Food Comparison Post

American's lives have become increasingly busy. Looking for jobs, trying to keep your job, school, and sports are part of American daily life. However, many of us rush around so much we miss the most important meal of the day: Breakfast. To make this meal more convenient, we have created things like cereal and Poptarts. These foods are quick and easy, and perfect for a quick meal for someone on the go. But how healthy are these foods? To see, I grabbed a box of Raisin Bran and a box of Double Chocolate Krave cereal, to compare how healthy they are when looked at side-by-side. I also checked out a box of Chocolate Fudge Poptarts, to see how these tasty treats measured up to the cereals.

All of these products are made by Kelloggs, a well known company. The first aspect of the foods we'll see is calories. Unsurprisingly, the Poptart is highest in calories, at 200 per serving. Oddly enough though, the Krave cereal is the on with the lowest calories, at 120 calories per serving, where Raisin Bran comes in at 190. The fat content is higher in Krave, with 3.5 grams, in comparison to Raisin Bran's 1 gram. Again, Poptarts are the unhealthiest, with 5 grams of fat. This puts 22.5% of Poptart's calories from fat, 25.8% for Krave, and 4.7% for Raisin Bran. Saturated fat content is relatively low in these foods, with 1.5 g in Poptarts, 1 g in Krave, and 0 g in Raisin Bran. All the foods had no cholesterol. Krave had the lowest amount of sodium, with 95 mg. This was followed by Poptarts, with 230 mg, and Raisin Bran was highest, with 250 mg. All the said foods were fairly high in carbohydrates, lowest being Krave, containing 23 grams. Poptarts had the second lowest, with 37 g. This mean that Poptarts had 74% of the calories from carbs. Krave and 76.7% from carbs, and Raisin Bran had 91.6%. Again, the Raisin Bran was the highest, with a large serving of 46 grams. This was balanced out by its high amount of dietary fiber, with 7 grams. Second was Krave, with 3 g, and bronze went to Poptarts, which was a measly one gram. The foods being examined kept this order for protein, with 5 g, 2 g, and 3 g, respectively. This means 3.5% of calories in Poptarts are from protein. Raisin Bran had 3.7% of calories in protein.They also varied in the vitamins contained in them. Poptarts had greater than or equal to 10% of daily vitamin intake in calcium, iron, and vitamin A. Krave had 10% in iron, vitamin A, and vitamin C. Raisin Bran had the least vitamin nutritional value, with 10% in only iron and vitamin A.

Poptarts claimed that it is cholesterol free, a good source of calcium, and a good source of 5 B vitamins. I have confirmed this as true. Krave says it has 8 grams of whole grains, and is a good source of fiber. This can be said as true, as well. Raisin Bran says it is heart healthy and an excellent source of fiber. The fiber claim is completely true, as I have shown above. These grains in the Raisin Bran also make it heart healthy.

Now for ingredients. Poptart's first ten ingredients are: Enriched flour, sugar, dextrose, soybean and palm oil, corn syrup, cracker meal, high fructose, corn syrup, cornstarch, and cocoa. Krave contains: Chocolate flavored filling, sugar, whole grain oat flour, whole wheat flour, rice flour, oat fiber, corn bran, caramel color, cocoa processed with alkali, and brown sugar syrup. Raisin Bran had relatively few ingredients, with less than ten. These ingredients are: Whole grain wheat, raisins, wheat bran, sugar, brown sugar syrup,salt, and malt flavoring.

For the cereals, the serving sizes are pretty accurate. With their serving sizes and milk, they can be filling when eaten with fruit and/or whole grain toast. Poptarts, however, are an issue. The serving size is a deceptive 1 tart. As we all know, Poptarts come in packages of two. This means all the sugar, carbs, etc. are doubled if you have a full packet. Now, to be fair to Raisin Bran, it has a 1/4 of a cup more in serving size than Krave. This does not make up for where it comes up short to Krave. The claims made by Kelloggs in all these products seem to be pretty fair. It appears that my calculations prove these claims correct. Though in some of these products, it seems as though they may not be as healthy as they claim, we can assume that in some of these cases, the products were fortified with some of the nutrients, as many modern food products are. Poptarts predominant ingredient is Enriched flour, Krave's is Chocolate flavored filling, and Raisin Bran's is whole grain wheat. The order of these products' ingredients mean that they are high in that ingredient, in that order. So when Raisin Bran has wheat for its first ingredient, it screams HEALTHY.

To sum up, it seems that Raisin Bran is best for grains and heart health, and contains the lowest amount of fat. Krave is better in calories, sodium, and has a lower amount of carbs. Poptarts are made purely for your convenience and are not very healthy. Overall, I think that the Raisin Bran is the healthiest. But it is not as good as bacon.