My objective for this project is to show how to pick a healthy cereal, why it is important to choose a healthy cereal and the health effects of eating too much unhealthy cereal.

My question:

From the cereals that I have researched which one is the healthiest?

In early December I decided what my project would be about. Then in mid-December to early-January I finsihed a lot of my background research for my project. In late-January to early-February I completed all my research about what makes cereal healthy and unhealthy and which cereal is the healthiest out of the ones that I had chosen. During that time I also completed my Google Slides presentation about which cereal is the healthiest. In late-February to early-March I started inputing my research on to the CYSF Platform and putting it on my tri-fold and wrote my script for what I was going to say. Then I recorded my presentation adn inputed on to the CYSF Platform. During my project I continuosly added my resources.

Thesis 

Healthy cereals are cereals that have health benefits to them. Sometimes the name of cereal can be misleading because they imply that they are nutritious when in fact they may not be. I am comparing different cereals in this project to see which one has the most health benefits.

What is Healthy Eating?

Healthy Eating is:

• Having enough fruits and vegetables
• Eating foods with protein
• Choosing foods that are whole grain
• Drinking water
• Being mindful of eating habits
• Eating with others
• Enjoying food
• Eating home cooked meals 
• Trying not to eat highly processed foods

Daily Recommended Intake of Sugar

Gender	Age	Amount (g)
Women	Adult	25 grams (AHA)
Men	Adult	36 grams (AHA)
Women & Men	Adult	30 grams (NHS UK)
Boys & Girls	7-10	24 grams (NHS UK)
Boys & Girls	4-6	19 grams (NHS UK)

1 teaspoon of sugar = 4 grams = 1 cube of sugar

Daily Recommended Intake of Protein

Age and Gender	Total Recommended Daily Allownance (g)
Babies and Children
6-11 months	11
1-3 years	13
4-8 years	19
Males
9-13 years	34
14-18 years	52
19-70 years and older	56
Females
9-13 years	34
14-70 years and older	46

Daily Recommnded Intake of Fibre

• Women under 50 → 25 to 28 grams daily
• Women 51 and older → 22 grams daily
• Men under 50 → 31 to 34 grams daily
• Men 51 and older → 28 grams daily
• Children 1 to 18 → 14 to 31 grams daily

What Makes Cereal Healthy?

• Well balanced
• Rich in fibre
• Meet your daily vitamin and mineral needs

To make a healthy cereal choice it should have:

• 10 grams of added sugar or less
• 5 grams of fibre or more
• Less granola

Breakfast Cereal Consumption

Children, youth and adults who consume breakfast cereal regularly have daily diets that are:

• Higher in carbohydrates, total sugars, dietary fibre and vitamins 
• Lower in fat 
• Meet the daily recommended vitamin and mineral intakes
• Less in cholesterol
• Better overall 
• Healthier

What Makes Cereal Unhealthy?

• 85 out of 100 cereal brands contain  “a lot of sugar” and 40% contain “a lot of salt"
• High in sugar, salt and fat
• Some cereals contain large amounts of saturated fats which can cause high cholesterol and heart disease
• Not having enough fibre
• Too little in protein

How to Pick A Healthy Breakfast Cereal?

•  Limit your added sugar 
• Aim for high fibre
• Look at the ingredients list (the first two or three ingredients make up the most of the cereal)
• Pay attention to portion sizes  (it is normally 1 cup but bowl is usually 2)
• Look for whole grains to keep your blood sugar stable 

Health Benefits of Picking Healthy Cereal

• Stable blood sugar levels
• Meeting daily vitamin and mineral intakes
• Meeting daily recommended intakes for fibre and protein
• Maximizing nutrition
• Having better diets and nutritional status
• Prevents high cholesterol and heart disease

Health Effects of Eating Too Much Unhealthy Cereal

• Higher blood fat levels
• Heart/Cardiovascular Disease
• Type 2 Diabetes
• High cholesterol

Sugar Content

Cereal	Natural Sugars (g)	Added Sugars (g)	Total Sugars (g)
Raisin Bran	6	9	17
Krave	1	14	15
Cinnamon Toast Crunch	0	12	12
Honey Nut Cheerios	12	0	12
Chocolate Cheerios	11	0	11
Harvest Crunch	10	0	10
Fibre One	7	0	7
Corn Flakes	0	4	4
Rice Krispies	0	4	4
Weetabix	0	2	2

Total Sugars Equivalent in Sugar Cubes

 

Fibre Content

Cereal	Fibre (g)
Weetabix	13
Fibre One	13
Raisin Bran	7
Harvest Crunch	4
Chocolate Cheerios	3
Cinnamon Toast Crunch	3
Honey Nut Cheerios	3
Krave	2
Corn Flakes	1
Rice Krispies	0

Protein Content

Cereal	Protein (g)
Harvest Crunch	5
Raisin Bran	5
Weetabix	5
Chocolate Cheerios	4
Fibre One	4
Corn Flakes	3
Honey Nut Cheerios	3
Krave	3
Rice Krispies	3
Cinnamon Toast Crunch	2

Fat Content

Cereal	Saturated Fat (g)	Trans Fat (g)	Total Fat (g)
Harvest Crunch	6	0	8
Krave*	1	0	4.5
Cinnamon Toast Crunch	0.4	0	4
Chocolate Cheerios	0.5	0	2
Fibre One	0.3	0	2
Honey Nut Cheerios	0.4	0	2
Raisin Bran*	0	0	1
Weetabix	0	0	1
Corn Flakes*	0	0	0
Rice Krispies*	0	0	0

