I'm a fan too, Yabby.

>>Meantime I found a great breakfast cereal made by a housewife
called Carmen. Even Coles stock it now<<

It's been on the Coles shelves since 1997, by the way. And the lady's name is Carolyn Cresswell - it's a great story.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/small-business/pushing-muesli-brand-to-the-limits-carmens/story-e6frg9hf-1225776844074

My Carman product of choice is her deluxe fruit muesli... 14% fat, 20% sugar, and a fair chunk of salt too. Seriously yummy.

I've never tried nutri-grain, and I'm unlikely to. I'm not in their demographic. Which is all that the Kellogg's marketing department are interested in - they are not concerned with a niche brand like Carman.

For which I have never seen an advertisement on TV.

There's probably a good reason for that. It would take a highly talented agency indeed to avoid cheapening the brand

Well apparently it contains high fructose corn syrup which is according to one camp, highly damaging to health and plays a huge role in the obesity epidemic.

If the information is correct that fructose is not metabolised in the same way as glucose, then it appears there should be real concern about this. This is not a problem if you're going to be eating some healthy fresh fruit, this amount and concentration of fructose is of no concern to health and of course we all know the healthy benefits of eating fresh fruit. Fructose is though apparently a problem in concentrated form as used as a food additive and which is increasingly being used in place of glucose - because it's cheaper. The problem with fructose is that it doesn't stimulate the secretion of insulin. When we eat foods containing glucose it stimulates the release of insulin which then stores the glucose in our cells as energy. This doesn't happen with fructose, it goes directly to liver to be metabolised instead, like happens with alcohol - apparently. So, if we feed children foods that are high in fructose, like sugary soft drinks and apparently many of the sweetened breakfast cereals, like Nutrigrain, their bodies are metabolising the fructose using the same or similar pathways as they would if you'd given them a glass of alcohol. Except that their bodies would be going through a similar effect (stress) minus the feeling of being drunk. A good place to read up on fructose and breakfast cereals containing fructose is the Dr Mercola website. There may be a difference in the ingredients they use in the US compared to Australia though, I don't know. I looked up the ingredients in Nutrigrain and it did not list high fructose corn syrup. Can they simply list it as sugar, I don't know the answer to this.

CJ Morgan,
I appreciate you being so obliging in proving my theory correct. Most people I know who are into warm wine & furry fish kind of diet are very much of a mentality as you.

*My Carman product of choice is her deluxe fruit muesli... 14% fat, 20% sugar, and a fair chunk of salt too. *

Ah Pericles, wise choice. Only the best for you city slickers :)

I just stick to her BircherMuesli, 11% sugar, lots of oats.
Salt is 10mg /100g, I'm not sure if that is high or not.

I read the original article when it was published in the Australian
and that is why I tried her product. I gather that she is
exporting too now. It just goes to show that smart thinking,
consumer focus and attention to detail can lead to great success
stories, even for what used to be small businesses. Niche
can be highly profitable too.

Its a win-win all around!

Cereal manufacturers do no more than market food which appeals to the public taste. Healthy cereals tend to be marketing failures. If you understand the benefits to be had from low salt, low fat and low sugar, then that is your potential gain.

Government action to force food manufacturers to produce healthier products might translate to lower health costs, but it wont stop people making bad choices. A rope of raw sausages eaten on a bus or a barbecued chook eaten like a cob of corn is still a meal for some.

No, cereal manufacturers and other processed food manufacturers educate the public towards unhealthy tastes and choices. It is about the manufacturers' convenience and profit.

It all hinges on hooking the children early on salt, sugar and fat.

Does anyone honestly believe that the previous LNP government opposed any restriction of junk food advertising during children's TV through reasons other than the electoral support they might receive from the big companies in the fast food and soft drink industries?

While it is true that government action (rare enough not to notice) might be offset to an extent by foolish individual choices, the incremental reduction in the amount of added sodium carries real benefits.