There’s another product on the market that claims to be a suitable part of your breakfast, and that is Kraft’s Belvita Breakfast Biscuits.
Advertised on TV using a couple of well-liked celebs these ‘biscuits for breakfast’ are seductive. I mean, who doesn’t sometimes fancy something sweet for breakfast and if the famous, slim and attractive woman on the telly eats them then they must be ok. Right?
Ok, the TV ad got my attention. A biscuit ‘designed for breakfast’ that releases its carbs over 4 hours. Sounds good. I’m all for slow release carbs – they help keep your energy levels up and reduce cravings – but could this benefit really be found in a biscuit?
So I bought a packet to check out their credentials and give them a try.
Clever Packaging and Marketing
The first thing I noticed was that they were on offer in small packs in the supermarket – a clever incentive to get you to try them.
The second thing I noticed was the packaging. I bought the ‘fruit and fibre’ biscuits which are decorated with an illustration of wheat swaying in the wind and coloured yellow as though basking in the sunshine (don’t you just feel a warm and healthy glow already?). In the bottom left is a photograph of more wholegrains and ears of grain along with fresh figs – just to let you know, if you hadn’t already realised that this product is full of good healthy stuff!
To give the impression of scientific authority a graph sits to the top left, presumably to signify how the carbs are released slowly in the body.
Below this comes a call-to-action, ‘Why not take a little time to enjoy a balanced, yet absolutely delicious Belvita Breakfast’.
According to the box, a balanced breakfast is:
- 4 Belvita Breakfast biscuits
- a low fat yoghurt
- a piece of fruit
- a cup of tea or coffee
So, is this really a balanced breakfast?
Let’s check it out and take a look at the nutritional information on the packaging.
The main claim made by the manufacturer is that the wholegrain in the biscuit allows a slow release of carbs over 4 hours. However the carbohydrate content of these biscuits is 64 grams per 100 grams of which 25 grams is sugar (compare that to porridge which has 1.1 grams of sugar per 100 grams of product and Weetabix which has 4.4 grams of sugar per 100 grams of product). The problem here is that sugar is a super fast release carbohydrate and sugar, unfortunately, apart from causing blood sugar spikes is actually toxic which is why the body tries so hard to mop up it up by sending out its insulin soldiers asap.
Out of interest I compared this nutritional information with a cupcake, namely the Fabulous Bakin’ Boys Chocolate and Orange King Cupcake.
Guess what. The Belvita Breakfast Biscuits had pretty much the same amount of sugar in them as the cupcakes: 52.3 grams per 100 grams 29.5 grams of which are sugars! Unsurprisingly a quick look at the list of ingredients shows that sugar is the second on the list and that other forms of sugar, such as dextrose also make an appearance.
So, you might just as well eat cake for breakfast!
Kraft may advise you to combine these biscuits with other ‘healthy’ food stuffs but there too lays a problem. Low fat yoghurts are not low sugar and some fruit, such as the grapes pictured as part of their ideal breakfast combo, can also be laden with sugar albeit natural sugar. If you take sugar in your tea or coffee too then you are seriously overdosing on the sticky stuff first thing in the morning and will very probably feel fatigued and hungry by mid-morning and begin craving more sugar and stimulants to keep you going.
Yes, wholegrains do release their carbohydrates more slowly but here they are combined with so much sugar that you’ll have a sugar high and your body will have to send out its insulin troops quick fast to mop up the overdose which it will then store as fat. Oh, and there are only 8g of wholegrain per 50g of biscuit!
Obesity and Type 2 diabetes are on the rise in the UK and the US in large part, I believe, because of the sugar laden products that are manufactured and masquerade as food.
Perhaps it’s time that these kinds of products carried a health warning just as cigarette packets do. After all, it’s not that long ago that cigarettes were peddled as good for your health and we all know how true that was!
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{ 50 comments… read them below or add one }
I must disagree, although they are higher in fat and sugar than a typical cereal they definitely do what they say on the box. Generally for breakfast I eat either cornflakes or weetabix with skimmed milk and some fruit, however after buying belvita biscuits I decided to try the balanced breakfast they recommend. I had a small serving of fruit, and activia fat free yoghurt and only 2 rather than the 4 biscuits. I definitely felt full for the whole morning after eating my breakfast at 9, I did not feel the need to eat again till around 1.30 pm. So although they may not be the lowest fat breakfast around, I would rather eat them and feel full all morning than eating something low fat and then feel the need to snack again not long after.
