Editing Breakfast cereal (section)

===Sugar cereals===

[[File:Froot-Loops-Cereal-Bowl.jpg|thumb|right|Breakfast cereals primarily marketed to children, such as [[Froot Loops]], are commonly brightly colored and high in sugar.]]

After [[World War II]], the big breakfast cereal companies—now including [[General Mills]], who entered the market in 1924 with [[Wheaties]]—increasingly started to target children. The flour was refined to remove fiber, which at the time was considered to undermine digestion and absorption of nutrients, and [[sugar]] was added to improve the flavor for children. The new breakfast cereals began to look starkly different from their ancestors. Ranger Joe, the first pre-sweetened breakfast cereal of sugar-coated puffed wheat or rice, was introduced in the US in 1939.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g_5DAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA287|title=Candy: A Century of Panic and Pleasure|last=Kawash|first=Samira|date=2013-10-15|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=9780865477568|pages=287–289 and color plate #15}}</ref> [[Kellogg's]] [[Honey Smacks|Sugar Smacks]], created in 1953, had 56% sugar by weight.<ref>[http://www.karlloren.com/diet/p35.htm Percentage Of Sugar In Common Foods] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928074852/http://www.karlloren.com/diet/p35.htm |date=28 September 2013 }}</ref> Different mascots were introduced, such as the [[Rice Krispies]] elves<ref>[https://archive.org/details/Breakfas1939 "Breakfast Pals" (1939)], Prelinger Archives; producer Cartoon Films, Ltd; sponsor Kellogg (W.K.) Co.</ref> and later pop icons like [[Tony the Tiger]] and the [[Trix Rabbit]].

A January 2025 study in the [[American Journal of Preventive Medicine]] examined cereal purchases from 77,000 U.S. households over nine years alongside Nielsen ratings data on advertising exposure. The study found that ads targeting adults had negligible impact, while those aimed at children strongly correlated with increased purchases of sugary cereals in households with kids. Nine cereals, each with 9 to 12 grams of sugar per serving, dominated the market, accounting for 41% of total cereal bought.<ref>{{cite web | last=Godoy | first=Maria | title=Families buy more sugary cereal if advertising targets kids, not adults | website=NPR | date=2025-02-04 | url=https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/02/04/nx-s1-5285413/cereal-sugar-kids-advertising-health | access-date=2025-02-05}}</ref>