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CR Lowan Wholefoods Rainbow Bombs Breakfast Cereal

Lowan Wholefoods Rainbow Bombs Breakfast Cereal | Chewsday Review

In today's Chewsday Review, we’re heading back into the breakfast cereal aisle to check out Lowan Wholefoods Rainbow Bombs breakfast cereal. Will these Rainbow Bombs cerealsly make the other brekkie cereals green with envy? Read on to find out.

Ingredients

Rice flour, sugar, chicory vegetable fibre, salt, natural colours (163, 120, 100, 153), emulsifier (471), plant extracts (gardenia, carthamus), natural flavour, mineral (iron), food acids(330), vitamins (niacin, riboflavin, thiamin, folate).
This cereal is mostly made up of rice flour and sugar.
With no wheat, rye, barley or oats listed, these Rainbow Bombs are gluten free.
Allergens: this cereal does not contain any of the 9 common allergens.

Positives

Lowan Rainbow Bombs contain added iron, which is often a key nutrient that can be missing if your little one doesn’t eat iron rich foods like meat, fish and legumes.
The sodium content (268mg per 100g) meets our recommendations (less than 400mg per 100g) and is almost the same as Weet-bix (270mg per 100g).
Total fat and saturated fat are within recommended guidelines, as expected for a breakfast cereal.

Negatives

Sugar is above guidelines at 24.6g per 100g, all coming from added sugar. The sugar content is lower than Kellogg’s Froot Loops (38.8g per 100g), but over 8 times more than regular Weet-Bix (3g per 100g), and 1.5 times more than Coles Frooty Rings (15.6g per 100g) and Woolworths Rainbow Rings (15.8g per 100g).
When compared to other gluten free cereals (suitable for kids with coeliac disease), these are one of the higher sugar content cereals. The Freedom XO crunch has 21.3g of sugar per 100g, Freedom Maple crunch has 18.8g sugar per 100g and Freedom Rice Puffs has 8.9g sugar per 100g.
Thanks to the added chicory vegetable fibre, the fibre content is okay at 2.3g per serve. However, they still fall short of our fibre target of 3g per serve, putting the Rainbow Bombs in the middle of the cereal pack; more than Kellogg’s Fruit loops (0.7g per serve) but less than regular Weet-Bix (4g per serve). When compared to other gluten free cereals, this is lower than the Freedom Maple Crunch (2.8g per serve) and much lower than Freedom XO Crunch (4.7g per serve).

Marketing

The colourful rainbow, fun pictures and ‘Rainbow fun zone word search’ on the back of the box are very attractive to kids, well played marketing team. And at least the word “Frooty” doesn’t appear on this packet like it does on all the others.
“…fun and tasty way to get that delicious fruity flavoured kick.” If you’re after some ‘fruity flavoured kick’ at breakfast time, try adding some… fruit?!
“Good source of thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate and iron” Yes, this is true.
“Gluten free” True, no gluten listed in the ingredients list. Remember foods labelled gluten-free don’t necessarily mean healthy.

Alternatives

Overall, Lowan Wholefoods Rainbow Bombs don’t make the list for my regular breakfast cereals due to their high added sugar and low fibre content.
If your little one regularly eats Kellogg’s Froot Loops, this cereal is a similar option to try out that’s lower in sugar and has slightly more fibre.
My go-to cereals are still Weet-Bix or oats. For a flavoured option, Sultana Bran or Low Sugar Vanilla Cheerios are also on my cereal rotation.
If you need a gluten free cereal, then GF Weet-Bix or Freedom Rice Puffs are my preference, as they’re lower in sugar and higher in fibre. I just wish the Rice Puffs had some added iron!
Looking for more on choosing breakfast cereal? My Baby, Toddler and Family Mealtimes memberships include a comprehensive product selection guide for breakfast cereals, as well as over 15 other categories. I’ll show you what I like and why- come join me!