EWG finds 10 lbs of sugar a year in children’s cereal | Food and Environment Reporting Network

Children’s cereals contain so much sugar that “someone eating an average serving…would consume more than 10 pounds of sugar a year from that source alone,” says the Environmental Working Group in a new report. Two-thirds of the cereals aimed at children contain enough the equivalent of one-third of the recommended daily amount of sugar. For its study, EWG looked at 1,556 cereals including 181 targeted for children.

As part of an overhaul of the Nutrition Facts panel on food packages, FDA has proposed inclusion of “added sugar” – “a step in the right direction,” says EWG. It says FDA should commission research into the effects of high sugar consumption, foodmakers should not market children’s cereals with more than 6 grams of sugar per serving, and parents should look for low-sugar cereals and try to reduce family consumption of sugar.

The report, “Children’s cereals: Sugar by the pound,” is available at the EWG Web site.