Association between Ready-to-Eat Cereal Consumption and Nutrient Intake, Nutritional Adequacy, and Diet Quality in Adults in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2015-2016.
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Cross-sectional analysis of survey data (NHANES)
PubMed 31817088 · doi:10.3390/nu11122952
What was done
Cross-sectional analysis of 5,163 US adults from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2015-2016. Ready-to-eat cereal consumption and overall dietary intake were evaluated using a single 1-day dietary recall. Food group intake was categorized via the Food Patterns Equivalent Database 2015-2016, and diet quality was evaluated using the Healthy Eating Index 2015 (HEI-2015).
What was found
Nineteen percent of adults consumed ready-to-eat cereal. Cereal eaters had similar total energy intake and added sugar intake compared to non-eaters, but significantly higher intakes of dietary fiber, whole grains, total fruits, dairy products, and multiple micronutrients (calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, zinc, vitamin A, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, folate, vitamin B12, and vitamin D). Cereal eaters had significantly higher HEI-2015 diet quality scores and higher likelihood of meeting nutrient recommendations. The abstract reports no exact numerical values or effect sizes for these differences.
Why it matters
It provides national surveillance data showing that ready-to-eat cereal consumption correlates with higher diet quality and micronutrient adequacy in US adults.
Limits
The cross-sectional design cannot establish causality. Dietary exposure was assessed using a single 24-hour recall, which is vulnerable to recall bias and does not reflect long-term habitual intake. The abstract provides no quantitative estimates, standard errors, or p-values, and potential residual confounding from broader healthy lifestyle factors was not reported.
Cited by
- context Approximately 80% of Americans eat cereal.