Ready-to-eat cereals account for a small amount of a child’s daily sugar intake. On average, cereals — including sweetened cereals like Trix and Cocoa Puffs — provide less than 5 percent of children’s daily sugar intake.1
General Mills is committed to lowering the sugar in kid cereals. Since 2007, we have achieved average sugar reductions of 14% in cereals advertised to kids, with some reduced as much as 28%. All of us at General Mills have an ongoing commitment to reducing sugar to single digits or less per serving in cereals advertised to kids 12 and under, without losing any of the great taste that they love.
Some cereals are lower in sugar and some are sweetened. Yet both types of cereal are a good breakfast choice. All Big G cereals (including sweetened cereals) provide at least 8 grams of whole grain per serving, are low in fat, and contain vitamins and minerals. A 2009 study showed that regardless of sweetness level, cereal eaters have healthier body weights than those who don’t eat cereal.2
1Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Data. Hyattsville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, [2005-06] [http.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes].
2Albertson AM, et al. The Relationship between Ready-to-Eat Cereal Consumption Categorized by Sugar Content and Body Measures in American Children: Results from NHANES 2001-06 FASEB Journal (April 2009) 23 (Meeting Abstracts): 550.22.