In today’s world nutritional
information is hugely important when it comes to any food product. Transparency is key as far as calories, fat,
carbs, and any sort of additives go. A
healthier lifestyle is something one should strive for anyway, but it has come
to the forefront of society especially in the 21st century. It’s not as if people did not care about
their health back in the 1980’s, it was just that it was left up to a person to
make the right choices on their own for what they put into their bodies. However, it was during this decade that the
changes became apparent when it came to certain food additives, especially
sugar. The 1980’s were the decade when
sugar became a four-letter word.
The area where this change was
seen most had to have been breakfast cereals.
Perhaps it is because cereal was always one of my favorite things, and
still is today, that I had many dealings with these changes. So where did the changes become most
obvious? In the names of course.
When 1980 began there were some
very popular cereals which had been around for decades. There was Sugar Crisp, which had debuted in
1949, Sugar Pops, which hit the market in 1950, Sugar Frosted Flakes, which was
introduced in 1952, and Sugar Smacks which was released in 1953. By the time 1985 dawned the cereals were
called Super Golden Crisp, Corn Pops, Frosted Flakes, and Honey Smacks. Why the change?
Throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s
the sugar content in breakfast cereals kept increasing with companies become
more brazen when it came to the fact that they were pumping kids full of the
sweet stuff. The counter-culture of the
late 1960’s became the turning point as people began to think that maybe it
wasn’t great for kids to be eating tons of sugar. I have always enjoyed my sweet cereals so I
am torn on this as I do see their point.
For example, two of the worst culprits of the sugar overload were, and
still are, Golden Crisp and Honey Smacks.
Golden Crisp has a sugar content of 51%, meaning that 51% of the cereal’s
weight is comprised of sugar, while Honey Smacks has a 55% sugar content. Now, this is not meant to be some anti-sugar
rant, I am just saying that I can see where people were coming from when the
backlash against high-sugar cereals came to a head in the early 1980’s. So a lot of manufacturers toned down the use
of sugar, by changing the names, not really by lowering sugar amounts.
Despite the name changes in some
all-time favorites children of the 1980’s like myself were treated to some
amazing flash in the pan cereals that could not have been exactly low in
sugar. Do you remember any of these
short-lived 80’s breakfast names? Dunkin’
Donuts Cereal, Ice Cream Cones, Nerds, OJ’s, Powdered Donutz Cereal, Rocky Road,
S’Mores Crunch, Waffleo’s , Circus Fun.
They all sound very healthy.
The 1980’s were definitely a golden age of breakfast cereals. Even though the pushback against high sugar products was in full swing that didn’t stop manufacturers from creating some memorable meals for kids. I know I definitely enjoyed my Saturday mornings in the 1980’s about as much as any time of my life, cereal and cartoon were a great mix. What were your favorite cereals in the 1980’s? Did you remember when the word sugar was featured in many of those old classics? Come on back for more sweeter than sweet 1980’s memories!
Check out the previous Child of the 1980's blog all about the Drive-In.
and Long Point Light(I was too tired to hike the extra 4 miles each way).
to sponsor my travels considering that I use their product all the time it sort of fits.
and a prospect to the Dodgers for Andre Ethier? I will help Dice-K pack and drive him to the airport once it’s done.
and traveling the country went up in flames as soon as I saw prices. Most were over 100 grand, damn! I’d rather take the bus, oh wait, maybe not.
