. Photos: Nick Waring. reduce the risk of heart disease. Fiber may Even so, few of our high-fi ber Best Bites Danielle Weinberg. 1 2 NUTRITION ACTION HEALTHLETTER ■ APRIL 2006 BRAND-NAME RATING NoNo MMagicagic YogurtYogurt NonsenseNonsense “Lose 10 lbs. The Heart Healthy Way!” say the “Whole“Whole GrainGrain FlakesFlakes withwith a boxes of Grape-Nuts, Naturally-FlavoredNaturally-Flavored YogurtYogurt Coat-Coat- Raisin Bran, Shredded ing!”ing!” exclaimsexclaims thethe VanillaVanilla YogurtYogurt Wheat, and the other Total box. cereals in Post’s Healthy CerealCereal dippeddipped inin yogurt?yogurt? OnlyOnly ifif Classics line. “Research youyou defidefi nene yogurtyogurt asas a mixturemixture ofof by a leading cardiologist sugar,sugar, palmpalm kernelkernel oil,oil, dextrosedextrose (a(a shows that people who ate formform ofof ssugar),ugar), drieddried nonfatnonfat yogurt,yogurt, 2 servings of Post Healthy andand naturalnatural fl avor.avor. TheThe cerealcereal isis anan Classics cereals each day, “excellent“excellent ssourceource ooff ccalcium”alcium” nnotot asas partpart ofof a reducedreduced caloriecalorie diet,diet, LOSTLOST 1010 LBSLBS andand because of yogurt, but because of reduced their risk factors for heart disease…” added calcium carbonate. According to Post, half of the people in the study FruitFruit & YogurtYogurt SpecialSpecial K,K, YogurtYogurt BurstBurst Cheerios,Cheerios, All-BranAll-Bran lost at least 10 pounds in 12 weeks by (1) replacing Yogurt Bites, and Vanilla Yogurt Crunch Life are also short two meals a day with two bowls of Post Healthy on yogurt. (Yogurt powder is typically heat-treated, which Classics cereal, (2) cutting an average of 600 calories kills any benefi cial bacteria.) Of course, phantom ingredi- a day out of their diet, and (3) exercising for up to ents are nothing new in the cereal aisle. Special K’s “berry 45 minutes a day, fi ve days a week. Well, duh. oat clusters,” for example, are made of dyed and fl avored While the company wouldn’t say, we assume that apple pieces, not berries. the study didn’t compare the cereal eaters to a control Note to Total eaters: like many NEW! versions of old group—dieters told to exercise and cut calories but cereals, Vanilla Yogurt Total has too much sugar to get a not to substitute Healthy Classics for other foods. So Best Bite. And if you eat a daily bowl of any kind of Total it’s not clear how much (if any) credit the cereals (“100% Daily Value of 12 VITAMINS & MINERALS”) instead deserve. of taking a multivitamin, you could end up with too little Bottom line: any healthyhealthy whole-grainwhole-grain cerealcereal vitamin D, copper, selenium, or chromium. (shredded wheat, for example) could help you feel full while you cut calories, but none are magic bullets. NoNo SSpecialpecial DDietiet CCerealsereals Special K used to be the dietdiet ccerealereal (thanks(thanks toto Kellogg’sKellogg’s In short, dieters (and anyone marketing department, not the contents of the box). Now else) could do better with others want a piece of the action. almost any of our Best Bites. If The most disappointing: overly sweet Weight Watchers you have a sweet tooth, try cereals (the fake cinnamon and vanilla varieties taste more South Beach Diet Whole Grain like toothpaste than cereal). Their 90 to 170 cal ories per Crunch or Fiber One Honey serving—depending on whether they’re sweetened with the Clusters. Both are sweetened safe artifi cial sweetener Splenda (sucralose) or evaporated with Splenda but don’t have the cane juice—are no less than most similar cereals. cloying, sweet aftertaste of What’s more, much of the fi ber in Weight Watchers comes Weight Watchers. not from whole grains, but from inulin, a carbohydrate that’s Caution: you can cut calories to 50 or 60 per serving by typically isolated from chicory root. Inulin is considered fi ber switching to a cereal like regular Fiber One or All-Bran Extra because it’s poorly digested. But like all isolated fi bers, it may Fiber, which are sweetened with aspartame. But it’s not worth not reduce the risk of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, or it. The artifi cial sweetener, which has had a troubled history, constipation as well as the intact fi ber in whole grains. increased the risk of cancer in a study in rats last year. > > > > > NUTRITION ACTION HEALTHLETTER ■ APRIL 2006 1 3 BRAND-NAME RATING Honey, I Shrunk the Oats Honey Bunches of Oats is one of Cereal Numbers the fi ve top-selling brand-name photo of Honey Bunches of Oats cereals (along with Cheerios, Honey Nut Cheerios, Frosted The fi rst grain in the ingredient list of our Best Bites (✔✔) is bran or a Flakes, and Frosted Mini-Wheats). whole grain like oats or whole wheat, and it has to come before sugar. The “Good Source of Whole Best Bites also have at least 3 grams of fi ber and no more than Grain” on the package probably 8 grams of sugar per serving. If they have 5 grams of fi ber or more, doesn’t hurt sales. Yet the cereal there’s no sugar limit. And if they have at least 8 grams of fi ber, they’re industry has decided that to qualify for that claim, a cereal needs just Super-High-Fiber Best Bites (★★).