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BEAR Alphabites Feedback Thread - £150 John Lewis voucher to be won NOW CLOSED

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AngelieMumsnet · 11/09/2014 11:54

This thread is for the Mumsnetters who have been trying BEAR Alphabites.

Here’s what BEAR say: “Grrreetings, we’re BEAR and we like things as nature intended. We started out 5 years ago making pure fruit ‘yoyos’ for kids, with no added sugar, concentrates or any other nonsense. The more time we spent talking to parents over the years, the more we realised that breakfast was also a real challenge for families- the sugary, salty cereals on offer made us growl, so we set off foraging to find a much better alternative.

Made from just 6 ingredients- five multigrains and our super new ingredient coconut blossom nectar - our crunchy cereal letters contain no refined sugar, salt or any other nonsense. From the flowers of the coconut tree, coconut blossom nectar is a naturally sweet sap that makes our cereal letters delicious and crunchy, and also provides over half of your daily calcium needs (one bowl of Alphabites with 125ml of semi skimmed milk provides over half of an adult’s daily calcium needs, with half of this coming from the nectar alone). It also has a much lower GI than sugar (35 vs 70 for refined sugar), preventing the usual crazy sugar highs and grizzly crashes that come from too much refined sugar. ”

Below are a few questions for you to answer about eating BEAR Alphabites at breakfast time – feel free to add any other thoughts you may have though, we’d love to hear them.

  • Do you find breakfast with your DCs to be a challenge, or not? If you do, could you tell us a bit more about why?
  • What do your DCs usually eat at breakfast? Are you worried about the refined sugar and salt that most breakfast cereals contain, or not?
  • What did your DCs think of Bear Alphabites (taste, packaging, concept)? What did they like or dislike about them?
  • Would you buy Bear Alphabites for your DCs in the future? (available in 375g box, RRP £2.69)?
  • Would you recommend Bear Alphabites to friends or relatives? If so, why? If not, why not?

If you have any photos of your DCs trying BEAR Alphabites, please add them to this thread. Thanks for taking part:

All testers who leave their feedback on this thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a £150 John Lewis voucher and a hamper of delicious BEAR goodies.

Thanks and good luck,
MNHQ

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MNHQ

AngelieMumsnet · 18/09/2014 11:12

Thanks for all your comments so far Thanks

BEAR have been reading your comments, and just wanted to answer a couple of questions which have been raised on this thread.

@Apronlady

I have gone right off cereals for breakfast as they as so full of sugar and salt. The only ones I buy now are Weetabix, Rice Krispies and Cornflakes, and I always encourage them to choose something instead, like toast and marmite, or eggs. However cereals are quicker so Alphabears might be the answer. Pricey though...

I have one question.... how sustainable and eco friendly is coconut blossom oil. Is it like palm oil where large swathes of jungle are cut down to farm it? Sorry if this has already been covered. (And I'm off to Google that)

BEAR have said "Coconut palms are twice as productive per hectare than sugarcane. They also use 1/5th of the soil nutrients required to make sugar, need very little water to live and can grow in really tough places (like the beach. Great for us, bad if you're a tree). If that wasn't enough, coconut palms are called the 'tree of life' because one tree can provide food, water, shade, roofing and housing materials. The Food & Agricultural Organisation declared it the most sustainable source of sweetener. There’s more information if you click on the ‘find out more here’ text on this link www.bearnibbles.co.uk/alphabites."

MNHQ

AngelieMumsnet · 18/09/2014 11:14

Some of you asked about sugar/ content of BEAR Alphabites and this is what word is from BEAR:

"In BEAR’s opinion, food shouldn’t just taste good, but do you good too. We spent years foraging for a better alternative to the refined sugars that really made us growl in kids’ cereal- coconut blossom nectar is not only naturally high in calcium (a 30g bowl of Alphabites with 125 ml of semi skimmed milk gives an adult 50% of their daily calcium needs, with over 50% of this coming from the nectar alone), but also contains 3 times the potassium per gram of a banana, and is low GI, to prevent grizzly sugar highs and lows. These are benefits that you just don’t get from refined sugars, which serve no nutritional purpose and only provide sweetness and empty calories.

It’s also worth noting that of the 11g of sugar per bowl of Alphabites with milk, over 50% of this comes from the milk. Milk contains natural sugars but is rich in other benefits- coconut blossom nectar is the same.

We made Alphabites to help families have a grrreat start to the day. We spoke to 1000 families last year through yougov to ask them about breakfast, what their children ate, and the challenges that they faced. 60% of parents said that their kids either wouldn’t eat plain cereals such as Shredded Wheat or oats, or sweetened them with sugar, honey or other alternatives. Alphabites were made to help give parents a cereal they’d be proud to feed their children, and to give kids a healthy breakfast that they’d love.

Many plainer cereals add salt to increase their taste- we won’t do that at BEAR. Aside from the fact that it’s totally unnecessary, an excess of salt in a child’s diet results in a leeching of calcium that is critical at an age where they’re building up their ‘bone bank’. The daily allowance of a 4-6 year old is 3 grams of salt- many cereals will provide over 0.5g before the day’s even started, in a meal where it’s really possible to avoid it."

MNHQ

AngelieMumsnet · 16/02/2015 17:21

Thanks for your feedback, and sorry for the delay - the prize winner is Hurr1cane :)

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