EWG has been working for five years to protect American children from the excessive amounts of sugar in cereals. Through our campaign and the work of other public interest groups, we're pushing regulators and the food industry toward healthier products and greater transparency.
In 2010, scientists at the National Cancer Institute reported that breakfast cereals were one of the major sources of added sugar in the diets of children under 8, ranking fifth after sugar bombs like sugary drinks, cookies, candy and ice cream. Soon after, in 2011, EWG called cereal makers to task for packing more sugar into kids' breakfasts than cookies or Twinkies.
EWG has been working to increase transparency for consumers with our Food Scores database, a freely resource that unmasks more than 80,000 food items. Food Scores allows shoppers to identify better food options, avoiding ones with poor nutritional quality, ingredients of concern and products that have been overly processed.
In 2014, when we first released Food Scores, 58 percent of the 80,000 foods in the database contained added sugars, and the average food was 13 percent sugar by weight. In May of 2014, Food Scores data showed that kids who ate an average serving of a typical children’s cereal would consume over 10 pounds of sugar a year from cereals alone. And among the 181 cereals we examined that were marketed for children, not one was free of added sugars.
That same year, EWG called on the FDA to update its 1993 regulations setting cereal serving sizes from 30 grams—what people ate on average in 1977—to reflect the amounts that Americans actually eat today. In May of this year the agency released final rules updating the Nutrition Facts panel and increasing the standard serving size of cereal to 40 grams.
But consumers who want the truth about sugar don’t have to wait for the cereal companies to update their labels. Listings for cereals in Food Scores now include an online calculator that lets users see how much sugar is in servings of different sizes that more accurately reflect what Americans eat.
The Eat Well Guide helps consumers find locally grown and sustainably produced food. Listings include farms, restaurants, stores, farmers' markets, and CSAs throughout the United States.
Visit the Eat Well GuideSign up to receive email updates, action alerts, healthy eating tips, promotions to support our work and more from EWG! You can opt out at any time.
EWG's Good Food on a Tight Budget
EWG's Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce
EWG's Good Seafood Guide
EWG's Healthy Living: Home Guide
EWG's Tap Water Database
EWG and Keep A Breast Foundation's Dirty Dozen List of Endocrine Disruptors