As a child, did you grow up with wheatbis as your staple breakfast cereal? Indeed, breakfast biscuits have remained one of the most popular breakfast cereals in Australia for many years. So today on the Nutrition Couch podcast, we take a closer look at two of the most popular breakfast cereal biscuits in Ausy supermarkets to decide once and for all,
which is the healthiest option. Hi, I'm Susie Burrow and I'm Lean Wood, and as two of Australia's leading dieticians who specialize in evidence based nutrition, we bring you the Nutrition Couch Product Review, a weekly chat on new products and old favorites you can find in the supermarkets. So Leanne, tell me a child. I don't even want to think what child you were. I'm thinking the nineties. Maybe what was the breakfast cereal that you had in your cupboard when you were growing up?
I think we did. I'm trying to think back. I think we did grow up with weep bigs. Mom had these like big glass jars. There was this big shelf in the kitchen. It was like above height, so as a kid, I couldn't even reach up there. It was like this big shelf and Mum had all these glass jars of cereal, and I remember there was like some sort of shredded whip thing in one that was like Mum always had, oh, what's the really whole grainy type cereal.
There was a muslin one that was rolled oats in another, that was wheetpicks in another. So we always had sort of a range of five or six. But you would never, as I listened as know, my mom was very healthy. There was never any cocoa pops or fruit loops or anything like that in our household. It was a very bland, beige, high fiber type of cereals for us. And I was like, Mom, I was looking sweet and she'd be like, put some
fruit on it. So it was always, you know, a bland, a low sugar type of high fiber cereal, some milk and some fruit. That was if cereal was in the household. That was sort of a growing uption. What did you grow up with, Suzzy?
Well, did you not even get the holiday packets where you got to take away the little mini boxes and then you could pick like as a special holiday thing, you could have the cocoa pops or the nutri grain. You never got that, no, so deprive. My mum was not dissimilar like. She was quite strict as well, and I want to say as I got older, we used to have just right, which is not overly held in itself,
but we definitely had wheat pigs absolutely. Growing up we had quite plain cereals, but we did on the holidays we were allowed to get the holiday mix where we would choose like the little one, So that was always the very exciting highlight. So it's funny when you ask people about their memories of growing up in the different
cereals that they had. I actually also remember when there was calor Complete, so it had like these little currents covered in yogurt in the eighties I guess it would have been the nineties and it was not overly healthy toasted musically, but these little yogurt covered currents were so delicious.
I remember that.
Yeah.
I feel like there was a type of Sultana brand that also had that, because the mum used to buy that one. I was like the Sultana brand. I think you look on the box and it looks like it's super high fiber because the brand type plates in there looks like Uber Uber healthy and it's marketed as like, you know, yogurt covered raisin but I think a quick look at the nutrition label would probably tell us that
it's jack full of sugar. But back in the day, I think, you know, we did a lot of front of package you know, reading instead of actually reading the nutrition labels. So we definitely had that in our household, the brand flakes with sort of the yogurt covered raisins.
Yeah, so times have changed. You know, you probably come as a surprise to hear that, you know, austrain industry has actually done a great job at taking quite a lot of sugar out of the cereal section. So you know, even though there's a perception that it's not overly healthy, indeed now it's far far healthier than it ever once was. And back in the golden days, sugar was not so much of a concern, so there was plenty of it in breakfast cereal. But going to two very popular varieties
of cereal, I think they're still the biggest sellers. Wheatbeks will start with Sanitary and Wheatbix. It's an interesting one actually, because you know, in the old days, where there was a lot of sugary cereal. You were sort of all more process cereal. There wasn't a lot of the probiotic high fiber varieties you can find now. You know, WHEATBEX
was kind of always considered the gold standard. And I remember a skit at uni or the an ad that was on back in the day that said, you know, seven out of ten nutritionis or whatever the number was, recommend wheatbox. So it was kind of always did at the gold standard. And when you take a closer look and even the processing of it, it's perhaps not as healthy as we may perceive it to be, so especially considering the kinds of cereals that you can find now which is super high fiber. But if I look at
the ingredients, it's pretty clean. You know, it's ninety seven percent whole grain wheat. Second ingredients or sugar, salt, barley, milk extract, and then it's quite significantly fortified with vitamins B one, B two, B three, and FOL eight as well as iron contains gluten wheat. It's a wheat based product. It's got a claim of low and sugar source of iron, high in fiber, and you know, when we take a look at it, LeAnn, There's not a whole lot in it,
you know. This is two of the breakfast biscuits, thirty three grams that comes in just over one hundred calories, so four hundred and eighty eight kilo duels per serve. It's got four grams of protein that's without any milk added. It's got very little fat orero point four grams, twenty one point seven grams of carbohydrate, one gram of sugar there is some added sugar, and wheat baks which may come as a surprise. Four point three grams of dietary fiber,
which is a good serve. At least three you would want from a bottle of breakfast cereal. Mind you, now you're getting cereals that easily come in at six eight grams per serve. Sodium eighty nine milligrams, pretty insignificant in the big scheme of things. And then more than a third of your recommend a daily intake of fol eight although it is synthetic fol eate, fifty percent vitamin B one, twenty five percent vitamins B two and three, twenty five
percent dietrin. Although it is non hemine. It's not overly well absorbed. We should say in cereal product still a great choice for people on a plant based diet, say magnesium. So I would describe wheatbeits as being a very plain, simple breakfast It's not unhealthy. Is it the healthiest breakfast cereal out there? No? Are there a million cereals that are worse? Yes? Do I buy it?
