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I don’t know about you but I have a bit of a grudge against some cereal brands that we see stacked on the shelves of our local supermarkets, with colours and mascots screaming “fun” at us.

Ever since That Sugar Film was released in 2014, I am more cautious when it comes to what we’ve all normalised as “healthy”.

Some of the most popular cereal brands retailing in South Africa are most certainly offenders, making bold claims that they aid “growth” and “development”.

In addition, these cereal brands advertise that they are “high in”, a “source of”, and come “with” good stuff like vitamins, minerals, iron, multigrain, fibre, or even probiotics, per Business Insider SA.

But those inclusions, if they are really there as promised, are often drowned out by large quantities of refined sugar.

Honestly, anything this artificially green scares me right off the bat, even before knowing how much sugar it packs in:

Image: Bokomo

I feel inflammation just by looking at these pink puffs:

Image: Kelloggs

Sugar in large doses is bad for anybody, but especially children who need balanced, nutritious diets to grow into healthy adults.

Not only does excessive sugar consumption at a young age raise the risk of obesity that comes with its own set of complications, per Very Well Family, but it also encourages chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, especially as we get older.

That’s why parents are encouraged to establish nutritious eating habits early on to guide children toward a healthier lifestyle in the future.

With less sugar consumed, one might even find that concentration and alertness is a bit more intact.

Here’s how much sugar a child should be allowed per day:

Adults are advised to limit added sugar to less than 10% of [a child’s] daily calorie needs (which is about 12 teaspoons or 48 grams).

Because children eat less food in general, their equivalent limits would be more like 7 to 8 teaspoons or 30 to 35g per day.

If we look at some of the most popular cereals on our shelves, a 100-gram serving (which is certainly larger than the average serving portion) contains almost as much as that 10% daily allowance.

At least five breakfast cereals directly targeting children with colourful boxes and adults with health claims have more than 30 grams of sugar for every 100 grams of cereal eaten.

This table, via Business Insider SA, shows how much sugar is in six of the breakfast cereals being eaten up by young Saffas:

Table: Business Insider

For the full table that includes more than 40 cereals, you can head here.

Something to consider next time you consider which cereal you’re serving up for brekkie.

[sources:businessinsider&verywellfamily]