I agree that it is really important to find a breakfast that sustains us and that cereals very rarely do this. However, given the increase in obesity and type II diabetes in the western world then I feel it is important to try to avoid sugar where possible and unfortunately this can mean avoiding many processed foods. Some examples of suitable breakfasts that are low in sugar could be fruit with yoghurt sprinkled with seeds, porridge, a two egg omelete on wholemeal toast, and wholemeal toast spread with peanut butter (no added sugar version).
I find them satisfying enough 4 biscuits for breakfast 9am and I can wait until 12pm for lunch, not saying that they are any better than any other breakfast but they are not undeniably evil. I have 250 calories for breakfast so 4 biscuits are fine but lets be realistic obesity is caused by overeating not eating these.
I found your article very interesting, as I was eating a Belvita Breakfast buscuit at the time. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to prepare the breakfast you describe and prefer to eat once I get to work. What do you suggest as an alternative?
Cheers,
John
Hi John
Sorry for the late reply!
If you prefer to eat when you get to work why not pack yourself up with a small healthy meal. It doesn’t have to be a traditional breakfast.
Ha ha! Awesome post! As a successful PT I’m always telling people about benefits o protein for breakfast and when these “joke” products come on the Market to fool the nutrition unwise consumer it’s shocking really! Keep up the good work!
Hi Mark
Yep, they really aren’t a good option for breakfast. Thanks for the support.
This website comes up first when you type Belvita in Google!
The first few replies appeat to be from the manufacturer!
Yep, David – my thoughts exactly – possibly a pr agency! Thanks for your support.
My thoughts exactly. They think they can fool us. Hahaaaa
Wow; thanks for your article on these. I am trying to loose 6kg and was considering buying these. I won’t now!
Is melon and Parma ham a healthy breakfast or should I substitute the ham for something else, if so, what would you suggest?
I thought the biscuits would be nice for a little ‘crunch’ in the morning.
Hi Hannah
I think that it is a good idea to cut right down on sugar if you’re trying to lose weight, as well as being very beneficial to health generally.
Healthy breakfasts that contain slow release carbohydrates and protein such as porridge (made with milk) with a piece of fresh fruit, poached eggs on wholemeal toast, or even wholemeal toast spread with (sugar free) peanut butter, would be preferable to ‘melon and Parma ham’.
For a little crunch mid-morning why not try a couple of oatcakes with hummus or cottage cheese – yum!
These posts are a great help. I was just sitting there thinking I’ve found something perfect, as I’m not normally a brekkie person and trying to lose a bit of weight but thought I should check it out first. So thank you for stopping me make a big mistake. *****
Glad to be of help – it’s why I’m here
I am type II diabetic attempting to manage my condition by diet, saw the advert on telivision and figured this would be a good breakfast as an alternative to my regular breakfast… Thank you for the warning but frankly given the risks to diabetics maybe they should placea safety warning on the advert!
That’s a great idea – ‘maybe they should place a safety warning on the advert!’. Glad I could help give a bit of guidance.
sometimes i have had them for breakfast with tea/coffee, now i just have them as a mid morning snack or afternoon snack. i would say they are quite sweet, lets face it alot of people are drinking and eating something that is sweet every day. so i am not going to let this bother me.
as written earlier try packing something the night before to eat for breakfast, without breakfast i do not feel myself, and i would ENCOURAGE people to have at least dry bread with butter/jam.
It’s always a VERY good idea to have breakfast. The clue is in the word itself – you are breaking your fast. Our bodies are like a cold house without a fire – it just won’t warm up without being lit. Breakfast is our fire that warms our house and gets it working efficiently. A healthy breakfast is essential to maintaining blood glucose levels which is SO important in both preventing and managing diabetes.
Well, this is disappointing! But teaches me a lesson for believing the marketing hype and not looking at the ingredients list when I bought them.
I never have time before leaving my house to have breakfast and so eat when I get to work. I had been taking the little packages of porridge but we are so often out of milk in the office that I thought these would be a perfect substitute.
Back to the porridge I guess, just got to remember to make sure the office fridge is stocked up on milk!
Thanks for the good work, as well as your site being the first hit on google for “Belvita” it’s also the first hit for “breakfast biscuits”. A good job, otherwise I would never have found this out!
Hi Sam
It’s so tempting to believe the hype isn’t it! I make sure I read the labels on everything these days and it always amazes me how often sugar appears in the top three ingredients.
Have you thought about cooking your porridge the night before and then re-heating it at work. Another alternative would be to add the milk before you leave home and keep it in a flask or leak-proof container and then heating it up when you get there.
Porridge rocks! It’s so good for us in so many ways.
Good morning
thank you for this article. It is very informative. I think i’ll go back to the weetabix even if it is not so convenient.
Hi Catherine
Thanks for stopping by and the vote of support
I think convenience can be a major stumbling block for a lot of people when it comes to breakfast and perhaps that’s why the biscuits appeal.
