Many cereals 'have more sugar than desserts'

Some of the leading cereals contain more sugar than cakes, doughnuts and ice cream, research shows.

Kellogg's Crunchy Nut Cornflakes and Coco Pops as well as Weetabix Minis Chocolate Crisp were among those that had the highest sugar content.

While others, including Shreddies and Special K, still had more than some cakes, mySupermarket.co.uk found.

But cereal manufacturers said the products still only accounted for a fraction of average sugar intake.

The food and grocery comparison website gathered data on the sugar content of leading cereal brands and compared them to some of the nation's favourite snacks and deserts.

They found a jam doughnut had 8.6g of sugar, while a scoop of vanilla ice cream had 10g and Vienetta ice cream cake 11g per slice.

Not all cereals had more sugar per serving than those products, but most had more than a slice of McVities chocolate cake, which contains 5.4g.

Jonny Steel, a spokesman for mySupermarket.co.uk said: "Consumers can end up thinking they are choosing a healthy cereal, often because some sound healthy or simply look healthy because of how they are marketed.

"Yet, as with any product bought, shoppers need to make sure they read the nutritional information on the packet to understand the content."

He also warned salt levels were also higher than expected.

But the Association of Cereal Food Manufacturers said: "Breakfast cereals contribute less than 5% salt and sugar to an average day's diet and are packed full of vitamins, minerals and fibre.

"British breakfast cereals are also the best food category in Europe for providing nutrition information on pack, so people can make educated choices about what they want to buy and eat."