What’s #Cereal Doing To Your #Child?
It’s back to school time around Queensland this week, and so we are all back in the quagmire of routine, packing lunches, prepping dinners, rapidly brushing teeth and hair right after chugging down breakfast.
But in our quest to make school drop off, work and start our day on time, whilst eating what we believe to be healthy, what are we actually feeding our children for breakfast?
Many of our most loved children’s breakfast cereals, many of which are advertised as either being healthy or great for athletes can be more than “one third sugar” states the Obesity Policy Coalition (OPC)! Now, that’s a lot of #sugar for a small child to be consuming at the start of the day! How do we expect them to concentrate on school, be calm, responsive and cooperative in the classroom, pay attention and not be fatigued by 930am when that sugar low comes crashing upon them?
“The Australian cereal manufacturers are potentially misleading consumers by promoting healthy sounding statements on their packaging despite sugar making up more than 35% of the ingredients of some popular brands, a recent survey has revealed” says the OPC.
Jane Martin, Executive Manager of the OPC says that many breakfast cereals contain excessive levels of sugar, but when designing labels, manufacturers use creative phrases to persuade consumers to believe they are making a nutritious choice for breakfast.
“Many parents would be horrified to learn that for every three mouthfuls of Nutri-Grain, one is just sugar, while a small bowl contains twice as much sodium as a small packet of chips” Ms. Martin adds.
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Next weeks article will be on how to prepare healthy meals for children.
Cereal offenders – What’s hiding in your cereal? Find out more: