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Are breakfast cereals healthy? Dry breakfasts - benefits and harms Ready breakfast nesquik harm and benefits

For many, breakfast cereals have become a familiar morning meal, because they are delicious and do not require time to prepare. Regarding the benefits of these products, there are different opinions.

Types and features of the production of dry breakfasts

The benefits and quality of breakfast cereals are influenced by the method and technology of production. Such food was pressed bran without additives. They were not very tasty, but useful and cheap. Gradually, production technologies developed, and breakfast cereals acquired a familiar look for us. In stores you can find the following varieties of the product:

Flakes- are made from different types of cereals without additives by cutting and flattening into thin plates. Flakes that do not require cooking undergo additional heat treatment. To do this, the grains are steamed, boiled or processed with infrared rays, then flattened and dried.
Muesli- are made by adding additives to flakes: pieces of berries or fruits, jam, chocolate, nuts or honey.
Snacks- these are pillows, balls and figures from cereals. They are made from rice, oats, rye or corn under high steam pressure to preserve the maximum amount of vitamins and minerals.

Often, breakfast cereals undergo other types of processing. They can be fried in oil, ground, ground into flour and glazed. This affects the composition, calorie content and quality of the product, and hence the health benefits.

What are the benefits of breakfast cereals

The opinions of nutritionists about dry breakfasts are ambiguous. This is due to the fact that there are many companies producing such products and they use different technologies and additives. The cereals from which this food is made are healthy and should be present in the diet, but those that have not been processed and retained all the beneficial substances.

There is a lot of vitamin A and E in corn flakes. Rice flakes contain all the useful amino acids needed by the body. Oats are rich in magnesium and phosphorus. Dried fruits contained in muesli enrich them with iron, pectin and potassium, and in combination with nuts and cereals they are perfectly absorbed. Nuts contain polyunsaturated acids useful for humans.

Sweet cereals with kefir, yogurt or milk and honey, chocolate and sugar additives allow you not to feel hungry all morning hours. Such food is healthier than a breakfast consisting of sandwiches.

These dishes are prepared quickly and easily. Even a child can make such a breakfast.

What can harm breakfast cereals

British food experts have conducted research on breakfast cereals from several well-known manufacturers. During the test, they were able to find that in one serving the sugar content is the same as in a donut, a piece of cake or jam, which is 1/4 of the daily amount of sugar for an adult.

Snacks deserve special attention - a type of dry breakfast loved by children. The harm of the product lies in the peculiarities of its preparation, in which most of the nutrients are removed, and due to frying they become fatty. In such food there is no fiber needed by the body. Therefore, breakfast cereals for children do more harm than good. They impair the functioning of the intestinal tract and stomach, and also provoke obesity.

Frying cereal in oil, adding molasses, honey, sugar and chocolate increases the calorie content of breakfast cereals. It becomes like a cookie or candy. It is also increased by the additives that are part of dry breakfasts - on average, they provide 350 kcal per 100 g.

Corn, rice and wheat flakes contain a lot of easily digestible carbohydrates. They are an excellent source of energy and “charge the brain” well, but at the same time they have a bad effect on the figure.

It is worth mentioning the products and additives used in the manufacture of dry breakfasts. Often they are fried in palm or hydrogenated oils, which increase blood cholesterol levels, leading to heart disease. Flavorings, flavor enhancers, leavening agents and acidity regulators are added to many of the products, which bring a lot of harm to the body. You should be wary of the absence of sugar in breakfast cereals, since substitutes or sweeteners were most likely used instead.

Of all the types of breakfast cereals, the most beneficial are the unprocessed cereals found in muesli or sold separately. However, when buying even a useful product, it should be borne in mind that it is recommended to give it to children over 6 years old. Moreover, nutritionists recommend eating breakfast cereals as an addition to food, and not as a main product.

We all know that the best breakfast is porridge cooked from natural whole grains, the same oatmeal, for example. But the food industry does not stand still and today store shelves are full of beautiful packages of cereals for children and adults.

