Breakfast Cereals and Vanilla Ice Cream: Which Has More Sugar?

Sugar is an important source of carbohydrates in our diet, providing our body with its primary energy source. Sugar is found naturally in fruits and vegetables, but most of the sugar we consume is added to the foods we buy.

On average, breakfast cereals provide only a small amount of the sugars we take in daily, only about 5 percent. Much of the sugar in the American diet comes from sodas, ranking in at around 37 percent.

Breakfast cereals also provide us with vitamins and minerals, and carbohydrates. And, it is fair to say that manufacturers are constantly looking for ways to reduce the sugar content in their cereals.

With all that being said, you might wonder, what got me to thinking more about this? My son. He asked me, simply, “Mom, which is better for you, cereal or ice cream?” My first thought, and probably yours was his breakfast cereal. After a little detective work, I was surprised at some of the results.

The average serving of vanilla ice cream contains about 17 grams of sugar. Yes, that’s a lot and it’s not surprising. But what is surprising is which cereals raked up as much or even more sugar than that decadent scoop of vanilla ice cream. Here’s my findings:

Kellogg’s Fruit Loops, has 13 grams of sugar, almost as much as the ice cream.

Kellogg’s Apple Jacks gets even closer with 15 grams of sugar.

Kellogg’s Raisin Bran Crunch (this one surprised me) contain a whopping 20 grams of sugar!

Kellogg’s Smart Start Healthy Heart even has 17 grams of sugar, the same as the ice cream. Amazing!

General Mill’s Oatmeal Crisp Crunchy Almond has 16 grams of sugar.

Most of these cereals, I would have guessed to be lower in sugar. Guess I was wrong, huh? So, which cereals are lowest in sugar? Of the ones I checked out, (there were too many to look at them all) these were the best as far as sugar content:

Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, 2 grams of sugar.

Kellogg’s Crispix, 3 grams.

General Mill’s Cheerios, 1 gram

General Mill’s Kix, 3 grams

Post Shredded Wheat, 0 grams of sugar!

So, I suppose the answer to my son’s question (Which is better for you, ice cream or breakfast cereal?), I would still have to say the cereal. You just have to choose wisely.


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