Breakfast cereals and packaged yogurts are worldwide supermarket staples and, for many individuals, are a go-to daily breakfast choice. Breakfast cereals and packaged yogurt products can vary greatly in nutritional content and quality, and many of these products sold in supermarkets are highly processed. The rise of processed food diets in recent decades is one culprit of rising obesity and other diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Consuming excess salt, sugar, and saturated fat in one’s diet increases the risk of developing these chronic diseases. Food reformulation involves changing the nutritional composition of a food product, often to cut back on ingredients that can be harmful in excess. A group of researchers in Ireland performed a scoping review where they collated past research articles from a wide variety of databases and journals. They wanted to find out how food reformulation in breakfast cereals and yogurts has affected the nutritional quality of these products sold in the retail environment, and consequently, consumers’ dietary habits. The researchers also examined data from studies all across the globe; however, the US population may have some additional differences in packaged food products and supermarket patterns.
After screening five databases, the researchers reviewed 65 total articles. Nutritional changes were monitored from 1980 to 2020 for breakfast cereals and 2005 to 2019 for packaged yogurts. With cereal, the researchers focused on four main parameters: salt, sugar, total fat, and saturated fat. Taking all study results together, they found a general increase in total energy content, a majority reduction of sugar content, an overall increase in total fat content, and a majority reduction in saturated fat. When examining yogurts, they observed an overall reduction in median sugar content. They also noticed a significant overall decrease in salt content in breakfast cereals, which is an important finding because much of the global population has a higher-than-recommended salt intake. This high sodium level can adversely affect a person’s blood pressure levels.
Though the researchers noticed nutrient change trends in these two product types, they found that the total energy content overall had not decreased. They wanted to emphasize that keeping in mind total energy content and aiming to reduce the energy content of certain products would be beneficial in combating obesity in the population. Further studies into how these nutrient changes affect consumers’ daily habits and health are needed to see long-term effects. This study should also be expanded to other types of processed food and beyond cereal and yogurt. This study does have important implications in how reformulation of commonly consumed packaged food can be a powerful tool for companies to improve population health and combat chronic disease on a global scale.
Featured Image: Юрий Маслов
