to wonder why Kellogg's can't fortify our cereals as much as they do in the US?

[ShineSmile]

I am seriously in shock.

1 serving of Kellogg's Rice Krispies in the US contains 50% of RDA of iron. In the UK however, 1 serving only contains 17% of RDA of iron!

Why is this?

As someone with long term iron deficiency, I feel like starting a campaign to get them to fortify the Rice Krispies in the same way as they are doing in the US. AIBU?

I think that's more of an issue with heme-iron.
Tannins (in tea) & rice also interfere with iron absorption, I think most minerals might interfere at least a little. Not necessarily worth worrying about.

I wonder if it's more that they are not allowed to inflate the benefits of fortification here as our labelling laws areuch stricter so it doesn't make economic sense for them from a marketing perspective.

Have you tried lentils with your DD OP? My DD, also iron deficient as a toddler, was quite keen on lentils when she wouldn't really eat that much meat.

Because the American diet is generally so cruddy that they have to fortify the heck out of some things to get enough nutrition into people.

Naw, they don't care about nutrition. It's all marketing gimmick, they can't say it's "healthy" or "heart healthy" unless it has a certain amount of vitamins in it. It's the only thing that gives them an edge over sugar cereal. Just like added calcium into margarine and everything being marketed as gluten free right now.

Also despite our cereals always being marketed next to a glass of orange juice, toast, and fruit everyone thinks a complete breakfast is a bowl of cereal, if breakfast is even eaten. They're not meant to be eaten alone though.

But yes, it's processed crap. I wouldn't rely on it for nutrition, even US versions. The cereal everyone over here gives their kids are cheerios and kix, rice krispies aren't the most popular choice.

As an aside, when cereals are made, the process strips out all the nutritional goodness of the raw material, so when cereals are "fortified" with iron, vitamins, etc, the cerealmakers aren't doing you a favour by adding more goodness, they are merely replacing all the goodness they stripped out by processing the foodstuff into cereals in the first place!

Does your daughter like to snack on chopped dried apricots? Fantastic source of iron for fussy kiddlets.

DS thought these were sweeties until some older kids told him otherwise when he started school (yah boo shucks to the spoil sport lunch box police for confirming he wasn't eating banned substances too!)

I'm of the spinach omlette with a glass of orange juice on the side being a better brekkie. It's certainly better for brain development for kids to have a protein based breakfast.

With that fortification, you're going to get a nice dose of high fructose corn syrup too! Our cereals might be nasty in the UK... They are a whole lot nastier in the USA!