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Behind the Label: Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Soft Bake Bars

Posted on: Sunday, 2 April 2006, 06:00 CDT

By Thomas, Pat

If you 'deskfast' with sugary, fat-filled cereal bars instead of eating a good breakfast you could be doing untold damage to your body and mind. BY PAT THOMAS

Most of us have grown up with the mantra that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Yet 56 per cent of us skips breakfast. The consequences can be dire for the body and the brain, especially in children. Recent research from Reading University found that kids who eat sugary snacks instead of proper breakfasts have the mental reaction times of 70-year-olds.

Instead of breakfast, an increasing number of us eat cereal bars, gulped down on public transport, in the car or at our desks. Cereal bar manufacturers have even coined a phrase for it: 'deskfast'.

Amazingly the ubiquitous cereal bar didn't even exist until 1997. Since then it has grown into a 217 million a year business in the UK and a $2.2 billion a year busness in the US.

Three manufacturers - Kellogg, Weetabix and Cereal Partners (a joint venture between Nestl and General Mills) - take in 65 per cent of all cereal bar sales. But it was Kellogg that launched the cereal bar as a food category in 1991 with the Nutri-Grain bar. Today Nutri- Grain is the market leader, with a 38 per cent share of the total cereal bar market.

If you are habitual 'deskfaster' you may have convinced yourself that a cereal bar is better than nothing. Think again.

The box claims 'wholesome ingredients in every bar'. Yet this fruit filled cereal bar is only around eight per cent fruit and 34 per cent cereal. The rest is fillers - mostly sugar, fat and bulking agents - making this product closer to a confectionarey than a breakfast item.

Recently the campaigning group the Food Commission tested 18 cereal bar products and found that all of them were high in fats, sugars, or both. For reference purposes the UK Food Standards Agency defines a high sugar product as containing 10g/100g of product and a high fat product as containing 20g/100g,

The Nutri-Grain cereal bar contains 31g/100g of sugar, and 13.5g/ 100g of fat.

A quick scan of the ingredients reveals not only a mind boggling array of different health depleting sugars, but also the ubiquitous ingredient 'vegetable oil'. This term can be used to indicate any refined oil (other than olive oil), but is usually polyunsaturated corn or sunflower oil, which adds omega 6 fatty acids to a modern diet already overburdened with them. An overbalance of omega 6 (also known as linolenic acid) in relation to other essential fats has been linked to the development of cancer, immune system damage, hormone imbalance, heart disease and stroke. In short, with every bite of fatty junk food like this we are being polyunsaturated to death.

It gets worse. Greenpeace's Shoppers Guide to GM survey, confirms that Kellog does not use GM ingredients in its breakfast cereals; but is's Pop-Tarts, Rice Krispies Squares and Nutri-Grain bars may contain GM soya or maize derivatives.

The Nutri-Grain bar also contains a handful of added vitamins and minerals - but it's worth asking whether such concessions to 'good health' are added simply so that the cereal bar can actually be marketed as food rather than Polyfilla.

ALTERNATIVES

Cereal bars are poor meal replacements; try getting up earlier and eating some real food. If, having had a decent breakfast, you still feel the need to snack on a cereal bar, look for those that conform to organic standards. Some won't be much lower in sugar or fat, but organic and alternative bars generally use fewer fillers and include a better mix of fats.

Geobar

www.traidcraft.co.uk

Doves Farm

www.dovesfarm.co.uk

Village Bakery

www.village-bakery.com

Seeds of Change

www.seedsofchange.co.uk

INGREDIENTS

Cereals ([34 per cent] wheat flour, whole oats, wheat bran), glucose-fructose syrup, apple (eight per cent), sugar, vegetable oil, humectant (glycerol), maltodextrin, honey, dextrose, stabilisers (sodium alginate, cellulose, xanthan gum, carrageenan, locust bean gum), calcium carbonate, modified starch, dried skimmed , milk, salt, flavourings, cinnamon, raising agent (potassium hydrogen carbonate), malic acid, calcium phosphate, citric acid, colour (caramel E150c), emulsifiers (E472e, E471, soy lecithin), wheat gluten, starch, niacin, iron, vitamin B6, riboflavin (B2), thiamine (B1), folic acid, vitamin B12

Copyright Ecosystems Limited Apr 2006

Source: Ecologist, The

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