Admittedly, such products are quite popular, especially among mothers who do not know what to cook for their child for breakfast. There are two reasons for this:

1 - children really like breakfast cereals, especially if the cereal is sweet and the mother does not have to stand for half an hour over her child with a spoon in her hands;

2 - it takes only a few minutes to prepare them, and this is a very weighty argument for a troubled mother.

The composition indicated on the packages also soothes: corn grits and salt. And if the manufacturer is not too lazy to beautifully write “Does not contain preservatives”, although where would they come from in a heat-treated and dried product, doubts involuntarily begin to dissipate.

At first glance, breakfast cereals for children are both healthy and convenient. But if you dig a little deeper, things are not so rosy. Corn groats are really useful, and salt for a child in moderation will not hurt, but the problem is that in breakfast cereals it is no longer groats, but a product made from it, which has other properties.

For the preparation of dry crispy flakes, high-temperature processing is used. It would seem, what is this? But it turns out that when processing products rich in carbohydrates with a temperature of at least 120 ° C, acrylamide is formed in them - this is a rather aggressive substance with carcinogenic properties. It was found out only 7-8 years ago.

In fairness, it should be noted that acrylamide is also found in other starch-rich foods that have undergone heat treatment. And this does not mean at all that now you need to completely exclude them from the diet, and even give up baking. Just don't overdo them.

Save breakfast cereals for those times when you really don’t have time to cook something, and the rest of the time, continue to feed your child “the old fashioned way” with healthy cereals made from natural whole grains that have not been fried or steamed. Of course, much more time and effort will have to be spent on their preparation, but children's health is more important. Additionally, we recommend reading the article: what foods to choose for a child for breakfast.

P.S. If you have something to argue or add - welcome to the comments.

Today, many people prefer to eat corn flakes or rice balls with milk in the morning. But are breakfast cereals really healthy, as their manufacturers claim? In this article, we take a closer look at breakfast cereals and their impact on human health.

What is dry breakfast?

Such products are flakes made from processed grains. They are often eaten with milk, yogurt, fruits, or nuts.

These grain products are often fortified with vitamins and minerals. This means that nutrients are added to them in order to make the dish healthier.

For many, breakfast cereals have become a familiar morning meal, because they are delicious and do not require time to prepare. Regarding the benefits of these products, there are different opinions.

Types and features of the production of dry breakfasts

Flakes- are made from different types of cereals without additives by cutting and flattening into thin plates. Flakes that do not require cooking undergo additional heat treatment. To do this, the grains are steamed, boiled or processed with infrared rays, then flattened and dried.
Muesli- are made by adding additives to flakes: pieces of berries or fruits, jam, chocolate, nuts or honey.
- these are pillows, balls and figures from cereals. They are made from rice, oats, rye or corn under high steam pressure to preserve the maximum amount of vitamins and minerals.

What are the benefits of breakfast cereals

Sweet cereals with kefir, yogurt or milk and honey, chocolate and sugar additives allow you not to feel hungry all morning hours. Such food is healthier than a breakfast consisting of sandwiches.

These dishes are prepared quickly and easily. Even a child can make such a breakfast.

What can harm breakfast cereals

It is worth mentioning the products and additives used in the manufacture of dry breakfasts. Often they are fried in palm or hydrogenated oils, which increase blood cholesterol levels, leading to heart disease. Flavorings, leavening agents and acidity regulators are added to many of the products, which bring a lot of harm to the body. You should be wary of the absence of sugar in breakfast cereals, since substitutes or sweeteners were most likely used instead.

Manufacturers of breakfast cereals claim that it is tasty and healthy food. To be honest, you can still agree that it’s delicious, but it’s worth thinking about usefulness.

The benefits and qualities of breakfast cereals are affected by the production and the way they are made. At first, such breakfasts were made from pressed bran, without additives. Maybe they were not as tasty as modern breakfast cereals, but they were very healthy and cheap.

