Bua Gomutputra | September 2026 | Project 4

Are “Healthy” Breakfast Cereals Actually Healthy?

Resources

This page gathers sources for the cereal research and explains key terms used in the data and analysis.

Carnegie Mellon University — Cereals Dataset
Source of the cereal data used in this project. The Data & Analysis page displays 32 selected cereals and compares their nutritional information.

ScienceDirect — Extrusion Cooking Book Chapter
Background reading about extrusion processing.
Harvard Health Publishing — Is Your Breakfast Cereal Healthy?
Information about evaluating breakfast cereals and their nutritional content.
CDC — Breakfast Consumption Among Children and Adolescents in the United States, 2015–2018
Research on breakfast consumption among children and adolescents, including the graph used on the homepage.
Healthline - Breakfast Cereals: Healthy or Unhealthy?
Background information on cereal processing, sugar content and choosing breakfast cereals.

Click a term to show or hide its definition.

1. Serving Size: The amount of cereal used as the basis for the nutritional values listed per serving. Serving sizes can differ between cereals.
2. Nutritional Profile: An overview of a food's nutrients, including its calories, sugar, fiber, protein, fat and sodium.
3. Dietary Fiber: A type of carbohydrate that the body does not fully digest. This table lists fiber in grams per serving.
4. Fortification: The addition of vitamins or minerals to a food.
5. Nutrient Density: The amount of nutrients a food provides in relation to its calories.
6. Nutritional Rating: The score listed for a cereal in this dataset. A higher number means a higher dataset rating. The score alone does not explain the individual nutrient values.