Healthy Cereal Nutrition

What makes breakfast cereal so healthy? It's stocked full of important vitamins, minerals, fiber and energy and can be consumed with nutritious low fat milk. In its optimum state, cereal is topped off with fresh fruit and nuts or accompanied with a glass of 100 percent fruit juice. Healthy cereals are low calorie, nutrient dense alternatives to processed frozen waffles, pancakes, and egg sandwiches with significantly lower saturated fat and cholesterol than sausage, doughnuts, biscuits, and bacon.

Food label

• When shopping for a healthy breakfast cereal, the American Dietetic Association recommends looking for food labels that have at least 2.5 grams of fiber or more and a daily value of 25 percent vitamins and minerals. Look for the words "whole grain" or "whole wheat" as the first ingredient listed on the nutrition panel. Since cereals are primarily made from grains, they are a rich source of the B vitamins folate, niacin, riboflavin, thiamin, B6 and B12. All are important in the creation of energy and aide in growth and development. Cereal also contains a healthy dose of iron, which helps deliver oxygen from the lungs to body cells for life, and zinc, an important mineral in cell division, growth and repair.

Sugar Worries

• People who are concerned about the sugar content in cereals should use the new guidelines from the American Heart Association (AHA) when selecting their healthy cereal. They recommend that adult women get no more than 25g (100 calories) per day from sugar and men no more than 36g (150 calories) per day due to the fact that they are empty calories and replace nutrient-dense foods. Since breakfast represents 25 to 30 percent of your day's nutritional needs depending on how many snacks you eat, a cereal should average less than 7g of sugar per serving. Cereals containing dried fruit will have significantly higher sugar contents, yet are equally good sources of iron, potassium and fiber and can be worked into the AHA guidelines if they are favorites.

Weight Benefits

• A study completed by Michigan State University and Kellogg Co. found that individuals who consume ready-to-eat breakfast cereal have healthier weights, a lower percentage of calories from fat and higher vitamin and mineral intake than those who choose other breakfast options. Eating breakfast on a regular basis can also help individuals lose weight. The National Weight Control Registry reports that 78 percent of people who lose weight and successfully maintain it eat breakfast on a daily basis. When people skip meals they tend to overeat at the next meal by making fast, convenient selections that are higher in fat, cholesterol and total calories.

Brain Benefits

• Breakfast also makes people smart. Students who eat breakfast have greater attention spans, improved concentration, and perform better on math and reading tests. Other studies have demonstrated improved creativity, spatial thinking and hand eye coordination. This could be due to in part to the fact that breakfast skippers are more apt to suffer from headaches and hunger pains which challenge students individuals abilities to concentrate. School time and attendance are also higher in breakfast eaters.

Not Just for Breakfast

• With some, cereal has progressed beyond the breakfast table. It's a tasty dry snack food that beats chips, cookies and ice cream hands down as a heart smart option. People use it as a quick meal substitute for lunch or dinner when nothing else sounds good or they just want to save time. Some manufacturers even encourage a second bowl a day as a successful tool for weight reduction. Researchers at the University of Texas even showed that cereal can be at least as effective as a sports drink in aiding muscle recovery after a hard workout.