Which Has More Sugar: Cap'n Crunch® or Twinkies®?

Although breakfast cereal is often thought of as healthy, many cereals have as much sugar as desserts — or more. A cup (237 mL) of Cap'n Crunch® cereal has a little more sugar than there is in a Hostess Twinkie®, with 1 cup (237 mL) of the cereal having about 25.47 grams of sugar and one Twinkie® having about 25.33 grams. Cap'n Crunch® isn't the only cereal to have a lot of sugar — more than 44 children's cereals have more sugar in 1 cup (237 mL) than three Chips Ahoy!® cookies.

More facts about cereal and sugar:

• Measured by weight, Kellogg's Honey Smacks® and Post Golden Crisp® are both more than 50% sugar. Honey Smacks® is about 55% sugar, and Golden Crisp® is about 52% sugar by weight.


• Out of 84 children's cereals assessed in a study by the Environmental Working Group, 56 were more than 26% sugar by weight, and about 21 were more than 38% sugar by weight.


• The sugar content of a cereal can vary dramatically between different flavors of the same cereal. For instance, the original flavor of Cheerios® is only about 3.6% sugar by weight, but several other flavors, including the apple cinnamon variety, are about 33% sugar by weight.