What can harm dry breakfasts? How to choose the most useful? Let's figure it out.

Types of dry breakfasts

Now on the shelves there are many different types of dry breakfasts.

However, it should be noted that breakfast rumors can be subjected to other treatments. They can be fried in oil, glazed, crushed, of course, this affects our quality, composition and calorie content, respectively, on our health.

Frying on palm or hydrogenated oil increases cholesterol, which leads to diseases of the cardiovascular system.

Of course, there are benefits of dry breakfasts. When time is short in the morning or you come tired from work, you need to quickly cook something, and there is absolutely no time to cook breakfast, dinner, then this type of snack is simply irreplaceable.

It is better to have breakfast with snacks, pillows, cereals than nothing at all. This is especially true for schoolchildren.

Children are much more willing to eat breakfast cereals than porridge. They look interesting, and the additives in their composition give them a good taste. Therefore, the kids eat such a breakfast on both cheeks.

Sweet cereals are very satisfying, do not let you get hungry until dinner. Compared to sandwiches, breakfast cereals are much healthier. But the benefits end there.

Dry breakfasts benefits and harms

Breakfast cereals contain a lot of sugar and additives, so this product is very high in calories. If there is no sugar in the composition, then it is better not to buy such breakfasts. The sweetness comes from unhealthy sweeteners.

There is very little fiber in such products, the least fiber in snacks. Because they are made from crushed grains. Thus, they impair bowel function and cause obesity.

Also, do not expect health benefits from the thought, since many vitamins are lost during frying. Be sure to read the packaging, if you see the letters E with different numbers, then pass by.

In addition to harm, such breakfasts will not bring you anything else.

Read the label:

minimum sugar, calories;
without additives E;
without fragrances.

This is the best part of this product.

Pour breakfast with kefir, it is very useful for digestion. Drink the liquid that you poured into the cereal, as there is also a large amount of vitamins.

It is better to give children even healthy unprocessed flakes after 6 years and use them in addition to the main meal, and not as a separate dish, otherwise the children's intestines will not be able to digest coarse fibers.

Conclusion: choose raw cereal in natural muesli with honey, nuts, fruit pieces. These are the most useful. Just don't forget about calories.

The name of the national pediatrician Yevgeny Komarovsky, perhaps, is known to all mothers of the post-Soviet space. Thanks to him, tens of thousands of children grow up healthy. We invite you to read what Dr. Komarovsky advises, and what he categorically advises against eating for a child for breakfast.

Breakfast is perhaps one of the most important meals. It provides us with the necessary nutrients, charging us with strength and positive for the whole day. For a child who has a high mental load at school or intense physical activity in the sports section, the morning meal is simply irreplaceable.

But it is important to feed your son or daughter with a healthy breakfast, because some foods are highly undesirable to eat on an empty stomach, because this is fraught with gastritis, high blood sugar, fatigue and absent-mindedness.

Dry breakfasts

All kinds of sugar-coated cereals and chocolate balls are so loved by children! Adults also prefer to feed their offspring with breakfast cereals, adding milk or yogurt to cereals - quickly and tasty. But is it useful? Nutritionists and pediatricians say with confidence: “No!”

American scientists believe that there are practically no useful substances in ready-made breakfast cereals, but sugar is in excess. Experts tested more than 80 brands of popular cereals and came to the conclusion that the sugar content in a serving of honey flakes is 56% of the total weight of the product in a pack.

Sweets on an empty stomach are harmful, as they lead to sharp jumps in blood sugar. When sugar drops, we feel hungry. That is, it is almost impossible to get enough of cereal, after an hour and a half your child will want to eat again.

Cereals are a great alternative to dry breakfasts. If the child is not a connoisseur of this dish, treat him to homemade granola. You will need nuts, seeds, dried fruits, honey. All this must be mixed and baked in the oven.

