| [Data] | [<Normal page] [PEREZGONZALEZ Jose D (2012). The nutritional balance of kinds of breakfast cereals. Journal of Knowledge Advancement & Integration (ISSN 1177-4576), 2012, pages 108-113.] |
Nutritional balance of kinds of breakfast cereals
Perezgonzalez assessed the nutritional balance of breakfast cereals in 2012 (see b3,c4,d5,e6,f7,g8). The same data can be analysed further, to ascertain whether features such as being sold under a generic brand or having children as the target customer may (unintentionally) inform about the overall nutritional balance of above products.
Illustration 1 collates information per group within each kind of product, namely group size, as well as median and interquartile range for nutritional balance (BNI). Illustration 2 collates information about mean ranks per group, as well as tests for equality of ranked distributions for independent groups (Mann-Whitney U tests and equivalent Z areas).
| Illustration 1: Group size, medians & interquartile ranges | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kind | 'No' | 'Yes' | ||||||||
| n | median | ( IQR ) | n | median | ( IQR ) | |||||
| Children | 64 | 37.27 | ( 41.31 ) | 15 | 72.65 | ( 48.24 ) | ||||
| Generic | 63 | 39.51 | ( 49.72 ) | 16 | 36.89 | ( 61.00 ) | ||||
| (Medians closer to 0.0 indicate greater balance) | ||||||||||
According to these results, it can be concluded that:
- Cereals grouped according to having children as their customer base or not show ranked group distances so extreme that, under normal circumstances, such distances would only occur about 4 times in 100. As cereals not targeted to children have a lower median (37.27) than cereals targeted to children (72.65), it can be inferred that cereals not targeted to children are more balanced nutritionally. Indeed, the absence of such targeted marketing alone would identify some 23% of more nutritionally balanced breakfast cereals (see rho values in illustration 3).
- Cereals grouped according to whether they are marketed under a generic brand or not show ranked group distances within the expected normal range, and relatively similar medians. Thus, it can be inferred that breakfast cereals marketed under generic brands have a similar nutritional balance than breakfast cereals marketed under specific commercial brands. Therefore, this grouping is not helpful in identifying different nutritional balance among breakfast cereals.
| Illustration 2. Mann-Whitney U tests | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kind | m.rank 'no' | m.rank 'yes' | U | Z | ( p ) | |||||
| Children | 37.47 | 50.80 | 318.0 | -2.03 | ( .043 ) | |||||
| Generic | 40.10 | 39.59 | 497.5 | -.08 | ( .937 ) | |||||
| (Mean ranks closer to 0.0 indicate greater balance. Sig ≤ .05, 2-tailed) | ||||||||||
Illustration 3 collates information about a multiple regression model for assessing the potential combination of both kinds of breakfast cereals groupings. The regression model (R, 'stepwise' procedure) retains only the 'targeted to children' category as a significant variable, capable of identifying the nutritional balance of about 23% of breakfast cereals in the sample. The 'usability' of such regression model for predicting the nutritional balance of breakfast cereals not in the sample is, approximately, 20% (adjusted R).
| Illustration 3. Regression model on ranked BNI | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| rho | ( p ) | β | ( p ) | |||||||
| Children | .229 | ( .042 ) | .229 | ( .042 ) | ||||||
| Generic | -.009 | ( .937 ) | ||||||||
| R = | .229 | ( .042 ) | ||||||||
| Adj.R = | .200 | |||||||||
| (Dependent variable = BNI. Sig ≤ .05, 2-tailed) | ||||||||||
Methods
Research approach
Exploratory study.
Sample
The research sample included 79 breakfast cereals (ie, oats, wheat, rice, corn, bran and muesli). Although the research aimed for a stratified sampling procedure, products were nonetheless collected in a convenient manner (see Perezgonzalez, 2012a2).
Materials
The main (or dependent) variable was the BNI classification for each food as assessed using the Balanced Nutrition Index™ (BNI™) technology (see Perezgonzalez, 20111).
