Breakfast cereal brands to avoid- 88% Kelloggs brands in Australia have questionable nutritional value
-posted March 2022
Starting the day with a cereal breakfast is an easy option in the west, and supermarkets offer a wide variety and often a whole aisle of choices in Australia. As a kid I was influenced by advertisements on TV with Ironmen athletes promoting 'Kelloggs Nutrigrain'- consequently I unknowingly consumed too much sugar at breakfast which resulted in poor nutrition, low energy and concentration later in the day, and undoubtedly my poor teenage body image (weight and acne). Today I understand that companies employ scientists to tweak ratios of salt, sugar and fat to optimise taste, and I now have easy access to nutritional information so can avoid some foods. However the same cannot be said for kids, and parents trying to find foods of interest for kids. Breakfasts for me today consist of a cereal of my own making- combining my own selection of grains, seeds, nuts (aka muesli) and then adding some low sodium corn flakes for texture and fruits (banana, frozen raspberries or blueberries, ie natural sugars with fibre) to spice up a relatively bland mix.
I compiled a list of the main processed cereal makers in Australia (which includes many familiar brands in the USA).
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If order by sugar content x16 of x62 brands (26%) have sugar content similar or greater than that of a Krispy Kreme original doughnut!
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If order by sodium (salt) content x3 of x62 brands have salt levels on par with Potato chips!
Of the x16 brands on this list with sugar content higher than doughnuts x10 are Kellogg's brands- which makes up 63% of their brand offerings in Australia. Sugar has been known to be detrimental to health since the 1970s, particularly since the 2000s with evident obesity problems in the population. The question is why is Kelloggs promoting extraordinarily high amounts of added sugar (more than doughnuts) to kids diets? It seems they are focussed on their profits and not the consumer of their products.
Another way of looking at the data is to set maximum allowable limits for sodium (556mg ≡ potato chips) & sugar (23.8g ≡ doughnuts), draw a line and then determine any brand products outside of these parameters as unhealthy- chips and doughnuts are snacks and not considered wholesome nutritional foods. 26 of the x62 brands (42% of total) may be considered junk food- in this case 88% of Kelloggs offerings in Australia is junk?
Supermarket chains here are offering their own brand of cereals, and appear to be following the multinational model- this is their opportunity to maybe halve the sugar content and greatly reduce sodium (salt) and market more healthy options locally.
Sugar & Fast Food Correlates with Poor Health Outcomes
-posted March 2023
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Worldwide sugar production has increased from 127,000t in 1967 to a high of 2.9Mt in2012.
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The most recognisable fast food outlets have origins in USA (1940-1960). Over 100,000 outlets have found their way into international markets
The increased sugar trade and Fast Food expansion into the world market has had a detrimental affect on world population health outcomes. With regards to Australia (similar to USA) the following is observed;
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Steady increase in Diabetes & Respiratory diseases
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Sharp increase in Neuropsychiatric Disorders from 2003 (possible mitochondrial dysfunction)
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Direct correlation of Neoplasm (cancer) to sugar, related to 65% of population being overweight
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Interestingly Cardiovascular Diseases has decreased in line with falling smoking rates
Cardiovascular disease risk factors includes tobacco smoking, high blood pressure and cholesterol, physical inactivity, poor nutrition, and obesity. The mortality rate has fallen over time due to coronary bypass surgery in 1970s, beta blockers in 1975, and from 1990 the availability of Statins and ACE inhibitors.
Overweight- https://apps.who.int
Diabetes- https://platform.who.int
Sugar- https://apps.fas.usda.gov, www.fao.org, https://naldc.nal.usda.gov
Cardiovascular- www.mja.com.au, www.health.gov.au
NMN is a potent precursor for NAD+, which triggers shifts including boosting energy production and upregulating cellular repair that enhance survival. Aging has been described as a “cascade of robustness breakdown" triggered by a decrease in systemic NAD+ biosynthesis and the resultant functional defects in susceptible organs and tissues.
There seems to be new brand offerings of NMN supplements almost weekly, and in some cases use capsule/tablet dose interchangeably with servings of capsule/tablet which can be confusing as to how much NMN is actually in the bottle. Also there appears to be many bad actors in the market so it is highly recommended to check if they have lab tested their product for quality control (ie has NMN as an actual ingredient). NMN apparently has a slightly sharp, sour taste and rapidly dissolves in the mouth.
I have sorted by price/grams to find those brands offering value for money- note that the Mirai Lab brands at the bottom of this list are selling NMN at x7 times the price of gold!
NMN (Nicotinamide Mononucleotide)
-posted May 2022
SuperGREENS (micronutrients)
-posted February 2022
Supergreens is based on getting micronutrients from a wide variety of sources.
I have sorted the brands by price/weight, and highlighted those products with a wide variety of micronutrient sources with 'reasonable' amounts. Those brands with proprietary ingredients (x) are ignored as no information to compare with.
