Kids eating too much sugar, salt with breakfast

The Heart Foundation is warning that because children often prefer sweet tasting cereals, they may be missing out on essential nutrients. Photo / Rotorua Daily Post

Kids are eating too much sugar and salt for breakfast and parents should encourage better food choices, the Heart Foundation says.

Foundation nutrition manager Rhodi Bullock said children often preferred the sweet tasting cereals and giving in to their demands could mean they missed out on essential nutrients.

"Just swapping standard blue top milk and cereal for (Heart Foundation) Tick approved cereal with trim milk ... can help."

Such changes could remove more than a teaspoon of saturated fat and about as much salt as found in a packet of chips from a child's breakfast.

Mrs Bullock said a breakfast which provided fibre and carbohydrates to keep a child energised made them less likely to snack on foods high in sugar and fat during the day.

- NZPA