Breakfast Cereals

Category guide

195 entries of ready-to-eat and hot breakfast cereals, from plain oats to frosted flakes. Sugar content splits this category more than any other column: unsweetened bran and oats sit at one end, sugared kids' cereals at the other. Fiber and whole-grain content are the other decisive readings.

Tips for choosing

• Sugars per serving and per 100 g can tell different stories — the serving size on the box is small.
• Bran and whole-grain cereals lead the fiber column; refined sweetened cereals trail badly.
• Iron and B-vitamin fortification is standard here — the vitamin rows often look impressive.
• Hot cereal (oats) usually has less sugar and more fiber than the cold sweetened kind.

Standout foods in this category

Top 10 by Fiber, total dietary

1. 1 Cereals ready-to-eat, SUN COUNTRY, KRETSCHMER Toasted Wheat Bran 41.3 g
2. 2 Cereals, QUAKER, Instant Oatmeal, Cinnamon Swirl, high fiber 22.3 g
3. 3 Cereals ready-to-eat, UNCLE SAM CEREAL 20.3 g
4. 4 Cereals ready-to-eat, BARBARA'S PUFFINS, original 18.5 g
5. 5 Cereals ready-to-eat, POST Bran Flakes 18.3 g
6. 6 Cereals ready-to-eat, RALSTON Enriched Wheat Bran flakes 16.9 g
7. 7 Cereals ready-to-eat, NATURE'S PATH, Organic FLAX PLUS flakes 16.6 g
8. 8 Cereals ready-to-eat, QUAKER, QUAKER CRUNCHY BRAN 15.3 g
9. 9 Cereals ready-to-eat, wheat germ, toasted, plain 15.1 g
10. 10 Cereals ready-to-eat, POST, Shredded Wheat n' Bran, spoon-size 14.7 g