Raw vegetables and fruits

There is no doubt about the benefits of these irreplaceable sources of vitamins. But in the early morning, eating vegetables and fruits is quite controversial. The fact is that the coarse fiber contained in many fruits irritates the gastric mucosa. Hence - pain, heaviness and bloating.

Refusing an apple or a peach for breakfast is not worth it; it would be best to add pieces of fruit to porridge or give them to your child after the main meal. An important rule: a pear, citrus fruits and a banana should not be given to a child who has not yet had a crumb in his mouth. There is a lot of fiber in the pear, so it is better to eat it an hour or two after breakfast.

Oranges, tangerines, grapefruits, and limes contain acid that irritates an empty stomach. All this can lead to gastritis and diathesis in the future.

But what about bananas? They're perfect for breakfast, you say. Not really. According to recent studies, magnesium, contained in large quantities in bananas, disrupts the calcium-magnesium balance in the human body and causes diseases of the cardiovascular system.

Yogurt

Yogurt and other types of fermented milk products are best left for the evening, as they will not bring the desired benefits in the morning. The fact is that, for example, yogurt contains live bacteria that normalize the intestinal microflora and help the digestion of food entering the body.

If you eat yogurt on an empty stomach, these bacteria will quickly enter the aggressive acidic environment of the stomach and die before they reach the intestines.

Same story with kefir. Therefore, it is best to eat yogurt and drink kefir (yogurt, fermented baked milk) a couple of hours before bedtime. And, of course, give preference to natural products without thickeners, preservatives and flavor enhancers.

curd products

Various sweet curd masses and curd cheeses fall under this description. The content of useful cottage cheese in them is insignificant. Basically there are palm oil, flavor enhancers and sugar.

Curd cheese can be given to a child as a dessert after the main meal, but there is no need to hope that this product will replace a full breakfast.

Coffee

This drink is not suitable for every child. It is better for children under 10-12 years old to refrain from drinking coffee, since the caffeine in its composition does not have the best effect on the fragile nervous system. The child becomes irritable, hyperexcitable and aggressive. Coffee can also provoke stomach and headaches, disrupt the functioning of the heart and kidneys. Coffee on an empty stomach is contraindicated not only for children, but also for adults.

There is less harm from tea, but it also contains caffeine, which means that you should not get carried away with a fragrant drink. For breakfast, a child can brew herbal or fruit tea, adding honey and cinnamon to it.

Fresh bakery

Hot buns and bread on an empty stomach harm digestion. Fresh pastries lead to increased gas formation, bloating and heaviness in the stomach. Do not forbid your child to enjoy pastries, just treat him to a fresh bun for an afternoon snack.

sandwiches

Favorite quick breakfast for adults and children. With cheese, sausage, butter - it seems that sandwiches can be made from anything. But it's not the best breakfast option.

Canadian scientists have found that the high calorie content of ham and cheese sandwiches makes it difficult for the circulatory system to work. Over the years, this leads to a buildup of fat on the walls of the arteries. Thus, scientists came to the conclusion that lovers of sandwiches are at risk of getting atherosclerosis.

In the modern world, dry breakfasts are very popular among both children and adults. For many, they have become a familiar morning meal, as they are tasty and do not require much time to prepare. Advertising claims that breakfast cereals are not only convenient, but also very useful and even help to lose weight. Is this really so?

TYPES OF DRY BREAKFASTS

Flakes- they are usually made without any additives from different types of cereals by cutting and flattening into thin plates. Flakes that do not require cooking undergo additional heat treatment. To do this, the grains are steamed, boiled or processed with infrared rays, then flattened and dried.

Muesli- are made by adding pieces of berries or fruits, jam, chocolate, nuts or honey to ordinary cereals.

Snacks- these include various pillows, balls and other figures from cereals. They are made from rice, oats, rye or corn under high steam pressure to preserve the maximum amount of vitamins and minerals.

