Categories: HEALTH & WELLNESS

Post Golden Crisp Vs. General Mills Cheerios – Is the Healthier Choice Adding Your Own Sugar or Buying Presweetened Cereal?

When my kids were little, I made a real point of buying breakfast cereal that I thought was healthy. My friends, who also had young children, thought I was nuts. Look at the nutrition label,” they’d say, “Each serving has the same calories and the same amount of vitamins. By the time they finish piling on the sugar on the unsweetened cereal, what’s the difference?”

What is the difference? Good question.

I knew my friends were wrong, but wasn’t quite sure how they were wrong. I continued feeding my children the same unsweetened cereal topped with fresh fruit and 1/2 a teaspoon of sugar, convinced that my way was the healthier way.

My husband picked up a box of Post Golden Crisps recently. Golden Crisps is sweetened puffed wheat with the Sugar Bear on the front of the box. The side panel advertised “Fat Free. Excellent source of six B vitamins. Good source of Iron & Zinc for growth.” How does Golden Crisps compare to our old standby, General Mills Cheerios? The box of Cheerios claimed that it’s toasted whole grain oat cereal is “clinically proven to help reduce cholesterol.” It also has the American Heart Association stamp of approval.

Nutritional Facts

A serving size of Cheerios weighs 28 grams, and contains 100 calories. A serving of Golden Crisps weighs 27 grams and contains 110 calories. While both cereals contain the standard percentage of daily vitamins we usually see in cereals (between 10-25%), Cheerios daily value in three areas is significantly higher, providing 45% of daily iron, 50% of daily folic acid, and 25% daily zinc. The most significant difference between Cheerios and Golden Crisps, however, is in the breakdown of total carbohydrates.

A serving of Golden Crisp contains 24 total carbohydrates, 0 dietary fiber, and 15 grams of sugar.
In the Cheerios, a serving contains 20 total carbohydrates, 3 grams of dietary fiber, 1 grams of soluble fiber, and 1 gram of sugar.

The sugar difference is amazing; 15 grams of sugar in the Golden Crisp versus 1 gram of sugar in the Cheerios. Since a single serving of sugar is one teaspoon or 4 grams, this means that one 3/4 cup serving of Golden Crisps contains almost 4 teaspoons of sugar.

So what’s the difference?

Let’s return to my friends’ question, “If the calories are the same, what’s the difference?” Sugar brings certain characteristics to the cereal such as sweetness and crunchiness. Without sugar, refined carbohydrates, such as corn starch or maltodextrin are substituted to help offset the properties usually provided by the sugar. The unsweetened cereals may have lower sugar, but the added starches bring the carbohydrate count and the calories right back.

By adding a teaspoon of sugar to the Cheerios, you are bringing the calories up to 115 per serving and the carb count up to 24. If you remember, a serving of Golden Crisp is 110 calories and 24 mgs of carbs as well. From a carbohydrate standpoint, the products are practically identical.

However, there’s a difference between refined sugar carbs and carbs that come from grains. Simple sugar burn up immediately whereas fiber filled carbs are much better for your body. These days, most nutritionists and dentists recommend that you limit your cereal choices to those containing no more than 6 grams of sugar (www.shscares.org/Health Info/ExpertTips/TheBreakfastCerealChallenge.asp). Cheerios with a teaspoon of sugar does meets that recommendation whereas Golden Crisp does not.

Even with added sugar, Cheerios has lower net carbs than Golden Crisp and provides necessary dietary fiber. It also has a higher vitamin content and is less expensive. And, in the long run, probably causes less cavities with its lower sugar content. For this mother, Cheerios is clearly the winner in a side-by-side comparison.