http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3331247
By Graham Hiscott, Consumer Affairs Correspondent, PA News
Kellogg's today announced the launch of a reduced sugar version of its
top selling Frosties breakfast cereal.
The new product will contain one-third less sugar than the standard
version, which will remain on sale.
Kellogg's said the move was in response to "changing consumer tastes".
Alyson Greenhalgh-Ball, a nutritionist at Kellogg's, said: "Our
research revealed that about 38% of adults think that standard
Frosties is too sweet for them so we have introduced a brand new
choice for mums and kids in the form of Frosties Reduced Sugar."
The cereals giant said adults make up 62% of its market for Frosties
despite it being seen as a children's brand.
A 30 gram serving of Frosties Reduced Sugar contains 7.5g of sugar,
equivalent to just over one heaped teaspoon.
However, it still constitutes a product that is high in sugar based on
guidelines from the Government's Food Standards Agency.
The food watchdog says any product with 10g of sugar or more per 100g
is "a lot".
Kellogg's said it preferred to use a measurement known as Guideline
Daily Amount (GDA) which shows a 30 gram bowl of Frosties contains
5.8% of the GDA of sugar for an adult man.
There is currently no GDA measurement for adults.
The new cereal was launched a day after attempts by Kellogg's to add
vitamins and minerals to its products were rejected in Denmark.
The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration (DVFA) turned down an
application from the company, saying the levels proposed could pose a
risk to consumers.
Kellogg's insists fortification of its products is not new and that it
had done so in other countries, including the UK, for many years.
Commenting on the Danish decision, the UK's Food Standards Agency
said: "We are advising people to continue to eat breakfast cereal as
part of a healthy balanced diet.
"Our dietary surveys show that people's diets in the UK, which include
fortified breakfast cereals and snacks, are well below the recommended
maximum levels of vitamins and minerals."
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Read these last two paragraphs again.
On the one hand:
"...the UK's Food Standards Agency said: "We are advising people to
continue to eat breakfast cereal as part of a healthy balanced diet."
But on the other hand:
"Our dietary surveys show that people's diets in the UK, which include
fortified breakfast cereals and snacks, are well below the recommended
maximum levels of vitamins and minerals."
Wha......?
The people's diets include RTE cereals AND their diets are well below
the recommended maximum levels of vitamins and minerals. And not just
below the recommended max, but "well below". Yet they recommend that
they continue to eat the same diet.
Does this not clearly indicate that the current diet, which includes
RTE cereals, is deficient of vitamins and minerals? Would this not
warrant recommendations that people cut down on the nutrient-empty
refined RTE cereals and replace it with foods that are more
nutrient-dense wholefoods?
And....
"Kellogg's said it preferred to use a measurement known as Guideline
Daily Amount (GDA) which shows a 30 gram bowl of Frosties contains
5.8% of the GDA of sugar for an adult man."
What the heck is this GDA and who sets it? So 7.5 grams is 5.8%, that
means the GDA for sugar for adults is 130 grams. That is 520 kcals.
25% of a 2000 kcal/day diet. The World Health organization recommends
10% max, does it not?
TC