Many of us have grown up hearing the mantra that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, yet cereals for kids fall short of that standard. That is the takeaway of my new research study analyzing child-targeted cereals in Canada.
The study examined 103 unique children’s cereals found in the supermarket for their nutrition, nutrition claims and how the packaging worked to capture kids’ attention. It also assessed the cereals using two nutritional criteria: a government-led proposed Health Canada criteria for marketing to kids (unpublished, described in the study) and the food industry’s Code for Responsible Food and Beverage Advertising to Children.
