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Belvita Breakfast Biscuits | Chewsday Review

Today’s Chewsday Review features Belvita Breakfast Biscuits. This particular one is called ‘milk and cereals’ so it must be the same as a healthy breakfast right? Let’s see…

Ingredients

Cereals (73%) (Wheat Flour 48%, Wholegrain Cereals 25% (Wholegrain Wheat Flour 7%, Wholegrain Oat Flakes 7%, Wholegrain Buckwheat Grits 5%, Wholegrain Barley Flour 3%, Wholegrain Rye Flour 2%, Wholegrain Spelt Flour 1%), Sugar, Vegetable Oil, Bulking Agent (1200), Milk Solids (2%), Raising Agents (500, 503), Salt, Mineral Salt (450), Emulsifiers (472 (e), Soy Lecithin, Flavours.
Soy lecithin acts to keep the texture consistent in the biscuit and is generally well-tolerated. Bulking agent 1200 is polydextose, a filler substance that increase the size of the food without adding many calories. Raising agent 500 is bicarb soda and 503 is baker’s ammonia. E407e is Diacetyltartaric acid esters of mono- and diglycerides, which is a fatty acid used to keep the product uniform in texture..
Common allergens include: Barley, Milk, Oats, Rye, Soy, Spelt, Wheat. May contain traces of Egg, Hazelnuts, Peanuts, Sesame.

Positives

Saturated fat is within healthy guidelines at 1.4g/100g. Having said that, the origin of the oil is unclear so I suspect it’s palm oil (a poor quality oil).
Dietary fibre is high, at 3.4g per serve (4 biscuits). This would meet 24% of a toddler’s daily fibre requirements and 19% of an older child’s requirements.
They’re convenient, and can be kept in the cupboard or eaten in the car with minimal mess (not really a great positive though).

Negatives

Marketing

“Biscuits made with 5 wholegrain”. True, even if one of those wholegrain makes up 3g of the whole pack.
“Specially designed for breakfast” I’m not quite sure how…
“An absolutely delicious yet balanced breakfast contains 4 belvita biscuits plus a low-fat dairy product plus a piece of fruit” These are marketed as ‘food on the run’ but you still have to add the main components of any other breakfast.
Calling it ‘milk and cereals’ seems a bit rich to me- given the 2g of milk in it.

Alternatives

These biscuits are basically high fibre flour held together with sugar, oil and a good pinch of salt.
At $4 per pack, this works out to 66c per serve. A serving of oats and milk works out to about 45c and provides more calcium, less fat, less sugar, less salt and more fibre.
As an alternative, consider a pikelet, muffin or something with a bit more nutritious value! The Weet-Bix Go biscuits are slightly better but still not something I’d recommend as an everyday choice.