Oatmeal & beyond: the coolest hot cereals

Nutrition Action Healthletter, Dec, 2008 by Jayne Hurley, Kate Sherwood, Bonnie Liebman

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Face it. Hot cereals aren't exactly hot.

But if they're whole grain, not smothered in sugar or salt, and dressed up with fruits, nuts, or other flavorings, you've got yourself one heckuva healthy, cheap, and convenient breakfast.

Here's how to find a hot cereal that will knock your slippers off.

The information for this article was compiled by Danielle Hazard.

1. Getcha whole grains. Whole grains are the rule, not the exception, on hot-cereal shelves. Even Cream of Wheat now comes in a whole-grain version. In fact, other than Cream of Rice, grits, original Cream of Wheat, and a few others, it's pretty much a whole-grain sweep.

Do some whole grains beat others? Not by enough to matter. Although oatmeal lowers cholesterol (thanks to its gummy, "viscous" soluble fiber), the drop isn't huge. (See "Playing Hearts," p. 12.)

What's more, studies find a lower risk of heart disease and diabetes in people who eat any whole-grain cereals, especially those (like whole wheat) that are rich in non-gummy, insoluble fiber.

Your best bet: play the whole-grain hot-cereal field, so you don't get bored.

2. Find the real fiber. Most whole-grain hot cereals have 4 to 5 grams of fiber per serving (40 grams dry, which cooks up to about 1 cup). Exceptions: most brown rice cereals have about 2 grams and most cereals with added oat or wheat bran hit 6 to 10 grams.

If you eat instant oatmeal, keep in mind that some of its fiber could come from added isolated fibers like inulin (also called chicory root extract) or maltodextrin. While not harmful, that extra fiber may not do much for you.

Inulin--which supplies the extra fiber in Kashi Heart to Heart and GoLean, for example--may nourish the good bacteria in your gut, but so far, it's not clear whether that lowers your risk of disease. And there's no solid evidence that inulin boosts regularity, lowers cholesterol, curbs blood sugar, or has any of the other benefits of the intact fiber in bran. (See "Fiber Free-for-All," NAH Jul./Aug. 2008, p. 1.)

Ditto for maltodextrin, which accounts for the extra fiber in Quaker cereals like Take Heart, High Fiber, and Weight Control.

Companies don't add isolated fibers to their non-instant cereals. The fiber occurs naturally in the cereals' oats or other grains. Some could also come from added wheat bran or oat bran. (That's how Bob's Red Mill Organic High Fiber hits 10 grams of fiber per serving, for example.)

Bran is the fiber-rich outer layer of the grain's kernel. We count bran as a whole grain because it supplies much of what's missing from refined grains.

3. Hold the sugar. A packet of Quaker sweetened instant oatmeal--like Maple & Brown Sugar or Apples & Cinnamon--weighs around 40 grams (about 1 1/2 ounces). That includes some 13 grams (3 teaspoons) of sugar, almost all of it table sugar. (Only a gram or two of sugar comes from the oatmeal's fruit, says Quaker.)

Dr. McDougall's Organic Light, Kashi, Nature's Path Organic, Whole Foods 365 Organic, and some others get most of their added sugar from evaporated cane juice. To your body, it's all the same.

If you want to cut the empty calories (and maybe some excess sweetness), here are some options:

* Less sugar, plus Splenda. A packet of Quaker Lower Sugar instant oatmeal has only about a teaspoon (4 to 6 grams) of sugar. The company replaces the missing sugar with the safe artificial sweetener sucralose (Splenda). Quaker Take Heart also mixes its two teaspoons (9 grams) of sugar with sucralose. You save 16 calories for every teaspoon of sugar that's replaced, but the sweetness stays.

* Splenda plus acesulfame potassium. Quaker Weight Control and McCann's Sugar Free Irish Oatmeal replace all of their sugar with artificial sweeteners, but they pair their sucralose with poorly tested acesulfame potassium. Leave them on the shelf.

* Less sugar, period. Some cereals--like Quaker Simple Harvest Maple Brown Sugar with Pecans--cut the sugar to 2 teaspoons (9 grams) and don't add any artificial sweeteners. Better yet, Quaker High Fiber, Kashi GoLean, and Dr. McDougall's Organic Light instant oatmeals trim the sugar to 1 1/2 teaspoons (7 grams) or less. So does our favorite sweetened cereal, Trader Joe's frozen Steelcut Oatmeal.

* No added sugar. Start with one of our top-tasting cereals that get all of their sweetness from added fruit (Bob's Red Mill Muesli; Bob's Red Mill Apple, Cinnamon & Grains; and Hodgson Mill Apples & More Muesli) and jazz it up if you think it needs more. Or perk up a no-sugar, no-fruit cereal like Wheatena, Whole Grain Cream of Wheat, or Bob's Red Mill 5 Grain. (For tips, see Step 5.)

4. Watch the sodium. Most non-instant hot cereals have no sodium. Most instant hot cereals do. If you want instant, look for brands with sodium levels closer to 100 milligrams per serving (Kashi GoLean, Quaker Take Heart) than to an unnecessarily high 250 to 300 mg (Quaker Weight Control and Oatmeal Express).

Dr. McDougall's instant oatmeal cups (75 to 130 mg of sodium, according to the labels) look like they're at the low end. But those numbers are for just half a single-serve cup. Double them and Dr. McD is smack in the middle, sodium-wise. (You do get almost twice as much oatmeal as Quaker puts in its packets, though.)