Skip to main content
menu

Action on Salt

Which? finds breakfast cereals are still too high in sugar, but are lower in salt

Published:

Which? has found that the majority of breakfast cereals are too high in sugar* and is once again calling on retailers and manufacturers to provide a wider choice of healthier cereals and label them more clearly.

The consumer champion compared the nutritional content of the top selling breakfast cereals and their own-brand equivalents, and discovered that 32 out of 50 were high in sugar**. Cereals aimed at children were particularly disappointing, with high levels of sugar found in 12 out of 14, meaning that many would be more at home in the chocolate biscuit aisle.

The worst offender was Kellogg’s Frosties, with 37% sugar. Chocolate rice cereal from several supermarkets came a close second, followed by Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut Cornflakes, Kellogg’s Coco Pops and Sugar Puffs. Cereals marketed as “healthy”, such as Kellogg’s All-Bran Bran Flakes and Special K, were also high in sugar.

Nestlé Shredded Wheat was the healthiest cereal, with low levels of sugar, fat and salt. Quaker Oat So Simple Original and Weetabix were the only other cereals that were low in sugar.

Which? experts were pleased to see reductions in salt across the majority of cereals, with significant cuts in some, including Morrisons Honey Nut Cornflakes, Tesco Special Flakes and Kellogg’s Coco Pops. Just eight cereals failed to meet the salt targets for 2012***.

Which? also found inconsistent nutrition labelling, with different serving sizes between brands, a lack of traffic light labelling and inconsistent ‘per serving’ information.

Which? executive director, Richard Lloyd, says:

“It is good news that the salt content of many cereals has been lowered. But Which? research has shown that once again, many top-selling breakfast cereals are too high in sugar. Parents will be particularly surprised by the fact that the majority of children’s cereals contain so much sugar.

“More action is needed by retailers and manufacturers to provide a wider choice of healthier cereals. The Government also needs to encourage manufacturers to take action over sugar levels and provide consistent nutrition labelling that includes traffic light colour coding so it is easy to see exactly what you are buying.”

Katharine Jenner, Nutritionist and Campaign Director of CASH (Consensus Action on Salt and Health), says:

“It’s great to see manufacturers finally stop putting so much salt in our breakfast cereals, after all, who wants salt in their corn flakes?

“Recently published progress reports, as part of the Department of Health’s Responsibility Deal, indicate that cereal companies are well on the way to meeting 2012 salt targets by the end of the year. Given that breakfast cereals are eaten by so many people every day, including children, this is a really positive and important step forward for salt reduction, and therefore our health, in the UK.

“However it is important that these reductions continue beyond the 2012 salt targets, as there are still many popular high salt products available, including Kellogg’s Cornflakes and Nestle Cheerios.  There is no need to have so much salt and sugar in cereals, particularly when there are already many very tasty and nutritious cereals that contain little added salt or sugar.”

“Salt increases our blood pressure at any age, putting us at risk of strokes, heart disease, kidney disease, stomach cancer and osteoporosis; we should all be eating less than 6g of salt a day.  This Which? report reminds us to look at the food labels when we’re shopping and to choose lower salt and sugar cereals.  We urge cereal manufacturers to use traffic light labelling on their packaging so shoppers can see at a glance if they are high, medium or low in salt.”

- Ends –

Notes to editors

* Which? researchers compared the nutritional content based on the manufacturers’ information for 50 breakfast cereals. We included the top selling branded cereals and own-brand equivalents for the most popular ones (Kellogg’s Special K, Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut Cornflakes and Kellogg’s Cornflakes) and the best selling children’s cereal (Kellogg’s Coco Pops). Which? also compared these results against its last cereals investigation in 2009. Weetabix is the second most popular but we did not include own-brand equivalents for this as there is so little difference.

** Most popular cereals compared

 

  Per 100g**
Breakfast cereal[1] Salt[2] Calories (kcal) Sugar  Fat 2012 salt target met?  Traffic Light Labelling? 
 
Kelloggs Special K (original) 1.15g 379 17.0g 1.5g N No
The Co-operative Healthier Choice Rice & Wheat Flakes 0.80g 375 13.4g 0.8g Y Yes
Morrisons Trim Flakes 0.80g 361 12.0g 1.4g Y No
Tesco Special Flakes 0.80g 365 12.0g 1.4g Y No
Aldi Harvest Morn Benefit Original 0.75g 367 12.0g 1.4g Y No
Sainsbury's Be Good To Yourself Balance 0.73g 376 15.4g 1.3g Y Yes
Waitrose Special Choice 0.73g 382 14.8g 1.3g Y Yes
Asda Vitality  0.70g 382 14.8g 1.3g Y Yes
Lidl Crownfield Special Flakes 0.70g 378 10.9g 1.0g Y No
             
