Worst Cereals Are Most Heavily Marketed to Kids

Industry's promise to self-regulate an 'abject failure'
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 26, 2009 10:26 AM CDT
Worst Cereals Are Most Heavily Marketed to Kids
Kellogg cereals that make up individual servings in a variety pack are displayed in this file photo of July 25, 2006, in Cincinnati.   (AP Photo/Al Behrman, file)

Cereals marketed to kids are drastically less nutritious than those pitched to adults, despite industry promises to clean up its act, finds a new study from Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. The study confirms what a quick glance at the cereal aisle would tell you: Cereals aimed at kids have 85% more sugar, 60% more sodium, and 65% less fiber than their adult counterparts.

“Industry self-regulation is an abject failure,” says the Rudd Center’s director. “The worst cereals are being marketed very heavily to children.” A Kellogg spokesman says it has a strict standard on what to market to kids under age 12, and General Mills argues that cereal eaters are more nutritious than non-cereal eaters. But those companies own the top spots on the study’s least nutritious list with General Mills’ Reese’s Puffs in first and Kellogs’ Corn Pops in second. (More breakfast cereal stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X