Discussion Board

Could I please have your opinions on the ingredients:

Whole grain wheat (94.9%), sugar, invert sugar syrup, barley malt extract, salt

Looks okay to me except what the heck is invert sugar syrup? Is it a kind of high fructose corn syrup most recently mentioned in the media as lowering brain functions?

Looks like it's just a sweeter sugar, so I guess it depends how much of it they've used in the Shreddies.

From Barron's Food Lover's Companion:

Invert sugar is created by combining a sugar syrup with a small amount of acid (such as cream of tartar or lemon juice) and heating. This inverts, or breaks down, the sucrose into its two components, glucose and fructose, thereby reducing the size of the sugar crystals. Because of its fine crystal structure, invert sugar produces a smoother product and is used in making candies such as fondant, and some syrups. The process of making jams and jellies automatically produces invert sugar by combining the natural acid in the fruit with granulated sugar and heating the mixture. Invert sugar can usually be found in jars in cake-decorating supply shops.

What's the grams of sugar per serving? 4 grams equals about 1 teaspoon. For comparison purposes I checked Post Shredded Wheat, the spoon-size lightly frosted one contains 12g sugar (about 4 teaspoons) per 1 cup serving. The ingredients are whole grain wheat, sugar, brown sugar, and BHT added to packaging material to preserve freshness. The regular spoon-size shredded wheat contains no added sugar. It's just wheat and the BHT. The difference between them is about 30 calories of added sugar.

http://www.sugar.org/sugar-basics/types-of-sugar.html
http://www.ensymm.com/pdf/ensymmProject ... uction.pdf

The ingredient list is specifically designed to hide the amount of sugar by using three different types of sugar instead of one. While this product does have whole wheat as the first ingredient the rest is sugar, sugar, sugar, and salt. It wouldn't pass my test for a product I'd consume regularly. It also shows a willingness to be deceitful about the contents. Always a red flag.
f1jim

Post brand shredded wheat products have no added anything AFAIK--don't have a package in front of me. Then you can add your own "whatevers" as you see fit:-) Then I think they may have ones with added stuff, but there are several with no added anything.

Cheers!

Here's something on malt extract.
http://www.briess.com/food/Processes/nswhat.php

Yeah--looks like a ton of sugar to me. I wouldn't eat it.

I'd eat it but not every day.

Here's a link to a list of cereals you might be able to find. The ingredients change over time so like you did with the shreddies, check first. This list has been around a while.
http://www.drmcdougall.com/pack_cold_cereals.html

Jeff's advice on added sugars:

"Limit caloric sweeteners. Watch out for sugars and other caloric sweeteners that don’t say “sugar” but in fact are, such as corn syrup, rice and maple syrup, molasses, honey, malted barley, barley malt, or any term that ends in “ol,” such as sorbitol or maltitol, or “ose,” such as dextrose or fructose. Try to limit all these added, refined, concentrated sugars to no more than 5 percent of total calories (essentially, no more than 2 tablespoons daily for most folks). Don’t be concerned about naturally occurring sugars in fruit and some nonfat dairy products. However, on the Nutrition Facts label, added sugars and naturally occurring sugars are all lumped together as “sugar.” Your best bet: Look at the ingredient list. Try to avoid foods with added, refined caloric sweeteners in the first three to five ingredients. Because ingredients are listed in descending order of weight, the lower down the label you find added sugars, the better."

Kate

PS: I calculate the sugar content in Shreddies at around 18% based on the nutrition info on the LiveStrong website.

Thanks so much for all the information everyone. It's for my teens, I think I'll try and steer them towards the shredded wheat when we get to Canada next month. At least the shreddies got my carnivore anti-McDougall son trying flavored plant milk. They're available in Belgium.

Is this 94.4% by weight, I presume? That would leave 5% or so of sugar or equivalent.

Assuming a serving size is approximately 30 grams, 5% wold be 1.5 grams of sugar or 6 calories out of 120 calories total. Sure 100% whole grain would be better if you can get it, but this isn't bad at all. IMO, It is a "healthier" choice, just not the "healthiest."

Dr. Lustig recommend a maximum added sugar per day of 150 Cal/men 100 Cal/women.

This issue about the HFCS and brain function: This was a rat study, not human. People on the regular SAD diet are the only ones who might be concern. A little bit of HFCS isn't the thing that is make people sick.

j