In the annals of breakfast history, a dark chapter has been brewing for more than a century alongside early-morning cups of coffee. It tells the tale of how cherished breakfast cereals transformed from health heroes into “cereal killers”. And how they achieved some degree of commercial reputation rehabilitation.
The transformation began in bucolic fields and bountiful harvests in the US, laying the groundwork in the late 19th century for the birth of breakfast cereals.
The “midwives” were medical doctors who had a special interest in health reform. Their intentions began innocently enough. They ran sanatoriums — specialised clinics for treating specific diseases, particularly tuberculosis. They located these mostly in healthy climates, in the countryside, allowing patients to breathe fresh air, to rest and to eat nutrient-dense food.
A leader in this field in 1858 was Dr James Caleb Jackson. He bought a spa, turned it into a sanatorium and called it Our Home on the Hillside. In 1904, it became the Jackson Health Resort.
Jackson focused on holistic wellness, based on his own recovery from serious illness. He offered treatments such as hydropathy, “clean” eating, sun exposure and health lectures. Instead of medications, he encouraged patients to heal through regimens of rest, nutrition and exposure to nature. He saw an urgent need for light, nutritious, easy-to-digest breakfast foods to offset negative health effects of traditional, heavy, meat-centric American morning meals. He didn’t get it quite right the first time.
In 1863, Jackson invented a dense, bran-based cereal that required soaking in milk or water before it was edible. He called it “granula”. It was an early precursor of modern breakfast cereals known as “granolas”.
In 1894, Dr John Harvey Kellogg made a unique contribution with greater global impact into the 21st century. Kellogg invented Corn Flakes, an option that offered convenience and required minimal preparation and no cooking. It became a staple, introducing Americans to cold cereal and creating a nation of cereal consumers. His invention changed dietary patterns across generations.
By mid-20th century, cereal had become the quintessential American breakfast. Kellogg paved the way for an entire industry that reshaped morning routines and eating habits nationwide and, later, worldwide.
His invention was integrally connected with his religious faith as a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. At the time, he was superintendent of the Battle Creek Sanatorium, which the church had founded. His brother, Will Keith Kellogg, served as the clinic’s bookkeeper.
The Adventist tradition was premised on spiritual and physical health. The church taught that caring for one’s body with nutritious foods was a moral obligation to serve God more fully. It encouraged followers to eat foods easily consumed in their natural state, such as fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains.
Kellogg saw cornflakes as part of his “biological living” philosophy, promoting digestive health and suppressing sexual urges. He believed that a bland, vegetarian diet of simple foods, such as cereals, could curb sexual desires and prevent masturbation, which he considered “sinful”. Thus, his cornflakes aligned with Adventist health and nutrition principles.
In 1895, Kellogg filed a patent for “Flaked Cereals and Process of Preparing Same”, preparing for the future of flaked breakfast cereals. In 1898, the brothers released the first batch of what would later become Kellogg’s Corn Flakes. In 1902, they introduced a modified version with a longer shelf life.
Kellogg wanted cornflakes to remain pure. Brother Will saw the immense commercial potential of cornflakes and wanted to add sugar to appeal to indiscriminate palates. That caused a terminal schism. Kellogg implacably opposed adding sugar to cornflakes, believing that the sweet stuff would corrupt spiritual and physical health.
Marketing won out and Will Keith proved to be a visionary. He split from his brother and founded the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company in 1906. It later became the Kellogg Company, marking the beginning of an iconic American brand in the 20th century and beyond.
The Kellogg Company has since morphed from a family business into the publicly traded, multinational food manufacturer it is today. Its diverse product portfolio extends far beyond breakfast cereals.
Cereal companies continued sprouting globally, in competition for taste buds and wallets. The development of modern food processing methods further hastened the spread. Methods now include milling grains to remove the bran and germ, leaving only the starchy endosperm, then mixing doughs with sugar, salt and additives, extruding the mix under high, heated pressure to form shapes and textures, and drying, toasting and often coating cereals with sugary or fatty sprays for flavour and “crunch”.
Crucially, producers removed healthy fats from cereal, believing these to be bad for health. They added problematic chemicals to preserve freshness in cereals and prevent what fats were left from going rancid. It wasn’t long before breakfast cereals became so far removed from their natural state that they barely deserved to be called food. That status quo remains on supermarket and specialist food store shelves worldwide.
