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Milo Cereal | Chewsday Review

Has anyone in the history of time actually measured out a level tablespoon of Milo? I suspect not. But what about Milo cereal? How does it compare to other breakfast cereals? Or even as a snack straight from the box? Let’s see how this cold Milo, only crunchy (please don’t sue me Coco Pops), stacks up…

Ingredients

Whole Grain Cereals (50%) [Wheat (34%), Corn (16%)], Sugar, Formulated Supplementary Food Base: MILO (10%) [Malt Extract (Barley and/or Rice), Milk Powder, Sugar, Cocoa, Minerals (Calcium, Iron), Vitamins (C, B3, B6, B2, D, B12), Emulsifier (Soy Lecithin)], Wheat Flour, Cocoa, Malt Extract (Barley and/or Rice), Skimmed Milk Powder, Sunflower Oil, Emulsifier (Soy Lecithin), Flavours (Chocolate and Vanilla), Salt.
50% whole grain cereals is pretty low compared to other cereals. Most cereals have between 60% and 97%.
The second ingredient listed is sugar, which is even before milo! This hints to me that this is going to be high in sugar. Also keep in mind that Milo itself also has added sugar. I guess ‘Sugar and Milo Cereal’ wouldn’t sell as well as ‘Milo Cereal’ does.
Allergens: Wheat, Milk and Soy

Positives

Even though this product has added salt (sodium), overall it’s still reasonably low in salt at 110mg per 100g. This is lower than Vita Brits (395mg per 100g), Uncle Tobys Vanilla O’s Low Sugar Cheerios (285mg per 100g) and Weet-Bix (270mg per 100g).
Because of the Milo, this product has added iron, calcium and vitamins, which can be helpful. A lot of breakfast cereals are iron fortified (iron content here is the same as Vanilla Cheerios), which is useful if your little one is a fussy eater and going through a meat refusal stage.
Saturated fat and total fat are within healthy guidelines, as expected with cereals.

Negatives

High in sugar is a bit of an understatement. This product has a whopping 26.9g of sugar per 100g. That’s 2 teaspoons of sugar per 30g serve (and I suspect as usual, no one actually eats the suggested serving size)! This is slightly lower than other chocolate cereals, such as Coco Pops (32.3g per 100g), but much higher than cereals like Vita Brits (0.4g per 100g) or Low Sugar Cheerios (4.1g per 100g).
Fibre is only ok at 2.4g per serve. We’re aiming for 3g of fibre per serve, so this one doesn’t quite meet recommendations (Milo needs to add more whole grains!!).
It’s a lot more expensive than other cereals at $16.30 per kg. That’s nearly double the price of Weet-bix ($8.70 per kg)!

Marketing

This product has the “guaranteed whole grain” tick of approval, which is something Nestle (owner of Milo) puts on products that have whole grains as their first ingredient. This is true but only 50% of this product is wholegrains which is a lot less than other breakfast cereals.
“No artificial colours or flavours.” True.
“Nourishing energy.” As opposed to unnourishing energy? This is just a way of saying it provides kilojoules but not a lot else.
“4 health star rating.” If you’re thinking “wow, that’s a lot of stars for a product with heaps of sugar in it and not much fibre,” I would agree. Again, the health star rating is good for a quick comparison with similar products but it’s not a perfect system. The higher star rating will be due to the added vitamins and minerals and low sodium, saturated fat and total fat.

Alternatives

I wouldn’t consider Milo Cereal a great breakfast or snack option because it’s high in sugar and low in fibre. It is better than something like Coco Pops, but not by much.
Better breakfast cereals include Weetbix or Low Sugar Cheerios (which are also a great snack!). If you really want the taste of Milo, you can always sprinkle some on top of those cereals to give them more flavour.
If you’re just after that Milo taste, a hot or cold Milo with your breakfast is another option. There will still be some added sugar in the Milo, but not as much as Milo Cereal (unless you’re adding 10+ heaped teaspoons).