Quite often, breakfast cereals are subjected to other types of processing. They can be fried in oil, ground, ground into flour, glazed, etc. To improve the taste properties, sugar syrup, caramel, nuts, dried fruits, chocolate pieces are added to the mixture, often the mixtures are enriched with vitamins and mineral salts - calcium, phosphorus, iron. All this is intended to help the lazy and always in a hurry in the morning consumer, but affects the calorie content and quality of the product, and hence its health benefits.

BENEFITS OF DRY BREAKFASTS

The obvious benefit is time savings. The question of usefulness is much more complex and controversial. The opinions of nutritionists about dry breakfasts are very ambiguous. This is due, first of all, to different manufacturing technologies and the use of additives.

The cereals themselves, from which this food is made, are very useful and must be present in the diet, but only when they have not been subjected to excessive processing and have retained all the useful substances. It is well known that the more crushed the grain, the less useful it is.

Corn flakes contain a large amount of vitamin A and E. Rice flakes contain all the useful amino acids needed by the body. Oats are rich in magnesium and phosphorus. Dried fruits contained in muesli enrich them with iron, pectin and potassium, and in combination with nuts and cereals they are perfectly absorbed. Nuts contain polyunsaturated acids useful for humans

Sweet cereals with kefir, yogurt or milk and additions of honey, chocolate, sugar, etc. allow you not to feel hungry all morning hours. Such food is much healthier than a traditional breakfast consisting of sandwiches.

HARM OF DRY BREAKFASTS

Often, all kinds of cereals and muesli are advertised as a breakfast for a slim figure. After all, they do not contain fats, but only useful substances and fiber, useful for digestion. However, over time, researchers analyzed the composition of such products and proved that this is not entirely true. Based on breakfast cereals from well-known manufacturers, it turned out that they contain as much fat and sugar as a donut, a piece of cake or a chocolate chip cookie.

But there was very little fiber in them. Whereas a modern person lacks fiber: we eat a lot of refined and processed food, in which there is almost no fiber. Many consumers mistakenly believe that fiber is in breakfast cereals, but this statement is only true if the cereal is made from whole grains.

According to experts, the least benefitin snacks- the type of dry breakfast most loved by children. During their preparation, most of the nutrients are removed from the raw materials, and due to frying, they become very fatty. One serving of such breakfast cereals contains a very small proportion of fiber (about 0.4-2.0 g, while the daily intake of these fibers is 20-30 g). As a result, snacks impair the functioning of the intestinal tract and stomach, and also provoke obesity.

If you carefully read the composition of dry breakfasts, there is an excess calorie content. For example, 100 g of milk-filled pillows contain approximately 400 kcal, and chocolate balls contain 380 kcal. Frying cereals in oil, adding molasses, honey, sugar, chocolate to them dramatically increases their calorie content, putting breakfast cereals on a par with sweets or cakes. In addition, sugar and other additives are more likely to harm the body. The lack of sugar in breakfast cereals should only alert - instead of it, most likely, substitutes or sweeteners were used.

Corn, rice and wheat flakes contain a lot of easily digestible carbohydrates. Of course, they are an excellent source of energy, but these carbohydrates are bad for the figure.

It is worth mentioning the additives used in the manufacture of dry breakfasts. Often they are fried in palm or hydrogenated oils, which increase blood cholesterol levels, leading to heart disease. In addition, various flavors, flavor enhancers, leavening agents, acidity regulators, etc. are added to many of these products, which cause a lot of harm to the body. The golden rule of the consumer also applies to dry breakfasts: the “simpler” the composition, the less dyes, emulsifiers and various food additives in it, the better.

WHAT TO BUY?

Of all types of breakfast cereals, the most useful are considered raw flakes, which are contained in muesli or sold separately. However, when buying even a useful product, it should be borne in mind that it is recommended to give it to children who have reached the age of six. Otherwise, the delicate intestines of the child will not be able to digest the coarse fibers that are contained in the flakes. Nutritionists recommend eating breakfast cereals as an addition to food or a treat, and not as a main product.