



When I was a kid, I wasn’t allowed to eat cookies for breakfast. So instead, I became a granola junkie, eating bowls of the stuff topped with honey and yogurt. As it turns out, I might have been better off eating cookies—granolas have more sugar than any other kind of cereal, according to a report released Thursday by the Environmental Working Group, a health research and advocacy organization.

EWG analyzed more than 1,500 cereals, including 181 brands marketed to children, and determined that “most pack in so much sugar that someone eating an average serving of a typical children’s cereal would consume more than 10 pounds of sugar a year from that source alone.” Excess sugar intake has been linked to obesity and diabetes, as well as numerous other health problems.

Using the report, we compared Chips Ahoy cookies—which clock in at about 11 grams of sugar per three cookies—against a single serving of certain cereal brands. These servings aren’t large, often hovering around a cup, which for me, a smallish lady, is a very puny breakfast indeed. Here’s what we found:

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