Fruit Loops also known as Froot Loops are a very popular cereal made of wheat rings dyed in rainbow colors.
They are part of the Kellogg’s brand but many people get confused when looking at the colors and the ingredients.
The main ingredient in Froot Loops is wheat, so it must be healthy right? But the bright colors are normally a sign of artificial coloring and sugar, so they must be unhealthy?
Well, the answer is a little complicated, but to generalize, Froot Loops is one of the most unhealthy cereals in the Kellogg’s brand.
Let us explain why.
What Are Froot Loops Made Of?
The official list of ingredients in Froot Loops are:
“Corn flour blend (whole grain yellow corn flour, degerminated yellow corn flour), sugar, wheat flour, whole grain oat flour, modified food starch, contains 2% or less of vegetable oil (hydrogenated coconut, soybean and/or cottonseed), oat fiber, maltodextrin, salt, soluble corn fiber, natural flavor, red 40, yellow 5, blue 1, yellow 6, BHT for freshness. [Added Vitamins and Minerals.]”
This type of information is hard to read, so let’s break it down.
The ingredients are always listed from most to least common. This means that “corn flour blend” is the most prominent ingredient in Froot Loops, however they are created making whole and degerminated corn. This means half of the product is processed.
Grains themselves are fantastic as they give us fiber which helps with digestion. But because it has been blended and processed, some of these good qualities will be lost.
The second most common ingredient is sugar – yikes. Sugar is essentially empty calories and although we need some sugar in our diet to stay healthy, Froot Loops contain way too much for us to have a healthy balance.
Because the two main ingredients aren’t healthy, we can already see a pattern of negativity for this cereal.
Does This Mean Froot Loops Are High In Sugar?
Yes, Froot Loops are super high in sugar, especially considering that they are a breakfast meal. A single serving of Froot Loops will contain 12 grams of sugar.
A single serving is considered 39 grams (or 1 ⅓ cups) which means that almost 31% of your portion is just sugar.
The national recommendation for daily sugar intake is 25g per day for women and 36g for men. This means eating Froot Loops for breakfast takes up between 33% and 48% of your daily allowance.
Are There Artificial Colors In Froot Loops?
There are artificial colors in Froot Loops. They are Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, and Blue 1.
You may wonder why it matters if a cereal has artificial colors in them, but researchers have found that eating enough artificial colors causes children to change their behavior.
They become hyperactive which creates behavioral problems as they cannot contain their energy.
This then leads to emotional distress as they cannot vocalize their problems, which leads to an energy crash due to the physical and emotional intensity.
Eating these artificial colors often, like through a bowl of cereal every day for years, can cause damage to our white blood cells. This damage can cause tumors to form and kidneys to fail.
The government claims to prevent these dramatic events by enforcing warning labels on products like these, however many people are still in the dark about the long-term effects.
Are There Any Positives?
With all this talk of doom and gloom, we cannot pretend that Froot Loops are completely toxic. They do have nutritional value, even if they are more of a dessert than a breakfast meal.
Protein
Froot Loops contain 2g of protein per serving. As we said before, a serving is considered 39g.
This means that just over 5% of your bowl will contain protein. This figure is without any additional milk you may enjoy with your breakfast bowl.
You are more likely to consume protein from your milk than you are from a portion of Fruit Loops. If you want to include as much protein as possible, we suggest drinking full-fat cow milk, soy milk, or pea milk.
Rice milk and almond milk have the lowest amount of protein, so you should avoid these alternatives while on the hunt for protein.
All in all, Froot Loops do not have a lot of protein in them, so you shouldn’t be eating them if aiming for a high-protein diet.
The majority of this cereal is made from carbs, but in Froot Loops’ defense, so are most cereals.
Fiber
Most cereals try to boast about their high fiber content. This is because fiber is needed to help give your digestive system the power and cleanliness it needs to be healthy.
Many people eat cereals in an attempt to up their fiber intake without much hassle.
So where does fiber fit on Froot Loops’ list? Well, just like protein, the number is very low. Only 2gs of fiber can be found in a serving.
Compared to their plainer and less colorful rivals Cheerios, this is less than half of the high-fiber cereal.
Froot Loops is part of Kellogg’s brand, so let’s compare these figures against other popular Kellogg’s cereals.
In first place, the most fibrous cereal is of course Fiber One giving 46.7g in a 100g bowl. Next is All-Bran Original coming in at 29.3g.
Skipping a couple of big names, we want to bring forward some more loved brands. Weetabix and Cheerios both contain 10g in a 100g bowl.
But what about other colorful cereals? Well, Lucky Charms is next with 5.6g per 100g, which is just 0.5g more than Froot Loops coming in at 5.1g in a 100g bowl.
Surprisingly Special K comes in second to last with 2.3g, and Rice Krispies in the last position with 1g.
Summary
As you can see, Froot Loops are not a healthy breakfast meal. They should be considered a snack rather than a cereal due to their high sugar levels, artificial colors, and low fiber content.
One of the most common things I talk to my clients about is calories, but so few of them actually know anything about them.
Calories is not a dirty word. If you remove emotion from it, it is simply a unit of energy.
We need calories to live and thrive, and knowing how many to consume is important to ensure that you’re living a healthy lifestyle.
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