The health consequences did not take long to surface. Doctors, dentists, dietitians, nutritionists and other health practitioners began ringing alarm bells. Research grew, linking overconsumption of sugary cereals with serious health issues, from obesity and diabetes to heart disease, dental problems and hyperactivity in children.
The cereal industry’s response was predictable and unconvincing. Companies pointed to added vitamins and minerals as proof of nutritional value. They used and abused the word, “natural” as if it magically absolved products of all nutritional sins.
The backlash continued as health-conscious consumers became informed and began reading labels and ingredient lists more closely.
The term “cereal killers” popped up. Who first used it and when is lost in the myths and mists of marketing in the digital age. Authors and commentators used the term to critique the high sugar content of the industry’s products and marketing practices.
An article in The Atlantic in 2011 headlined “Cereal Killers” highlighted research focusing on children’s reactions to sugary cereals and aggressive marketing. A 2012 blog post by US comic book author Mark Evanier, also titled “Cereal Killers”, delved into the products’ history and marketing.
In 2013, Irish filmmaker and former international athlete Donal O’Neill released his documentary, Cereal Killers. It documents his 28-day dietary experiment, with SA sports scientist and University of Cape Town emeritus professor Tim Noakes as his guide. O’Neill ate foods high in healthy fats, including saturated fats, with meat, fish, nuts and eggs as staples. He excluded sugar and wheat. The documentary challenged conventional dietary guidelines by exploring the effects of the diet on health and performance.
The tide began turning against “cereal killers”. New waves of “healthier” options emerged, hinting at rehabilitation of at least some “killers”.
The cereal industry adapted globally, sensing shifts in consumer preferences. Companies pledged to reduce sugar content and remove artificial ingredients from products. They delivered on promises to a limited extent. The most recent research shows that SA cereals have “exceptionally low sugar content” compared with the US, but that’s only relatively speaking. Concerns remain in both countries about the sugar content in breakfast cereals, especially those aggressively marketed to children.
Nutrition specialists still see breakfast cereals as the product of little more than successful marketing gimmicks. The controversy swirling around the heads of these products puts the spotlight back onto breakfast as the most important meal of the day.
Or not, depending on who you talk to.
SA dietitian and wellness coach Ashleigh Caradas is a firm fan of breakfast but not of breakfast cereals, especially in ultra-processed incarnations. Caradas has a BSc degree from Wits University and a medical honours degree in dietetics from the University of Cape Town. She commutes between Johannesburg and Cape Town to run her practice.
Eating the wrong foods at breakfast time can be “more detrimental to health than skipping breakfast”, Caradas says. Breakfast cereals can be part of a healthy, balanced diet but are “not balanced on their own”.
And sugar is not the only health bugbear confronting the cereal industry. Even cereals marketed as “low-carb” or “keto-friendly” may contain levels of fats that may or may not be helpful to health, Caradas says.
Consumers can make ultra-processed cereals more nutritious by adding protein in the form of milk or yoghurt, she says. However, dairy is low in protein compared with other animal food sources. Adding ingredients such as dried fruit, nuts and seeds can improve the nutrition content of highly processed cereal products.
Caradas echoes advice from the US Environmental Working Group that preparing breakfast from scratch and eating unsweetened hot cereals or other whole foods with no added sugar are smarter choices. She knows how dauntingly confusing the variety of commercially available breakfast cereals is to consumers. Bearing that in mind, Caradas recommends Woolworths’ Carb Clever and Checkers’ Simple Truth ranges and Tia’s, a small, independent brand offering “good muesli”.
She also recommends that consumers consider ditching cereals altogether. Wholegrain wheat, sourdough and rye bread with protein toppings are alternatives, she says. Smoothies — a mix of high-protein milks or protein powders with fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds — are also helpful.
Eggs have undergone significant reputation rehabilitation and are back on their healthy pedestal for breakfast, Caradas says. That’s thanks to research showing that eggs provide high-quality protein and essential nutrients, and may benefit heart health, weight management, muscle maintenance and brain function.
In the end, whether breakfast cereals ultimately deserve the epithet of “killer” or are rehabilitated as “saviour” is moot against the reality that 17th-century French moralist Francois de la Rochefoucauld raised: “To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art.”
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