Are Honey(ˈhənē) Nut(nət) Cheerios(ˌCHi(ə)rēˈō) Healthy(ˈhelTHē)? We Look Inside the Box(bäks)

Are Honey(ˈhənē) Nut(nət) Cheerios(ˌCHi(ə)rēˈō) Healthy(ˈhelTHē)? We Look Inside the Box(bäks)

By Danny Hakim(həˈkēm)

I had a bowl(bōl) of Honey Nut Cheerios recently. It’d been awhile. Regular(ˈreg(ə)lər,ˈregyələr) Cheerios are more my thing. But sometimes I finish my box faster than my kids do and find myself straying(strā) to their side of the cupboard(ˈkəbərd).

Honey Nut is America’s best-selling breakfast(ˈbrekfəst) cereal(ˈsi(ə)rēəl), and by a comfortable(ˈkəmftərbəl,ˈkəmfərtəbəl) margin(ˈmärjən). Roughly(ˈrəflē) 151 million boxes and other containers of various(ˈve(ə)rēəs) sizes were sold over the past year, well ahead of the second best-selling breakfast cereal, Frosted(ˈfrôstid) Flakes(flāk), according to IRI, a Chicago(-ˈkägō,SHiˈkôgō) based market research firm(fərm).

I had no idea. The only thing I could think about when I ate it again for the first time in years was how incredibly(inˈkredəblē) sweet(swēt) it is. I looked at the back of the box and could see why. Three of the top six ingredients(iNG-,inˈgrēdēənt) are sweeteners(ˈswētn-ər,ˈswētnər): sugar(ˈSHo͝ogər), brown(broun) sugar and honey.

Previously(ˈprēvēəslē), I assumed(əˈso͞om) Honey Nut Cheerios was a slightly(ˈslītlē) sweeter Cheerios, but you learn things when you finally get around to reading the back of the box. It actually(ˈakCHo͞oəlē) has about nine times as much sugar as plain Cheerios, per serving. An Environmental(-ˌvī(ə)rn-,enˌvīrənˈmen(t)l) Working Group analysis(əˈnaləsis) of a number of popular cereals — a report that linked sugary(ˈSHo͝ogərē) cereals to the “nation’s(ˈnāSHən) childhood(ˈCHīldˌho͝od) obesity(ōˈbēsitē) epidemic(ˌepiˈdemik)” — put Honey Nut Cheerios’s sugar content second only to Fruity(ˈfro͞otē) Pebbles(ˈpebəl). The same group found that one cup of the cereal had more sugar than three Chips(CHip) Ahoy(əˈhoi)! cookies.

I asked General Mills about this, over a period(ˈpi(ə)rēəd) of several days. They did not come to the phone, but responded with a series(ˈsi(ə)rēz) of communiqués.

“You mentioned that three of the top six ingredients in Honey Nut Cheerios are sugar, brown sugar and honey,” Mike Siemienas, a spokesman(ˈspōksmən) for the company, wrote in a statement. “What you didn’t mention is that the number one ingredient is oats(ōt). To be so singularly(singularly) focused on one ingredient — sugar — is irresponsible(ˌiriˈspänsəbəl) and doesn’t help consumers look at the total nutrition(n(y)o͞oˈtriSHən) offered.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/business/honey-nut-cheerios-sugar.html