More than a quarter of us start the day with shop-bought cereal, which is high in simple carbohydrates (sugar) and little else.
A recently launched Kit Kat version even contains a whopping 7.4g of sugar per 30g serving - that's equivalent to 8 per cent of an adult's recommended daily intake - hardly the healthy breakfast of choice.
But if you are wedded to your morning bowl of sugar puffs, here are healthier alternatives to try.
Many commercial varieties are often packed with sugar and most contain about 2 tsp per serving. There's a simple way to avoid this - make your own.
1. Pre-heat the oven to 170C/150C fan. Place 3 egg whites in a large bowl and whisk to stiff peaks.
2. In another bowl mix 100g oats, 50g chopped cashews, 50g chopped Brazil nuts, 50g flaked almonds and 50g mixed seeds.
3. Add the whisked egg whites and mix well. Spread onto a baking tray lined with baking parchment and bake for 20 minutes.
4. Remove from the oven and gently break up with a spatula. Return to the oven and bake for 20 more minutes. Leave to cool then store in an airtight container.
Since the heyday of Alpen in the 1970s, muesli has fallen out of favour as a popular breakfast choice, but it can be the foundation of a tasty, fibre-rich morning meal.
The beauty of muesli is you can vary the ingredients to suit your palate, and for more protein, combine it with yogurt and grated apple for a bircher-style breakfast. This version contains more than a third of your daily recommended fibre intake per 55g serving.
1. Mix together 300g oats, 100g psyllium husk (very high fibre, you can find it in health food shops or online), or wheatgerm, 50g chopped nuts (such as almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts), 50g seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, flax, sesame), 50g dried fruit (raisins, chopped apricots, dates, figs etc).
2. Store in an airtight container.
Good, old-fashioned cornflakes are relatively low in sugar at just over ½ tsp (2.4g) per 30g serving compared with their sugar-coated cousin Frosties at nearly 3 tsp (11g) per serving.
Regular cornflakes are fortified with seven different vitamins and iron, including more than half of your daily vitamin D requirement per serving. However, they contain little fibre or protein and so, on their own, do not constitute a balanced breakfast.
1. Make your bowl of cornflakes work harder nutritionally by adding fresh fruit. Berries are an excellent choice as they are low in sugar and high in fibre.
2. Adding milk will increase the protein content, but only if you drink it after finishing your cereal; also consider adding a blob of Greek yogurt (50g contains a useful 5g of protein*).
3. A sprinkling of chopped nuts and seeds for healthy fats and protein will boost the fibre content too.
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