Are You Having Fruit Loops for Breakfast?

Do sugary cereals make a healthy breakfast? Well, this isn’t just a tricky question because if nutritionists are to be believed, choosing fruit loops over doughnuts at the breakfast table won’t make you a smart eater. So, if you have been serving fruit loops to your kids or sticking to a bowl of sugary cereals and juice to lose those extra pounds, you might want to think again.

Studies indicate that cereals like Froot Loops and Cocoa Krispies are laden with sugar which can be bad for the teeth, bones and overall health. While experts are urging consumers to reduce their consumption of sugar cereals, Smart Choices, a food labeling company backed by large food manufacturers will be giving such products its green checkmark Smart Choices certification. This move has sparked controversy in the nutrition circles. It is being considered a careless decision to offer seal of approval to less healthy products like heavily salted packaged meals and sugary cereals. Since Smart Choices has been designed to help consumers classify smart food and beverages, this decision comes across as a blatant failure of the system.

The president of Smart Choices feels that consumers don’t want their choices being dictated to them and choosing cereals is any day better than having doughnuts for breakfast. But at a point when the government is trying to curb the obesity epidemic in the US, highly processed foods should not be presented as a healthy alternative to unprocessed foods. But the big question is - will this make consumers change their eating habits and bring the enjoyable fruit loop era to an end?