Salt in Cereal

23 Apr

Note: all brands stated in this article are used for no reason other than they were convenient to me. Kelloggs Coco Pops and Zimmy’s are used in the photo as these are what my flatmates eat, and I don’t eat cereal but I needed the photo so I pinched them! The cereals included in the table below were done so upon a poll I ran on my Instagram, asking my followers which cereals they consumed. I picked the Tesco website because I use it often for other things and it’s useful to standardise sources of information when comparing foods. It’s all just for convenience. Academic references for all statements and claims made can be made available upon request.

Firstly, I want to make clear that this post only analyses salt as a nutrient in isolation - when eating foods we shouldn’t just look at individual nutrients, we need to consider the food as a whole, given that is what we eat. Fibre in cereal is often an upside to eating it, it’s also convenient for many people and can be bloody delicious! But if you include it regularly in your diet, it’s important to know what you’re eating. So, let’s talk salt in cereal. Salt is an important mineral for the body, but like absolutely everything, too much of it can be bad for us! Let’s dive straight in…

What does the body needs salt for?

Salt is used by our muscles in order to contract and relax, it’s used in cells to help maintain a healthy balance of water and minerals, it transmits nerve impulses and maintains healthy blood pressure.

What can too much salt in the body do?

It can greatly increase risk of cardiovascular disease and hypertension and some studies have found links between excess salt intake and bone demineralisation (it can reduce bone density, which may be of notable concern to children/adolescents).

Why do companies sneak salt into products and how do they do it?

Salt is added to many foods as a preservative, so it increases the shelf life of whatever it is you’re eating. It can also improve things like texture and taste. But unlike foods like ready-salted crisps where the salt is sprinkled on top, foods like cereal will have their salt content directly baked into it. This changes how we taste the salt (in crisps it’s very evident, because it’s surface-level but in things like cereal it’s not evident at all because it’s baked into it).

What are the dietary salt recommendations for adults and children?

For adults, the World Health Organisation recommends 5g or less a day. The NHS recommends 6g a day (but this is more based on what is generally feasible for a population and not on what’s necessary for optimal health). For children, guidelines will vary between 2-5g a day, depending on age.

Why is the labelling on cereal packets misleading, especially for children?

Two reasons: it doesn’t take into account the target consumer and it doesn’t accurately reflect portion sizes.

The labelling on cereal packets doesn’t take into account the target consumer. The standard front-of-pack (FOP) labelling in the UK is based on a 2000kcal adult - percentages of Recommended Daily Allowances (RDAs) and colour-coded nutrients are calculated accordingly. There are differences between salt requirements of a large adult and a small, growing child. Cereal packaging labelling is misleading, because if you’re a child eating a cereal that is targeted at you (Coco Pops, Frosties etc), but the percentages on the FOP are indicated towards adult physiology, you as a child will be consuming a much greater proportion of your daily salt intake per serving of cereal, compared to an adult.

When it comes to portion sizes, I don’t know a single adult that sits down and consumes one recommended serving of cereal in one sitting - when I was weighing out 30g of cereal in the flat to take the photos you see below, one of my flatmates looked at the 30g and said ‘that’s like a baby-sized snack. I’d eat about 5 of those!’ and they’re not wrong! Almost all of us will, because cereal is a tasty and convenient go-to snack/breakfast. But if the portion sizes were accurate, they would reveal hugely excessive salt and sugar contents and so to avoid having to display that on FOP labelling, it’s just industry standard to pick 30/45g as a portion size for cereal. You then can’t also blame the corporation for your elevated salt intake as a result of eating their product, because they’ve stated on the FOP that you should only eat 30g per serving (whether realistic or not). Back-of-pack (BOP) labelling is standardised by law as 100g/100ml in order to allow consumers a fair comparison between similar products, but companies can voluntarily add their own recommended portion sizes to the front.

How can I judge the salt content of cereal in comparison to other foods and my own diet?

Salt in cereal, compared to products like processed/cured meats or cheeses like halloumi, is relatively low (30g Tesco own brand halloumi cheese: 0.9g salt; 1 slice Tesco Prosciutto: 0.53g salt). What you need to take in consideration is:

How regularly do you consume cereal?
How often do you exceed the recommended portion size?
Do you eat other processed foods daily, where cumulatively you might be intaking large amounts of salt?

If you don’t eat a lot of ultra-processed foods and you season your own food lightly at home, then you might have a little more leeway when it comes to things like cereal.

30g Kelloggs Zimmy’s - 0.23g salt.