No?
Do I sometimes cook with it? Yes? You know, I think really it's splitting hairs. But I think the message for most people is I think that there are better breakfast cereals out there. The GI is not overly low on it, which means it's digested relatively quickly. Because of the process nature of the cereal itself, you're not seeing sort of big fib as chunks through it, and you
can tell that lean. Of course, when you serve it, it goes really really sloppy, which means it's probably digestive relatively quickly, you know. So I kind of if I was rating it out of ten, i'd give it a seven. You know, it's not it's not amazing, it's not bad, it's affordable
for many families, there's really nothing wrong with it. But for me, it doesn't tick some of the key boxes that I think a breakfast cereal should should tick in terms of fiber and bulk factor, and you know it does have added sugar, and there are options which do not. So yeah, I just would give it a seven, and I sort of doesn't do much for me. I'm not anti or I'm not really pro it either.
Yeah, And let's be honest, it's not the best tasting thing in the world, isn't it. Like it does go super so soggy and soppy, So it's not something that I'm jumping out of my seat to actually consume. But you know, it is a pretty quote unquote clean breakfast option. But let's be honest, Like two week bicks with milk that doesn't fill me up. I don't know if that fills you or anybody else up, but I would routinely eat, you know, four or five six week bicks as a tall, active,
very active kid. So for me like that that's serving size for me, and most of the active ladies wouldn't actually be enough. I work with very active ladies as sort of my client taler. Just two week bits of milk wouldn't quite cut it. So I think to balance that breakfast add a little bit better. We'd want to add a little bit more protein, so a good dollop of some good quality Greek yogurd and you know, a
good sprinkle of some nuts and seeds. Adding a little bit of healthy fat in there as well to balance out some of those carbohydrates. I think would be would be a relatively better option, Susie. I think I think a lot of people will put you know, fruit with their cereal, which is just sort of adding in more carbohydrates. I like to always balance out a bit of cereal with some healthy vats and a little bit of extra protein as well. That really gives you that longer lasting
energy throughout the day. So I'm like you, it's not terrible or definitely worse breakfast options. It's not a bad one, but it's not something that I'm jumping out of my seat to recommend left front center for my clients. I really do think that, especially from a taste perspective, I think it's quite bland. I definitely think there are more tastier, healthier, more nutritious cereal options out there.
Absolutely, And I think you know, describing the carbohydrate, you know, it's twenty one grams of carbohydrate that's out the milk so if you then include a serve of milk, plant milk, dairy milk, you're going to get at least ten more grams carbo hydrates, so that's thirty grams. Then if you're adding some fruit, you're getting a pretty high carbohydrate breakfast cereal, which a lot of my clients don't process so well. It tends to sort of give them a hit and
then they're not satisfied right through to lunchtime. So I'm like you, if I had a client who loved them, I would say, we'll just mash one up or one and a half up with and make it like a Bircher bowl with your high protein Greek yogurt and some berries to make it more balanced and more filling. Or for really active people or active kids, you know, including one in a smoothie with a banana can be a really filling breakfast thing because you're adding the protein backing.
And for really active people it can be a really smart source of carbohydrates to bulk out or to have a lot for a relatively cheap price point. For the client group that I'm seeing, which is generally interested in weight control in their thirties, forties and fifties. It's certainly not my go to simply because I tend to opt for high protein breakfast rather than carbo hydrate rich ones.
But certainly with teenagers and teenage boys, it would be a food I would go too, because it's relatively inexpensive and they can eat a lot of it and get that good quality carbohydrate that they do need because they're busy and they've got a lot more muscle mass and are growing. So, like everything in what we talk about here on the Nutrition Couch, there's different strokes for different folk, and as I said, it sits in that middle ground.
