SWEET TEMPTATIONS: Even the natural sugar in dried fruits, found in some cereals, and fruit juices can be harmful, if consumed frequently

We all know that porridge is good for us. But who feels like a hearty bowl of steaming oats when the weather is enough to warm you up at breakfast time? A bowl of muesli with some ice-cold milk is far more tempting.

Traditionally, this Swiss-style breakfast has had a healthy image. The original version, soaked with fresh fruit, was conceived by Dr Max Bircher-Benner in 1900, as it was easy for his patients to digest. By the 1970s a dried-fruit variation had become a staple of the sandal-wearing cohorts leading the health-food revolution. Today, such is the smart-set status of the cereal that David Cameron’s high-profile campaign to win round the new movers and shakers is known as the “muesli offensive”.

Packed full of dried fruit, seeds and nuts and high in fibre, there can be few healthier starts to the day than a nutritious bowl of muesli. As more and more research highlights the health benefits of a good breakfast, loaded with complex carbohydrates, muesli’s popularity has risen, and there are dozens of different varieties to choose from.

But while many mueslis add up to manufacturers’ healthy eating claims, there is evidence that some mueslis are masquerading as good for you when, in fact, they are high in sugar and fat. So does this breakfast with a healthy image have a dark secret? “Some foods that you don’t expect to be very high in sugar, including some muesli, can contain lots,” says Sarah Read, of the Food Standards Agency’s consumer media department. Alpen, for example, the UK’s bestselling muesli with more than 20 per cent of the market, contains 21.8g of sugar per 100g. The FSA’s daily guidelines suggest that while 2g of sugars or less per 100g is “a little” sugar, 10g of sugars per 100g of food is “a lot”.

Read says: “If a muesli contains lots of fruit, although the sugars are natural you’ve still got to be careful.” Sugar in its most common form, sucrose, provides energy but has only negligible amounts of other nutrients. Claire Williamson, a nutrition scientist at the British Nutrition Foundation says; “Even the natural sugar in dried fruit and fruit juice can cause decay, too, if consumed frequently.”

Luci Daniels, a dietitian and past chairman of the British Dietetic Association, says the problem with “no added sugar” mueslis that are low in dried fruit is that they are also low in taste. “So you could be tempted to add sugar,” she says.

High sugar is not the only problem. Most mueslis have straightforward ingredients, but there are some surprises. Dried milk might seem a strange addition for something that you are going to pour milk on, but it serves as a sweetener and gives the muesli an added creaminess. Glazing agent is another addition, it helps give dried fruit a shiny appearance and prevents deterioration. Calcium chloride is also used as a firming agent in the dried fruit.

“Some of the mainstream mueslis are full of padding, with stale nuts and dead-fly raisins,” says Kate Freestone, the co-founder of Rude Health foods. Of all the many claims made on muesli packets, generally few claim to be low in fat.

Clearly, finding the right balance of ingredients in muesli is important. It should be low in sugar, high in complex carbohydrate, as well as high in fibre. But this could make for a really dull start to the day and Daniels says that there is a danger that “food fascists (that includes food writers) will put people off eating perfectly decent food such as most muesli if it has to be free of salt, sugar, fat and taste”.

Studies have shown that children and adults who miss out on a cereal breakfast are more likely to be overweight. It is commonly agreed among nutritionists that we need a nutritionally adequate breakfast to see us through to lunch. They recommend that it should make up a quarter of your daily nutrient intake. In terms of calories this means about 500 for the average adult. Even with milk few 50g servings of muesli exceed more than 200-300 calories.

“Consuming a healthy breakfast means that you are less likely to snack on foods that are high in fat and sugar later on in the day” says Williamson. “It is better to eat wholegrain versions of starchy foods, such as muesli and porridge, as these provide a sustained slower release of energy throughout the morning compared with sugar-coated cereals.”

As well as being a good way of ensuring a sustained release of energy, natural wholegrain foods are a source of fibre and antioxidants and can be beneficial in terms of weight management and heart health. “Generally, mueslis are a very good breakfast choice,” says Daniels, “if you choose the right one”.

The Times, London