Cereal is a breakfast staple for many, conjuring nostalgic childhood memories and serving as a delicious, convenient, and prep-free meal. We usually don’t think about cereal as being particularly healthy, as most grocery store varieties are high in sugar and other refined carbohydrates. However, cereal can serve as an important source of certain nutrients.
Iron is one of these! As a mineral required for the production of hemoglobin, an oxygen-carrying molecule in red blood cells, it’s an essential nutrient for maintaining healthy energy levels.
Cereal can be a helpful tool for people trying to get more iron in their diet. This is true even for people with iron-deficiency anemia or vegans looking to eat more iron-rich vegan foods.
In this post, I’ll provide a helpful list of vegan cereals with the most iron, discuss ways to boost iron absorption, and explain how to make cereal into a more balanced breakfast.
Iron in breakfast cereal
Let’s start with a little education on reading nutrition facts labels. Technically, the FDA considers foods to be “high” in a particular nutrient when one serving provides you with 20% or more of the recommended Daily Value for that nutrient.
The Daily Value for iron in adults is 18 milligrams, meaning that a serving of food would have to have an iron content of 3.6 milligrams to be considered a high-iron food.
Many breakfast cereals are fortified with iron, meaning they’ve had additional iron added to them by the manufacturer. These fortified breakfast cereals often provide close to 100% of the Daily Value. Unfortunately, many of these breakfast cereals are not vegan due to the use of honey, animal-derived vitamin D3, or cane sugar processed with animal bone char.
Not all vegans strictly avoid sugar filtered through bone char, but many do. Therefore, I didn’t include breakfast cereals with that ingredient in this list.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any vegan-friendly cereals with 20% or more of the Daily Value for iron, so I decided to focus on cereals that contain at least 2 milligrams of iron (10% of the Daily Value).
12 vegan breakfast cereals high in iron
After scouring the internet, these were the vegan options richest in iron:
1. Manitoba Harvest Hemp Yeah! Dark Chocolate Granola – 3 mg (15% DV)
2. Manitoba Harvest Hemp Yeah! Blueberry Granola – 3 mg (16% DV)
3. Kashi GO Cinnamon Crisp – 2.7 mg (15% DV)
4. Barbara’s Morning Oat Crunch – 2.5 mg (14% DV)
5. Nature’s Path Organic Flax Plus Maple Pecan Crunch – 2.5 mg (14% DV)
6. 365 by Whole Foods Market Cereal Bran Flakes – 2.4 mg (13% DV)
7. Kashi GO Chocolate Crunch – 2.3 mg (13% DV)
8. Nature’s Path Heritage Flakes – 2 mg (10% DV)
9. Nature’s Path Optimum Power Blueberry Cinnamon Flax Cereal – 2 mg (10% DV)
10. Purely Elizabeth Cinnamon Raisin Almond Superfood Cereal – 2 mg (10% DV)
11. Nature’s Path Pumpkin Seed + Flax Granola – 2 mg (10% DV)
12. HEB Organics Raisin Bran Cereal – 2 mg (10% DV)
How to tell whether breakfast cereal contains iron
If a cereal has been fortified with additional iron, you’ll find this in the ingredients list. Often, iron is listed under a “Vitamins and Minerals” blend.
You can tell how much iron is in a serving by checking the nutrition facts label. Vitamins and minerals, like iron, are listed near the bottom. This includes iron that is naturally present in the food and any iron that has been added separately during the optional fortification process.
How to absorb more iron from cereal
Iron absorption is a little complicated. We don’t always absorb 100% of the iron we consume since absorption rates are impacted by factors like the presence of other nutrients, the type of iron, and the amount of iron already stored in the body.
However, there are a couple of things we can do to boost the absorption of plant-based iron from cereal:
- Add a source of vitamin C. Vitamin C boosts the absorption of non-heme iron, the type of iron found in plant-based foods. Try adding sliced strawberries directly on your cereal, drink a small glass of orange juice, or have a side of orange slices, grapefruit, or kiwis.
- Avoid drinking coffee or tea with your cereal. The polyphenols in coffee and tea can interfere with iron absorption1, so enjoy these beverages at least 1 hour before or after eating breakfast.
How to turn vegan cereal into a balanced breakfast
Cereal gets a bad rap for being ultra-sugary and nutrient-poor, leaving you hungry again soon after your morning bowl. While many breakfast cereals are quite high in added sugars and low in dietary fiber, healthy fats, and protein, there are a few things you can do to better balance the nutrition profile of any cereal:
- Use a high-protein plant-based milk (bonus points if it’s fortified with calcium and vitamin B12!)
- Add a serving of fruit (preferably high in vitamin C to optimize iron absorption)
- Choose an unsweetened non-dairy milk
- Add a source of healthy fats to make your cereal more filling, such as hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, toasted coconut, or a drizzle of peanut butter
Of course, there’s no shame in eating cereal on its own. These are simply tips for those interested in making their cereal more nutrient-dense or who want to feel full for a longer period of time.
RELATED: A Vegan Dietitian’s Guide to Non-Dairy Milk
The scientific information in this article was accurate at the time of publishing but may change over time as new research becomes available.
References
- Moustarah F, Daley SF. Dietary Iron. [Updated 2024 Jan 8]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK540969/