But we wanted to compare it to vitebrates because vitebrates is an interesting product because I would hug you it's better because when we look at the ingredients on vitebrates, it's ninety nine percent whole grain wheat and it's got some salt in it, but there's no added sugar. So I think as a cereal in general, and I personally prefer it as a flavor that more wheaty taste to me is nicer. I find them a bit harder. As a biscuit, I find that it go with soggy, So
personally I prefer the serve nutritionally very very similar. You know, you're looking at four hundred and ninety killer jewels again, just about one hundred and twenty calories per serve. Three grams of protein a little bit less than the wheatbits, but nothing significant. Similar, very little fat, twenty two point three grams cover hydro similar amount of five or four point two tiny bit more sodium, but one hundred and
thirty milligrams really insignificant. But I actually can't see there's not the fortification that the wheatbeakx has actually, so it doesn't have those B group vitamins through there or the dietary iron. Now that wouldn't concern me Land because if it's a whole grain cereal, you're getting your vitamin B anyway naturally without having to fortify. And I'm not a massive fan of fortifying with synthetic folate anyway. I'd much rather people get natural folate that's naturally occurring in whole
grains or from grains anyway than synthetic folate. And the iron in cereal is not well absorbed. So unless I've got, you know, someone who's vegan and really looking for options to increase eroed absorption. There's better options for me iron wise, even from other plant based foods, whether it's legumes or whole grains. So yeah, that wouldn't bother me. As a cereal, I wouldn't be buying whetbeaks because it's fortified over Vita Brits, which has no oded sugar. I think that if I
was choosing, I would just go for this one. One Personally, I prefer the taste, and two it's got no added sugar. But you know, in the big scheme of gram of sugar in a couple of week bits is likely to be the least to your problem exactly.
They're really much of a muster. So I think from a flavor perspective, go with the one that you like. I mean, as dieticians are, were always going to say the one, but no out of sugar is better. But as you said, in the grand scheme of things, it's zero sugar versus one gram, so it's pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things, let's be honest. So I
think either are a good option. I'm not going to say that they're my favorite breakfast type cereal option, but they're definitely better options than some of our other sugary based cereal, So if you kids do like them, I'd definitely be encouraging you to have them, and for little ones who do struggle to get in fire, but this is a really good option. I feel like some of the high fiber type cereals we talk about SUSI are
probably too much fiber for our little least. So this is a great sort of first food for toddler's babies, that sort of thing, because it does go so soft, and it does have a good whacker fiber in there as well, and they're nicely balanced sort of you know, amount of whole grains and carbohydrates as well. So I feel like for our little kids in our growing teens,
it's a great option. Perhaps for an adults, so they just need to think about balancing a little bit more, adding in some healthy fats and some protein as well. But I think both both are pretty good options and very very similar, let's be honest.
And you know a way that I actually use them more often than actually why they're in my cupboard is that I sometimes bake with them, like because I'll make protein balls with it as a base, because it blends quite well, that kind of crunchy base. So if you're wanting to block up a banana bread or as I said, add it to a smoothie or make some protein balls, it's a really good way to do that without using refined flour. So with cereals, you know, you can use
them quite in ingenious ways. I've had clients who use them for kids lunchboxes, you know, and they put kind of a spread on them and then they have it as like a little crunchy snack in the day. So you know, certainly there are some ways you can use it. And so for ten grams of carbohydrate in a crunchy biscuit snack for school, that's a million times better than to have an actual sweet biscuit if the kids like it. So, yeah, you can use them in a really smart way, and
there's nothing really bad about them. But if we were splitting hairs, yeah, you do have one without a sugar and one without and you know, they're just different options. But I think sometimes there's a person option out there that wheatbeaks is the healthiest cereal you can eat, and I would say absolutely not. I think that's far healthier.
If I was giving that title, it would have to beat a whole grain plain oats as sort of you know, a whole grain with nothing at it and so nutritious and so good for us, and such a good low GI breakfast cereal that would absolutely win, hands down. And I'm a big fan of brand based cereal because I think it's so good for the gush without being processed at all. So, you know, but it's not a matter if there's one standout cereal. There's just different products for
different people, depending on your goals. And you know, for kids, you're doing far worse than giving them a couple of week biks or vitebricks and milk for breakfast. But for adults, I think in general there are better choices. Couldn't agree more beautiful? All right? Well, hopefully that clears up everything you ever wanted to know about breakfast biscuits, because that brings us to the end of the Nutrition Couch product
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