Kellogg's Crunchy Nut Cornflakes 0.90g 402 35.0g 5.0g Y No
Asda Honey Nut Cornflakes 0.80g 402 33.6g 4.5g Y Yes
The Co-operative Golden Nut Cornflakes 0.80g 395 33.6g 4.5g Y Yes
Waitrose Honey Nut Cornflakes 0.75g 397 33.6g 4.5g Y No
Sainsbury's Honey Nut Cornflakes 0.74g 397 33.6g 4.5g Y Yes
Lidl Crownfield Flakers Honey & Peanuts 0.70g 394 20.8g 3.9g Y No
Morrisons Honey Nut Cornflakes 0.70g 397 33.6g 4.5g Y No
Tesco Honey Nut Cornflakes 0.70g 400 33.6g 4.5g Y No
Aldi Harvest Morn Honey Nut Cornflakes 0.42g 395 34.4g 3.6g Y No
             
Lidl Crownfield Cornflakes 1.70g 376 8.5g 0.8g N No
Kellogg's Cornflakes 1.30g 378 8.0g 0.9g N No
Marks & Spencer Cornflakes 1.25g 370 8.4g 1.0g N Yes
Asda Cornflakes 1.20g 383 8.8g 1.1g N Yes
Tesco Cornflakes 1.20g 380 8.8g 1.1g N No
The Co-operative Cornflakes 0.80g 380 8.9g 1.2g Y Yes
Sainsbury's Cornflakes 0.74g 379 8.9g 1.2g Y Yes
Waitrose Cornflakes 0.73g 379 8.9g 1.2g Y No
Morrisons Cornflakes 0.70g 379 8.9g 1.2g Y No
Aldi Harvest Morn Cornflakes 0.65g 382 7.8g 0.5g Y No
             
The Co-operative Choco Snaps 0.80g 385 36.0g 2.9g Y Yes
Kellogg's Coco Pops* 0.75g 387 35.0g 2.5g Y No
Sainsbury's Choco Rice Pops 0.74g 386 36.0g 2.9g Y Yes
Waitrose Choco Pops 0.73g 386 36.0g 2.9g Y No
Aldi Harvest Morn Choco Rice 0.70g 394 33.0g 2.8g Y No
Asda Choco Snaps 0.70g 390 36.1g 2.8g Y Yes
Morrisons Choco Crackles 0.70g 386 36.0g 2.9g Y No
Tesco Choco Snaps 0.70g 390 36.1g 2.9g Y No
Lidl Crownfield Choco Rice 0.69g 379 36.0g 2.9g Y No
             
Nestlé Cheerios 1.24g 381 21.5g 3.8g N No
Kellogg's Rice Krispies 1.15g 383 10.0g 1.0g N No
Kellogg's All-Bran Bran Flakes 1.00g 356 22.0g 2.0g Y No
Kellogg's Frosties 0.90g 375 37.0g 0.6g Y No
Kellogg's Crunchy Nut Clusters 0.89g 449 25.0g 15.0g Y No
Nestlé Shreddies 0.76g 371 14.9g 1.9g Y No
Weetabix 0.65g 358 4.4g 2.0g Y No
Alpen Original Muesli 0.28g 377 23.1g[3] 5.8g Y No
Weetabix Weetos Chocolatey 0.23g 392 23.5g 4.9g Y No
Dorset Cereals Simply Delicious Muesli 0.10g 356 16.8g[4] 7.4g Y No
Honey Monster Sugar Puffs 0.01g 379 35.0g 1.6g Y No
Nestlé Shredded Wheat 0.01g 340 0.7g 2.2g Y No
Quaker Oatso Simple 0.01g 364 1.0g 8.5g Y No

[1]50 cereals are based on the 17 best-selling breakfast cereals and own-brand equivalents for the top 3 adult cereals (excluding Weetabix own-brand equivalents) and top selling children’s cereal.
[2] Where salt was not listed per 100g, it has been calculated by multiplying the amount of sodium per 100g by 2.5.
[3] Includes sugar from fruit.
[4] Includes sugar from fruit.

* Cereals highlighted in blue are those that included promotions aimed at children.

** We have compared cereals based on the nutritional value per 100g. This enables us to compare them across the board even if manufacturers recommend different portion sizes. Traffic light colours have been applied to show whether cereals are high, medium or low in fat, sugar or salt. These are based on the criteria set out below developed by the Food Standard Agency.

Traffic light labelling criteria

 

Green (Low)

Amber (Medium)

Red (High)

Sugar

≤ 5.0g/100g

>5.0 to ≤ 12.5g/100g

>12.5g per 100g

Salt

≤ 0.3g/100g

>0.3 to ≤ 1.5g/100g

>1.5g/100g

Fat

≤ 3.0g/100g

>3.0 to ≤ 20.0g/100g

>20.0g/100g

*** Manufacturers have taken steps to reduce salt in breakfast cereals by reformulating their products to meet salt targets. Just eight of the 50 breakfast cereals Which? analysed were not meeting the 2012 target of a maximum of 1.1g salt per 100g breakfast cereal (Asda, Lidl, Kellogg’s, Marks and Spencer and Tesco Cornflakes, Nestlé Cheerios and Kellogg’s Special K and Rice Krispies).

 

 

Return to top