UK Cheerios aren’t as healthy as you might think
People who want a healthy cereal choice will often reach for Cheerios - compared to the sugar and chocolate-coated options found on supermarket shelves, they seem pretty innocent.
But I'd never really stopped to consider if Cheerios actually are healthy, so that's why I wanted to publish this guide. I've taken a good look at Cheerios, and you'll find my thoughts on how healthy they are below. But in a nutshell - Multigrain Cheerios are reasonably healthy, with a good amount of protein and fibre as well as vitamins and minerals, but the high sugar content shocked me.
Something I discovered when preparing for this guide is that there is no longer an "original" variety of Cheerios available to buy anywhere in the UK (unless you want the version of Cheerios that you can buy in the USA, which you might find at USA food shops). The only choices I could find in my local supermarkets and online were Multigrain Cheerios and Honey Cheerios, so those are the 2 varieties I'll be looking at. Let's get into it:
Multigrain Cheerios
The front of the box also mentions that the cereal contains 7 vitamins, calcium, and iron, all of which is true. And actually, I included a mention of Cheerios in my guides about cereals that are high in Vitamin D, Calcium, and Iron, because these Multigrain Cheerios really are a great source of these nutrients, as well as other vitamins such as Vitamin C and Vitamin B6. This is especially true for Calcium, as Multigrain Cheerios contain more calcium per 100g compared to the likes of Rice Krispies and Weetabix.
However, Multigrain Cheerios contain a third of the Vitamin D that you'll find in the same amount of Kellogg's Corn Flakes, so although Multigrain Cheerios are a good source of Vitamin D, you can get more from other cereals.
It's great to have a cereal that is fortified with vitamins and minerals and is also a good source of fibre, but most people are interested in other nutritional details such as the sugar and fat content.
Multigrain Cheerios contain 17.7g of sugar per 100g, which seems quite good when you consider that a cereal like Crunchy Nut contains 35g of sugar per 100g. But actually, 17.7g of sugar per 100g is more than you'll find in Coco Pops, which only contains 17g of sugar per 100g. Then you've got comparable cereals such as Kellogg's Corn Flakes which contain just 8g of sugar per 100g, less than half what you'll find in the same amount of Multigrain Cheerios.
It's also interesting to look at the saturated fat content of Multigrain Cheerios - 0.9g of saturated fat per 100g, which is more than 4 times the amount you'll find in the same amount of Kellogg's Corn Flakes.
In most other nutritional categories, Multigrain Cheerios are pretty impressive. They contain 2.9g more protein per 100g compared to Kellogg's Corn Flakes, and 0.2g less salt per 100g compared to Kellogg's Corn Flakes. So it's definitely not all bad news for fans of Multigrain Cheerios.
Honey Cheerios
I was expecting Honey Cheerios to be quite similar in terms of nutrition to Multigrain Cheerios, but there are actually some really interesting differences. For example, Honey Cheerios are also fortified with 7 vitamins and minerals, but strangely they contain slightly more Vitamin D and Vitamin C compared to Multigrain Cheerios. Honey Cheerios are lower in Iron and Calcium also, so the 2 cereals are quite different in terms of the vitamin and mineral content. Honey Cheerios also contain about 0.5g less fibre compared to Multigrain Cheerios.
But the most shocking difference to me is that Honey Cheerios are actually lower in calories compared to Multigrain Cheerios, with 376 calories in 100g of Honey Cheerios and 378 calories in 100g of Multigrain Cheerios. Plus, Multigrain Cheerios are slightly higher in saturated fat (0.1g more per 100g) and higher in salt (0.14g more per 100g).
Final thoughts
So as you can see, Multigrain Cheerios aren't the unhealthiest cereal you can buy, but they do contain quite a bit more sugar than I was expecting to find. If you're looking for a cereal that contains similar amounts of vitamins and minerals but much less sugar, then something like Kellogg's Corn Flakes could be a good choice.
And although Honey Cheerios contain more sugar compared to Multigrain Cheerios, they're actually pretty impressive when it comes to fat, salt, and calories.
Let me know what you think of this guide 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.