Personally I can’t leave the house without a decent breakfast – I feel tired and lacklustre if I don’t.
My one tip to anyone who struggles with time in the morning to get a decent breakfast would be to make a few changes to their schedule, for example, getting organised the night before and perhaps going to bed a little earlier so that the mornings aren’t such a rush.
Interesting article. Biscuits for breakfast- I knew it was too good to be healthy! I feel like I can’t handle a breakfast before work as my work hours are often very early and I take these biscuits to eat on my break. By lunch time I am ravenous and can’t understand why as they are very filling (often i can’t eat all four) and there is only usually about 2 hours between my break and lunch time. Considering the “sugar high” you explained about, I now probably know why I feel so hungry come lunch time. Also, I have been losing weight for about 6 months now, and since I started eating this product the weight loss has slowed right down, even though I have been eating healthily through the week. So it might explain why that is happening. Thank you for posting this. Think I will find a healthier alternative. Amy.
Hi Amy
That’s a very useful comment and is a case in point as to why I object to this product.
Unfortunately for us all 300 calories of sugar-laden biscuit, for example, doesn’t have the same effect in the body as 300 calories of slow release carbohydrates, protein and essential fats.
Chomping away on sugar gives us an overdose of energy and this energy is then stored as fat whilst the 300 calories of healthy food would be broken down far more slowly allowing our bodies to use it rather than store it.
Thanks for stopping by
I have to disagree also. I quite like this product and I don’t think they sell them as a super biscuit, the one you have been waiting for all your life. They are convenient and easy to stomach.
I am 8 months pregnant, found it very difficult to stomach cereals with milk which previously was the most convenient way to get a full stomach going to work.
Two of these biscuits with some fruit left me full until lunch time and I did not suffer any drops in energy or increased hunger, which as a chocolate fiend I am well capable of recognising. I do think it’s important to pair with a lower GI fruit though, as the facts speak for themselves, there is a higher sugar content in these biccies but they are fine if you make a mini pack last a couple of days.
What you’ve outlined above isn’t a suitable breakfast, especially during pregnancy. Certainly, eating foods high in sugar is very bad for our health and recent research that indicates overweight as a catalyst for cancer makes it even more important to avoid sugary and fat-laden processed foods I think.
This explains a lot about my workmates. I don’t eat breakfast (which I know is no good either) but my workmates eat these, then require more stuff before lunch. I happily go to 1pm every day without eating, just a cup of coffee does me.
Great article. These things are very addictive and as someone who does watch what they eat I have to admit I’ve been suckered in purely due to the convenience factor. All the info on the sugars is very helpful. Cheers!
Glad to be of use James
A completely agree that these are something of a con, but which of us doesn’t know that you can’t live on biscuits for breakfast…
The one thing I would say however is that they’re brilliant for pregnant people. I have cereal or toast for brekkie, but wouldn’t manage the long train ride to work without these – great for settling those morning sickness pangs!
Hiya
Like Sam I have been totally taken in by this product, didn’t bother reading the ingredients. I have my breakfast when I get to work and found this product really convenient. I have the Yogurt Crunch pack which has 67g of carbs per 100 of which sugars 28g!! I knew this product was too good to be true, I have a really sweet tooth and do enjoy the taste, but it back to the porridge for me (even if it does have to be the syrup swirl variety). Thank you for the heads up on this.
Oh no! I have been eating belvita religiously every day as I don’t have much time in the morning, in fact most days I will take 2 packets one for breakfast and one for a mid morning snack. They have been on offer so i have like 4 boxes in my cupboard!
I definitely agree that they are sweet but it’s so ideal to just grab and run and in all fairness i think 1 pack and a piece of fruit would fill me up until lunch. I will definitely think twice about eating them now and If i have time to prepare breakfast I will instead.
Great article!
Also great tip for making sure your not over eating is to drink plenty water, try it and you will realise sometimes your not even hungry!
Thanks for the great post. I wasn’t sucked in by the advertising; personally I rolled my eyes at their claims of a healthy breakfast biscuit. But I was handed one of their Belvita yogurt bars at a train station, tried it and thought it wasn’t half bad. I’m so glad I looked it up before committing to buy them for breakfast; I definitely won’t be getting them now. Sticking to my instincts
Do you think they are the healthier option to ‘norma’l biscuits as a snack?
Hi, this is great thanks, had planned to buy them, making conscious effort to eat breakfast. Also been having the oat so simple pots that you add water and stir as quick and no cooking required. I have the original ones and then fruit mid morning. Is this ok, sugar wise? They do have skim+ed powdered milk.
