DT News - UK - Britons endanger oral health through poor choices at breakfast

Dental Tribune International

Tue. 1 May 2012

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RUGBY, UK: Breakfast is quickly becoming the unhealthiest meal of the day in Britain, the British Dental Health Foundation (BDHF) has suggested. Although experts believe that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, a series of recent findings highlights the dangers in typical food choices, such as the hidden sugars in cereals and fruit juices.

A research group of the consumer rights organisation Which? recently analysed the nutritional content of 50 breakfast cereals and found that 32 of them were high in sugar. High sugar levels were even found in those cereals that were suggested to be healthy.

However, as reported by Which?, previous research has resulted in a positive change. In 2006 and 2009, the organisation found that cereals not only contained high levels of sugar but also alarming levels of salt. This time, only eight of the cereals analysed failed to meet 2012 salt targets.

According to the BDHF, people would be better off eating cake and biscuits than cereals. However, it is not only the hidden dangers of cereals that the population are in the dark about. New research by the University of Glasgow suggests that people in the UK significantly misjudge the amount of sugar in some breakfast juices, particularly those perceived as healthy, such as pomegranate and pure apple juice (DTI reported).

According to the BDHF, the perils of breakfast are not only confined to hidden dangers. Industry analyst Mintel recently reported that sales of chocolate spreads have overtaken marmalade. According to the foundation, some analysts suggest that this is due to busy parents looking to satisfy fussy eaters. Around one in three children starting primary school show signs of tooth decay, with poor breakfast habits being a possible reason for the figure.

“It would help enormously if parents could encourage children to move away from breakfast cereals loaded with sugars and introduce them to healthier alternatives such as porridge or a boiled egg with wholemeal bread,” said Dr Nigel Carter, Chief Executive of the BDHF. “It may be an easy solution to give children something sweet to appease them, but by keeping the consumption of sugary foods to a minimum, the benefits to oral health will have a lasting impact.”

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