*=Has monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat

Results 

Sugar

• The cereal with the most added sugars is Krave
• The cereals with the least added sugars are Honey Nut Cheerios, Harvest Crunch and Chocolate Cheerios
• Weetabix has the least amount of total sugars
• Raisin Bran has the most total sugars

Fibre

• The cereals that have the most fibre out of the the ones that I researched are Weetabix and Fibre One
• The cereal that has the least amount of fibre is Rice Krispies 
• Fibre One has 51% of your daily fibre intake

Protein

• The cereals with the most protein are Harvest Crunch, Raisin Bran and Weetabix

• The cereal with the least amount of protein is Cinnamon Toast Crunch

 Fat

• The cereal with the most saturated fat is Harvest Crunch
• Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Fibre One, Raisin Bran, Weetabix, Corn Flakes and Rice Krispies have the least saturated tat
• All of the cereals have 0 trans fat in them
• The cereal with the most total fat is Harvest Crunch
• The two cereals with the least fat are Corn Flakes and Rice Krispies

 

 

Nutrition Facts

Kellogg's Raisin Bran

[See citation 17]

Quaker Harvest Crunch

[See citation 18]

General Mills Honey Clusters Fibre One

 

[See citation 19]

General Mills Honey Nut Cheerios

[See citation 20]

Post Consumer Brands Weetabix

[See citation 31]

Kellogg's Krave

[See citation 22]

General Mills Chocolate Cheerios

[See citation 23]

General Mills Cinnamon Toast Crunch

 

[See citation 24]

Kellogg's Rice Krispies

[See citation 25]

Kellogg's Corn Flakes

[See citation 26]

Conclusion

The healthiest cereal out of the ones that I researched is Weetabix. That is because it has the least sugar, most fibre, it is high in protein and low in fat. The cereal that is the most unhealthy is Krave because it is high in sugar and fat and low in fibre and protein. If too much unhealthy cereal is consumed there may be negative health effects. When choosing a healthy cereal it is important to  look at the nutrition facts to make sure it is high in fibre and protein and low in sugar and fat. I found that none of the cereals that I have selected have names that could be misleading to some people. However, it doesn’t have as much fibre as some of the other cereals that I researched. In conclusion, when selecting a cereal be sure to look at the nutrition facts to make a healthy choice.

What Next?

I can continue my research by looking at a wider variety of cereals. I could research about more cereals and then compare them to see if there is healthier cereal that has been made. Other items I could include would be oatmeal and oats. It would be interesting to see if the oatmeal would be healthier than cereals or if the cereals would be a healthier choice. People might find it interesting to see if the healthiest cereal that has been made is healthier or worse than oatmeal or overnight oats. It could be used to choose a breakfast option so that there are no negative health effects.

 

 

[1]https://www.eatingwell.com/article/8033186/what-are-calories/

[2]https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/

[3]https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/healthy-eating-recommendations

[4]https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/healthy-food-choices/

[5]https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/tips-for-healthy-eating/use-food-labels-make-healthier-choices/

[6]https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/how-much-sugar-per-day

[7]https://www.eatingwell.com/article/292028/how-many-grams-of-sugar-should-you-eat-per-day/

[8]https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/food-types/how-does-sugar-in-our-diet-affect-our-health/

[9]https://healthyschoolsbc.ca/media/resources/asbc-count-the-cubes-activity-gr-4-7.pdf

[10]https://publications.gc.ca/collections/Collection/H164-38-1-2007E.pdf

[11]https://medicalnewstoday.com/articles/protein-intake

[12]https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/how-much-fiber-per-day

[13]https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/cereals-and-wholegrain-foods

[14]https://houstonmethodist.org/blog/articles/2022/jul/is-cereal-a-healthy-breakfast-choice

[15]https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/are-breakfast

[16]https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC387512/

[17]https://smartlabel.kelloggs.com/Product/Index/00038000199875

[18]https://www.tastyrewards.com/en-ca/brands/quaker/products/quakerr-harvest-crunchr-original-cereal

[19]https://www.lifemadedelicious.ca/Brands/fibre1/cereal/honey-clusters-cereal

[20]https://www.cheerios.ca/products/honey-nut-cheerios

[21]https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4188247

[22]https://smartlabel.kelloggs.com/Product/Index/00038000199264

[23]https://www.cheerios.ca/products/chocolate-cheerios

[24]https://www.lifemadedelicious.ca/brands/toast-crunch/cinnamon-toast-crunch

[25]https://smartlabel.kelloggs.com/Product/Index/00038000200038

[26]https://smartlabel.kelloggs.com/Product/Index/038000991400

[27]https://healthline.com/nutrition/are-breakfast-cereals-healthy

[28]https://www.health.harvard.edu/nutrition/the-facts-on-fiber

[29]https://stvincents.org/about-us/news-press/news-detail?articleId=55502&publicid=395

[30]https://blogs.und.edu/und-today/2024/08/und-in-the-conversation-the-health-effects-of-sugary-breakfast-cereals/#:~:text=High%2Dglycemic%2C%20simple%20carbohydrate%20foods,disease%20and%20type%202%20diabetes.

[31]https://www.postconsumerbrands.com/brands/wwetabix/products/weetabix-original/

Parents:

Galib and Zahara S.

Sisters:

Aleena and Inaaya S.

 

 

 

Credits to Eating Well, Canada Food Guide, Healthline, National Health Services, Healthy Schools BC, Medical News Today, Better Health, Houston Methodist, National Health Services, Smart Label Kellogg's, Life Made Delcious, Cheerios, Health Harvard, St. Vincents, The University of North Dakota and Post Consumer Brands.

I would like to thank my family for helping and assiting me with this project. I would also like to thank my science fair coordinator Ms.Ontko because I would not be doing this without her.