Grouping (or independent) variables were two: generic brands (also known as supermarket brands or low-cost brands), and products targeted to children. A product was classified as a generic brand if it was a well-known supermarket brand or one of a wholesaler's generic brands. A product was classified as targeted to children independently of whether it was verbally targeted to children or marketed in a childish manner (eg, with cartoons); products without such direct or indirect references were not classified as targeted to children, even if they looked similar to the former or was suspected children were the most probable consumer target.
| Illustration 4: Breakfast cereals from generic brands and targeted to children | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product100g | BNI | Generic | Children | ||||||
| Be Natural multi grain porridge | 6.07 | No | No | ||||||
| Harraways organic rolled oats | 6.83 | No | No | ||||||
| Traditional Porridge brown sugar & cinnamon | 6.89 | No | No | ||||||
| Be Natural cashew, almond, hazelnut & coconut | 8.25 | No | No | ||||||
| Homebrand traditional muesli | 9.77 | Yes | No | ||||||
| Creamy porridge | 12.21 | Yes | No | ||||||
| Harraways organic wholegrain oats | 12.21 | No | No | ||||||
| Harraways traditional wholegrain oats | 12.21 | No | No | ||||||
| Harraways rolled oats | 12.21 | No | No | ||||||
| Harraways Scotch oats | 12.21 | No | No | ||||||
| Oat Singles plain | 12.21 | No | No | ||||||
| Home Brand Quick Oats | 12.26 | Yes | No | ||||||
| Be Natural vanilla almond porridge | 12.64 | No | No | ||||||
| Oat Singles chocolate | 16.64 | No | Yes | ||||||
| Simply Reduced Fat Muesli cranberry & vanilla | 18.04 | No | No | ||||||
| Vogel's rolled oats plus | 18.24 | No | No | ||||||
| Simply toasted muesli original | 19.69 | No | No | ||||||
| Pams natural muesli | 20.25 | Yes | No | ||||||
| Big Breakfast toasted muesli | 20.26 | No | No | ||||||
| Simply toasted muesli 5 golden grains | 20.35 | No | No | ||||||
| Woolworths Select muesli morning crunch | 20.83 | Yes | No | ||||||
| Pams toasted muesli | 24.16 | Yes | No | ||||||
| Be Natural pink lady, flame raisins & fruit | 24.76 | No | No | ||||||
| Oats Smooth & Tasty vanilla | 26.26 | No | Yes | ||||||
| Pams reduced fat toasted muesli | 29.53 | Yes | No | ||||||
| Uncle Tobys Plus omega 3 | 29.81 | No | No | ||||||
| Sanitarium puffed wheat | 31.88 | No | No | ||||||
| Vogel's manuka, honey & apricot porridge | 33.54 | No | No | ||||||
| Oats Smooth & Tasty strawberry | 34.13 | No | Yes | ||||||
| Simply toasted muesli apricot | 34.40 | No | No | ||||||
| Oats Smooth & Tasty honey | 34.51 | No | Yes | ||||||
| Weet-Bix | 35.26 | No | Yes | ||||||
| Oat Singles honey & golden syrup | 35.55 | No | No | ||||||
| Sustain original | 36.00 | No | No | ||||||
| Pams wheat biskits | 36.32 | Yes | No | ||||||
| Oat Singles morning berry | 36.74 | No | No | ||||||
| Harraways fruit harvest | 37.24 | No | No | ||||||
| Mini Wheats mixed berry flavour | 37.31 | No | No | ||||||
| Homebrand wheat biscuits | 37.46 | Yes | No | ||||||
| Mini Wheats blackcurrant flavor | 38.79 | No | No | ||||||
| Bran & berries | 39.51 | No | No | ||||||
| Oat Singles apple, sultana & cinnamon | 39.68 | No | No | ||||||
| Bran & apricot | 40.89 | No | No | ||||||
| Sanitarium Honey Puffs | 40.90 | No | Yes | ||||||
| Fibre Life bran flakes | 41.40 | No | No | ||||||
| Be Natural 5 whole grains | 43.11 | No | No | ||||||
| Pams Lite & Fruity apricot fruit | 44.65 | Yes | No | ||||||
| Freedom Foods rice flakes with psyllium | 44.94 | No | No | ||||||
| Just Right original | 54.64 | No | No | ||||||
| Kellogg's sultana bran | 55.58 | No | No | ||||||
| J.R.Fields choc scoops | 56.21 | No | Yes | ||||||
| Special K | 56.50 | No | No | ||||||
| Budget tropical muesli | 57.29 | Yes | No | ||||||
