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Unhealthy breakfast cereals heavily marketed to children
Breakfast cereals marketed to children contain 85 percent more sugar, 65 percent less fiber, and 60 percent more sodium than those targeted at adults, says a Yale University study.

The least nutritious cereals -- such as Reese's Puffs, Lucky Charms and Cap'n Crunch -- are often the most heavily marketed to children, found the researchers at Yale's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, USA Today reported.

Among the other findings:

  • Major cereal makers do make products that receive good nutrition marks, but not many of these are marketed to children.
  • The average sugar content of children's cereals has decreased from 3.5 teaspoons to 3 teaspoons of sugar per serving.
  • Cereal makers spend more than $156 million a year marketing to children. The average American preschooler sees 642 TV cereal ads a year and most of those are for cereals with the poorest nutrition ratings.
  • Some cereals with the worst nutrition ratings have health claims on the boxes.

The Yale researchers said cereal company pledges to self-regulate haven't "shielded kids from the barrage of messages" to eat the least healthy cereals, USA Today reported.

"Industry regulation is an abject failure," said Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Center. "The worst cereals are being marketed very heavily to children."

The study is being presented Monday at the annual meeting of the Obesity Society.