With Mayo Clinic nutritionists Jennifer Nelson, M.S., R.D. and Katherine Zeratsky, R.D.

Beginning the day with your favorite breakfast cereal just got a jolt.

"Consumer Reports" has published a report rating breakfast cereals that should have all of us retooling our morning routine. The key message is the overwhelming amount of sugar in some breakfast cereals. Here's a comparison of the sugar content of some breakfast items (cola is included for the sake of comparison only):

Source: USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, 2007

You can see by the numbers that "healthy" is not merely defined by sugar content. Consider what else the food has to offer — fiber, protein, vitamins and minerals. Overall, we call this the nutrient density of the food — what gives you the most nutritional bang for your bite. Cereal with higher sugar content dilutes the nutrient density.

My advice: Give whole grain type cereals a try; add fruit for sweetness and milk or yogurt for protein. If you can't get your kids or your husband to ditch the sugary cereals, decrease the frequency of eating them or mix it with other more nutrient dense cereals. Most importantly, there is a lot to be said for eating breakfast, kids and adults alike. Don't skip it.

P.S. Another interesting tidbit I learned about some of these cereals vs. those in other countries — the U.S. cereals are generally produced to be less nutrient dense.

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