Are Coco Pops healthy? We take a close look at how good this cereal is for you
We write lots of articles about cereals and how healthy they are, and usually the cereals we choose brand themselves as being good for you. Coco Pops doesn't really fall into the same category as something like Alpen or Special K, but more recently Kellogg's has made some big changes to the Coco Pops recipe which has apparently convinced some shoppers that these chocolatey rice puffs are actually healthy. We wanted to figure out what changes have actually been made to Coco Pops, and if this means we can now describe Coco Pops as a healthy cereal brand. Let's get into it:
What type of Coco Pops are we talking about?
Like many of the popular Kellog's cereals, you'll find quite a few variations of Coco Pops on supermarket shelves here in the UK. For this article, we'll be focusing on the original Coco Pops only, and won't be including any of the variations such as Coco Pops Rocks (which definitely don't seem very healthy).
What are the nutritional stats of Coco Pops?
The main stat we wanted to highlight was the 30% less sugar which is what Kellog's are making a big deal of on the back of the packet pictured here, but first of all we'll look at a few other nutritional stats in closer detail. For example, a 30g bowl of Coco Pops contains 115 calories. Compare this to the likes of No added Sugar Alpen (111 calories), and it's actually quite an impressively low amount of calories considering this is a chocolate cereal. We also like how Coco Pops are fortified with vitamins and minerals like most of the Kellog's range, including Vitamin D and Vitamin B12. As for the sugar content, Coco Pops now contains 5.1g per 30g bowl, which is almost 4g less than it was previously (9g). This puts the amount of sugar found in Coco Pops in line with the likes of Special K (4.5g) which is really impressive considering Coco Pops is covered in chocolate. A bowl of Coco Pops has also got much less sugar than something like Crunchy Nut - less than half as much actually, given that a bowl of Crunchy Nut contains a whopping 11g of sugar. In this regard, Coco Pops is absolutely healthy compared to Crunchy Nut.
Final thoughts - are Coco Pops healthy?
Nothing that is covered in chocolate can really be described as healthy, but since the recipe change, Coco Pops are far from being the unhealthy cereal that they once were and are actually a pretty healthy breakfast choice, in moderation.
Let us know what you think of our verdict in the comments!
Finn H
Finn is the editor of You Well and has been writing about travel, health, and more for over 10 years.