| Alison Holst decadent delight | 57.82 | No | No | ||||||
| Bran & sultana | 60.33 | No | No | ||||||
| All-Bran Wheat Flakes honey almond | 61.40 | No | No | ||||||
| Heart 1st | 67.46 | No | No | ||||||
| All-Bran Wheat Flakes original | 68.58 | No | No | ||||||
| Nutri-Grain | 70.08 | No | No | ||||||
| Alison Holst rise & shine | 72.63 | No | No | ||||||
| J.R.Fields corn scoops | 72.65 | No | Yes | ||||||
| Kellogg's corn flakes | 74.90 | No | No | ||||||
| J.R.Fields rice pops | 80.35 | No | Yes | ||||||
| Coco Pops | 81.29 | No | Yes | ||||||
| Budget cocoa puffs | 81.39 | Yes | No | ||||||
| Homebrand cocoa puffs | 81.39 | Yes | No | ||||||
| Rice Bubbles | 81.69 | No | Yes | ||||||
| Homebrand corn flakes | 81.93 | Yes | No | ||||||
| Frosties | 82.76 | No | Yes | ||||||
| J.R.Fields honey wheats | 84.04 | No | Yes | ||||||
| Homebrand rice pops | 84.05 | Yes | Yes | ||||||
| Sanitarium Ricies | 84.63 | No | Yes | ||||||
| Crispix honey | 87.65 | No | No | ||||||
| Protein 1st | 90.43 | No | No | ||||||
| All-Bran original | 97.55 | No | No | ||||||
| Healtheries bran flakes | 128.74 | No | No | ||||||
| Brantastix | 129.23 | No | No | ||||||
| Homebrand natural brand | 131.80 | Yes | No | ||||||
| San Bran | 156.01 | No | No | ||||||
| (Source: Perezgonzalez, 2012a2) | |||||||||
Analysis
- The distribution of the BNI variable deviated from normality in a significant manner (see illustration 5), some of the claim groups were too small in size, and not all variables were related linearly with the dependent variable (BNI) (see illustration 6). Thus, a non-parametric approach was used for statistical analysis9.
| Illustration 5. Assessment of normality of the BNI variable | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Variable | Mean | Median | Skew.Z | ( p ) | Kurt.Z | ( p ) | K-S | df | ( p ) | |
| BNI | 47.97 | 38.78 | 3.76 | ( .000 ) | 1.74 | ( .082 ) | .149 | 79 | ( .000 ) | |
| (Sig ≤ .05, 2-tailed) | ||||||||||
| Illustration 6. Curve estimation for kind of cereal on the BNI | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kind | Generic | Children | ||||||||
| Linear fit (p) | ( .984 ) | ( .123 ) | ||||||||
| Best fit curve | compound | compound | ||||||||
| (p) | ( .910 ) | ( .042 ) | ||||||||
| (Dependent variable = BNI. Sig ≤ .05, 2-tailed) | ||||||||||
- Main analyses: tests of significance (Fisher's approach) based on sig ≤ .05 or more extreme probabilities, 2-tailed.
- Main tests: Mann-Whitney U test for equality of ranked distributions of independent groups, Spearman's rho correlations, and multiple correlation on ranked data.
- All analyses were carried out with SPSS-v18 (PASW Statistics 18).
Generalization potential
Most breakfast products were produced locally or imported and exported from or to Australia, respectively. Thus, the results of this study may be generalizable to the following populations (in order of decreasing generalization power):
- Australia.
- Internationally, assuming breakfast products to be of approximately similar nutritional composition anywhere.
Want to know more?
- BNI™ journal (2012, issue 3) - Breakfast cereals
- This issue of the Balanced Nutrition Index™ journal collates all BNI™ nutrition information for the original sample in a single book. You can also access information about each individual breakfast cereal on the BNI™ database and aggregated information on Wiki of Science (nutritional balance of food)
- Wiki of Science - Marketing claims and the nutritional balance of breakfast cereals
- Two Wiki of Science pages provide summary and detailed information, respectively, about a research related to the one here discussed.
Author
Jose D PEREZGONZALEZ (2012). Massey University, Turitea Campus, Private Bag 11-222, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand. (JDPerezgonzalez).
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