Thaindian News

By Gina Gomez
Dec 14, (THAINDIAN NEWS) A study conducted by researchers of Yale University has pointed out that children are more likely to consume a healthier breakfast with low-sugar cereals as opposed to those who are high in sugar content. The revelations of the study comes as a sharp contrast to popular belief in the food industry that kids usually do not prefer low-sugar cereals for breakfast. The results of the research hogged limelight after it was published on Monday in the online version of the journal Pediatrics.

The study which was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in collaboration with Rudd Foundation, took into consideration as many as 91 school-going kids within the age-group of five to twelve, all of whom attended a summer camp where only low-sugar or high-sugar cereal were served for breakfast. The kids who were given low-sugar cereal added more table sugar to their breakfast but at the same time also added more fruits while the high-sugar group consumed almost double amount of refined sugar. Overall the researchers reached the conclusion that kids consuming low-sugar cereals ended up having a more nutritious breakfast in comparison to their counter-parts.

Jennifer Harris of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at the Yale University who was one of the lead authors of the study stated that due to the marketing techniques undertaken by the cereal manufacturers, parents have developed the notion that their kids would not be having a proper breakfast if the sugar content is not high. However, the study results indicate that children can happily consume low-sugar cereals while parents that make the breakfast more tempting by providing a variety of fruits to go with the first meal of the day.