NEW HAVEN, Conn., Dec. 13 (UPI) -- Some parents assume children favor high-sugar cereals, but children like low-sugar cereal and will even add fruit if it is offered, U.S. researchers say.
Jennifer L. Harris, Marlene B. Schwartz, Amy Ustjanauskas and Kelly D. Brownell of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., and Punam Ohri-Vachaspati of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, N.J., randomly assigned children 91 children -- who were attending summer day camp -- to receive a breakfast that included the choice of either low-sugar cereals or one of three high-sugar cereals.
All the children were offered low-fat milk, orange juice, bananas, strawberries and packets of sugar.
The study, scheduled to the published in the January issue of Pediatrics, found 90 percent of the children said they found a cereal they either liked or loved -- and children in the low-sugar cereal group consumed, on average, slightly more than one serving of cereal. The high-sugar group consumed significantly more cereal and almost twice the amount of refined sugar -- 24.4 grams vs. 12.5 grams -- even though the low-sugar group children added some sugar to their cereal.
Milk and total calories eaten did not alter significantly between the two groups, but 54 percent of the children in the low-sugar group were more likely to put fruit on their cereal, vs. 8 percent of the high-sugar group.
