Special investigation
The nutritional content is high in this cereal, but so is the sugar
recent ban on Special K advertising in the UK alerted me to this cereal. According to the Independent, newspaper adverts describing Special K cereal as “full of goodness” and “nutritious” have been banned in the UK, after that country’s Advertising Standards Agency found the claims could not be adequately backed up.
A quick look at the box would certainly leave you feeling you were eating something that was very good for you. It is made with three grains, is 99 per cent fat free and is a “source of protein and fibre”. Compare this to Ricies ( popped rice) with just 3.4g per 40g serve ( without milk) and porridge with just 0.4g of sugar per 40g serve ( without milk). A 100ml serve of light blue milk will give you a further 4.8g of sugar. Add this to all three cereals and you get: Special K with 100ml light blue milk: 10.6g sugar. Ricies with 100ml light blue milk: 8.2g sugar. Porridge made with oats plus 100ml light blue milk: 5.3g sugar. These will be in here for added nutrition This helps bring the fibre level of this cereal to 2.6g per 40g serve. Ricies will give you 0.4 g of fibre per 40g serve and porridge made with oats will give you 3.6g. You will get just 144mg of sodium per 40g serve. This is sweet and will be in for added flavour. These will be added for extra nutrition. Special K certainly has many vitamins and minerals added for nutrition so I think the nutrition claim is fine. It does, however, have more sugar than other cereals like porridge made with oats and Ricies. It has some fibre but less than porridge. If you have the time make porridge, it’s low in sugar, high in fibre and low in salt. If you don’t have time then try to find a cereal which has less sugar.