Thanks
They have hit the shelves in American grocery stores! I just bought a box yesterday, and only a few minutes ago, tried them. Hmmm. Well, after eating three of them, I felt the same way I would after eating something chocked full of high fructose corn syrup. I double checked the ingredient list to see if it is hiding somewhere. I am highly suspicious that HFCS is in it, just being passed off under a different name.
I just do not feel as though I just ate something even remotely “healthy.”
I, too, have taken advantage of the intro pricing as well as the aisle-side $1 off coupon for a box of Blueberry flavour. Funny how these are marketed as biscuits; I’m sure I’ve had cookies for breakfast back in high school (20 years ago) and it’s definitely how you markets this! I’m glad that Whole Grain Blend is the 1st ingredient, but “enriched” flour, which is 2nd, might be the hidden surprise gotcha. I paired this with a Chobani yogurt and it’s a nice change from a bowl of cereal. If not for the discounts, I’d be hesitant to purchase again.
I love these breakfast biscuits. I have all 4 in the pack (crunchy oats) and a protein shake every morning. I’m a runner and cyclist, and sometimes have them as a pre-workout boost too. It’s all about calories in and calories out, I’m sure they don’t go straight to my backside after eating them
If they keep you satisfied and you enjoy the taste, then go for it.
They ran the first commerical for them last night after the Super Bowl, during The Voice. I googled them this morning and found your add, the fact that in the commerical and on the Nabisco website they tell you to look for them in the cookie isle should tell you something. I read your article, wonderful, I have bookmarked your site and will be reading as many articles as I can and passing your site along to my health conscience friends.
I’m suprised by your findings and what you say, especialy when a reputable company like ‘Lloyds’ chemist sell them !
As anybody have any thoughts on this?
Very good article. I bought a pack of Belvita ‘Milk and Cereals’ as they were on offer but have to agree with you. I don’t think they could substitute breakfast. Make a nice alternative to digestives though
No where online can I find their list of product ingredients. Any highly processed food is much more difficult for the body to break down as it is packed with thickeners, preservatives, sugars, [poisons]. Your body is designed to utilize the sugars in a piece of fruit far greater than it is in breaking down and utilizing added sugar and other sweeteners to a product that doesn’t already contain its own natural sugars. This also contains soy which is a highly genetically engineered food item, as well, probably are the other grains in this product. One of the healthiest foods you can have for breakfast is oatmeal. If you must add sugar, add a tablespoon of organic turbine sugar that is sustainable. I use local Florida crystals. Also, turbine sugar is not bleached. There is also way too much fat in this processed food item, which is fats they have added back into the “food”, probably cause to highly processed oils. It does say that it contains “seeds” for those people with allergies, but your body would be much healthier if you consumed oatmeal (with a dash of turbine sugar, if you must), fresh fruit, and raw nuts. This is not rocket science–this is logic. This product caters to those that devalue health in favor of laziness and convenience instead of taking their own accountability for the content they put into their own body.
I eat these before I head to the gym and they’re great for that, followed with a good whey protein shake after the gym. For somebody who was going to active and physical, nothing about these would cause me any alarms. Eating anything healthy or not and just sitting on your behind will do you no good.
Well I’m not the manufacturer and I agree with the first two posters lol. I have 4 of these biscuits, a banana, a yoghurt and a cup of tea for breakfast and they honestly do keep me going until afternoon. Albeit I am not overweight and have a high metabolism so I neve really gain weight, even though I’m pushing 30, so calories aren’t a major concern for me.
Awesome post. I was about to add them to my shopping list after seeing the ad on TV ( again) when I decided to check.
Thank you for looking out for us
Appreciate the info!
I have only just recently tried these biscuits, I tend to eat them as a
Mid morning snack rather than replacing breakfast.
I would be interested to know of any alternative
Cereal/oat based biscuits you could recommend?
Someone said oat cakes which would be good with honey/fruit and Greek yoghurt (to fill the sweet tooth craving). I usually eat porridge with soya/hot water or rice milk but by the time you have added fruit and/or seeds this is almost a 300/400 calorie breakfast which is a bit too high (for me).
One good option for the porridge lovers here if you don’t have time to make it, soak the oats over night in either milk/water/juice. In the morning it will be “ready to eat” so you can add fruit, yoghurt or whatever. Quick breakie sorted!
Try shredded wheat, this is by far the best breakfast cereal!
I do not think these Belvita biscuits are healthy at all. They contain as much fat as any other biscuit in addition to the points made above. Anyone trying to live healthy should be cutting out biscuits.
I will be sticking to museli, porridge or granola that is low in sugar and fat.
Nice article btw!
Overprocessed culinary nightmare!