• A cereal breakfast is low in calories, which is important for maintaining a healthy weight. It is also high in carbohydrates and low in fat which helps provide quickly available source of energy to start the day and quench hunger
• As breakfast cereals are usually consumed with milk, it help ensures that children in particular get an adequate intake of milk, which is rich in many nutrients especially calcium, which is needed for healthy bones and teeth
• Breakfast cereals can make an important contribution to your intake of fibre which is needed to keep your digestive system health
• Breakfast cereals containing wholegrains and oats can help lower your blood cholesterol and maintain a healthy heart as part of a diet low in saturated fatty acids
• Breakfast cereals are naturally a good source of B-complex vitamins, which are needed for normal energy metabolism
• Many breakfast cereals are fortified vitamin D, which is needed to maintain healthy bones, and this makes an important contribution to intake in the winter months when exposure to sunlight is low
• Some breakfast cereals are fortified with vitamin B12, which is lacking from vegetarian diets, and is needed to maintain normal blood formation and a healthy nervous system
• Breakfast cereals provide an important source of iron, which is needed for normal blood formation and to prevent anaemia. Iron deficiency anaemia currently affects about 1 in five women of reproductive age in the UK. The iron from breakfast cereals is better absorbed if consumed with a glass of orange or grapefruit juice.
• Breakfast cereals containing nuts and seeds provide added nutrients, including essential fatty acids, vitamin E and selenium
• Breakfast cereals only make a very small contribution to the intake of salt and sugar in the diet and so can be consumed on a daily basis without any about consuming amounts above the guideline dietary amounts of 6g and 90g per day respectively
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