General Mills to Lower Sugar in Kids' Cereals
Categories: Eating & Nutrition, Mealtime
General Mills -- the maker of Lucky Charms, Trix and Cocoa Puffs -- this week said it will further reduce the amount of sugar in its cereals marketed to children. Credit: Gene J. Puskar, AP
General Mills, the Minneapolis-based cereal giant, plans to lower the sugar in all its cereals aimed at children 12 and under to below 10 grams per serving, Heidi Geller, spokesperson for the company tells ParentDish. "We have been working on this initiative since 2007."
Indeed, the company's original goal was to lower sugar in its kids' cereals below 12 grams, a goal reached sooner than expected. Those cereals should be on store shelves by next spring.
Some General Mills cereals with 11 grams of sugar will be on store shelves next spring including:
- Cocoa Puffs
- Cocoa Puffs Combos
- Cinnamon Toast Crunch
- Cookie Crisp Lucky Charms
- Reese's Puffs
- Trix
The company has added whole grains, and a variety of vitamins and minerals to it's cereals and the new lower sugar goal is just the latest by the company appease parents wary of sugary breakfast cereals. "You can feel very good about it," Geller says about serving Lucky Charms for breakfast. Cereal is one of the lower calorie breakfast choices, she says.
Related: Some Cereals Are More Than HALF Sugar!, Top Breakfast Cereals For Your Kids
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dave 12-12-2009 @ 4:50PM
I wonder how much the pending increase in the cost of sugar played in their decision to make the reduction at this time. This was definitely a trend that was going to come to reality for GM at some point no matter what happened to ingredient costs but it is interesting. I definitely agree that sugar reduction is a part of the solution, but if there is a time in the day when a child can afford a few extra calories and energy it is in the morning. At that point they have the time to burn the calories off during the day. Full calorie soft drinks, fast food and a lack of exercise play a much larger role in childhood obesity than the sugar in cereals. GM is very smart though in doing this now. They are very savvy marketers and this will spur additional sales. Keep up the good work.
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Nastya 12-13-2009 @ 1:59AM
Oh, give me a break. I had sugary cereal when I was a kid, and I was and still am skinny as a rail. That's not going to change the reasoning behind childhood weight problems. Treating the symptoms, rather than the cause, will make it worse in the long run. You can eat anything you want, as long as you don't eat *too much* of it. That's what people need to get through their heads.
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LS 12-15-2009 @ 9:26AM
I don't have a huge problem with lowering sugar levels in cereal - some are ridiculously high. I agree, though, that using sugar cereals as a scapegoat for childhood obesity is ridiculous. Discussing how the high sugar levels affect attention span at school might be a better argument. I've noticed a huge difference in my son's behavior when he eats Froot Loops (12 g sugar) vs. Oatmeal (my own recipe, sweetened with honey) for breakfast.
Here's my other question: what are they replacing the sugar with? Because if I'm going to buy Lucky Charms (one of our favorites) either way, I would rather eat Lucky Charms with 15 grams of REAL sugar per serving than Lucky Charms with 5 grams of some weird chemical being passed off as "sugar".
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