[lbo-talk] Sugary children's cereals sweeter than chocolate bars

joanna 123hop at comcast.net
Mon Sep 4 21:42:13 PDT 2006


I don't see why anyone is surprised. All you have to do is taste the damn things. It's obvious that they contain equal parts of chemicals and sugar and that there is nothing healthy about them.

I basically let my kids eat whatever they wanted ...but only allowed good basic ingredients in the house and nothing pre-cooked. 99% of the time breakfast is oatmeal or fruit. Candy is ok once a day in the shape of candy. Twice a year I would let them buy a box of sugary cereal, and once in a while they could have pancakes. It worked just fine. Neither kid ever had a weight problem in childhood or adolescence and they have no neurosis about food. My son is a veggie head; my daughter is meat and potatoes. Same genes; same diet; different dispositions. That's OK too.

To add insult to injury though, women who get food stamps, get a certain allotment of sugary cereal that they MUST BUY or they lose those predestined "dollars." It's called a subsidy to General Foods masquerading as aid to the poor. It's obscene.

Joanna

mike larkin wrote:


>http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060901/sugary_cereals_kids_060901/20060904?hub=TopStories
>
>Updated Mon. Sep. 4 2006 10:19 PM ET
>
>CTV.ca News
>
>A survey has found that many of the most popular
>children's cereals contain very high levels of sugar
>-- so high that parents might as well hand their kids
>a chocolate bar for breakfast.
>
>CTV News and the Globe and Mail decided to examine the
>sugar content in some of the most popular brands, to
>investigate one of the possible contributing factors
>to the epidemic of childhood obesity.
>
>One-quarter of Canadian children are now overweight or
>obese, and often their diets are linked to serious
>illnesses including diabetes.
>
>Here's a snapshot of the cereal survey:
>
> * Based on a 50-gram serving, Kellogg's Froot
>Loops had 22.5 grams of sugar, as much as a dark
>chocolate Kit Kat bar.
> * Nestle Nesquick had 23.3 grams of sugar, almost
>on par with a Twix candy bar.
> * And Post's Sugar Crisps cereal had over 26.6
>grams of sugar. That's more sugar than a Coffee Crisp
>bar or Snickers.
>
>"I was actually shocked at how much sugar there is in
>some cereals these days, and shocked when you compare
>it to the amount of sugar in chocolate bars," says
>Toronto-based dietitian Rosie Schwartz.
>
>She said parents would be horrified to give their
>children a chocolate bar for breakfast.
>
>"But when you think about eating you know a serving of
>cereal that contains the same amount of sugar, they
>might think twice about they're serving their kids."
>
>Not only are these cereals very sugary, they are being
>doled out at twice the recommended serving.
>
>"It's not one bowl of cereal. It's many bowls of
>cereals. Most kids don't stop at one bowl," says Dr.
>Robert Lustig, a professor of pediatrics at the
>University of California in San Francisco.
>
>Lustig says high sugar at breakfast promotes hormonal
>imbalances that encourage kids to overeat. More
>overweight children are developing diabetes, high
>cholesterol and heart disease.
>
>"These cereals and processed food are high in
>fructose, which poisons your liver, and they are low
>in fibre which makes your insulin go up," he says.
>"Ultimately you are setting them up for continued
>process of weight gain."
>
>Breakfast and learning stats
>
>Offering children breakfast foods lower in sugar and
>higher in fibre -- such as oatmeal and bran -- may not
>only keep off the pounds. It may also help with
>learning.
>
>Psychologists from Tufts University recently conducted
>a study where 60 school-aged children were given three
>different breakfasts:
>
> * Day one: Oatmeal
> * Day two: A sugar ready-to-eat breakfast
> * Day three: No breakfast
>
>After each breakfast, the children in the survey were
>given a number of tests that measured cognitive
>performance.
>
>Overall, tests scores were highest when children ate a
>breakfast. However, children performed best on tests
>of spatial memory -- used in math, art and geography
>-- after eating oatmeal compared to sugary cereal.
>
>However, Kellogg Canada, the maker of a host of
>cereals, including Corn Pops and Rice Krispies, denies
>their products are harmful to children.
>
>"Pre-sweetened cereals, just like other cereals,
>provide many essential nutrients. For example, Froot
>Loops contains seven essential vitamins and minerals,
>including 50 per cent of a child's daily requirement
>of iron," the company said in a statement to CTV News.
>
>"What's more, several studies have shown that when
>eaten as part of a healthy diet, sugar is not linked
>to the development of obesity, hyperactivity in
>children, type 2 diabetes or heart disease."
>
> * Full statements from Kraft Foods and Kellogg
>Canada
>
>However, Lustig accuses "big food companies" of a
>marketing scheme.
>
>"The reason they are so popular is that kids will
>pester their parents to eat them. You'll notice the
>sugared cereals are put down at eye level for children
>and there is a specific marketing strategy going on
>there."
>
>He recommends giving children food with six to seven
>grams of fibre per serving, and being wary of
>lower-sugar kids cereals, which may compensate with
>more carbohydrates.
>
>"Breakfast cereal is just one manifestation of what's
>gone on with our entire diet," says Lustig.
>
>With a report from CTV's Avis Favaro and research by
>Elizabeth St. Philip and Shaneeva Yassin
>
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