Many are processed so much that a lot of the plant goodness has been stripped away. Not the good gut stuff they might promise!
But it DOESN’T need to be this way.
People and our gut bacteria thrive on variety, deliciously good food and plant-based goodness. That’s exactly why I wanted to create bioandme so people could have truly better options, without compromising on taste – packed with plant power (up to 15 different types), without added sugar or added salt.
Yes it takes more effort. But seeing big companies unethically market products that aren’t doing your health any good drives me every day. It IS possible to bring taste AND health together!
Here are just a couple of things to look out for in your cereals…
1️. A ‘probiotic’ claim.
Sadly this is a total gimmick and is so frustrating seeing misleading claims!
Probiotics has become a big buzz word in the world of gut health, but using ‘probiotics’ on food products has actually been banned in the UK and EU. You might see ‘live cultures’ instead.
Having a random probiotic in a cereal just HASN’T been shown to help with gut health benefits…so it’s largely just a marketing tactic!
Plus the money spent on putting ‘probiotics’ in usually means compromising on the quality for the rest of the ingredients. And they often need to add things like added sugar, additives and saturated fat to help the bacteria ‘survive’.
2️. Added sugar.
63% are too high in added sugar to market to children (@who guidelines).
3️. Lack of fibre.
Cereals are often seen as a ‘healthy high fibre’ option – but 44% don’t meet the fibre levels set out by @who in marketing guidelines, and many others just add in a single token refined fibre to meet the marketing tick box.
I’m so passionate about this and we’re working hard to make gut health more accessible and convenient. Bio&me is now in Sainsbury’s, Waitrose Wholefoods UK, Planet organic, Booths, Amazon, Selfridges food & Supervalu Ireland!
