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Parents who are alarmed by the high sugar content of popular children's breakfast cereals should gradually wean their kids off the sweet morning ritual rather than making them go cold turkey, dietitians recommend.

"Kids aren't going to willingly choose Bran Buds over Sugar-Crisp," said Rosie Schwartz, a consulting dietitian and best-selling author. "So you can try to move, say, from Froot Loops to Shreddies with fruit, and then toward Shredded Wheat."

She was reacting to data commissioned by The Globe and Mail and CTV News that showed that many breakfast cereals contain as much sugar as chocolate bars -- between four and six teaspoons in a 50-gram serving.

The data showed, for example, that Sugar-Crisp has as much sugar as a Mr. Big, and Frosted Cheerios as much sugar as a Kit Kat.

Dana Wilkinson, a dietitian and co-ordinator for the human nutrition research unit at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, said that, despite the worrisome levels of sugar, parents should not abandon cereal for breakfasts. " It provides kids with energy, with nutrients and with fibre. It's also quick and easy," she said.

Ms. Wilkinson said parents should focus on the overall nutritional value of cereals, not fixate on sugar content.

"Sugar is only a problem when there are no other nutrients with it," she said. "The big problem with a lot of these cereals is not just sugar, it's lack of fibre."

Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition at New York University and author of the best-selling book What We Eat, said "breakfast cereals are supposed to be good for you, and the relatively unprocessed ones still are, but most now are so thoroughly processed and sugared and filled with additives that they might as well be cookies."

Dr. Nestle said that high-fibre, whole-grain cereals with milk and fruit added make a fine breakfast,far more nutritious than a bagel or a pastry.

You will find the healthiest cereal by looking "in the worst real estate," she said. (Food companies pay for prime shelf space in supermarkets and that is why, invariably, the sugary cereals are located within easy reach.)

Ms. Schwartz said that when she offers nutrition advice to clients, she stresses that sugary cereals need to be classified as a treat like candy.

All the dietitians recommended that a great alternative to cold breakfast cereal is hot cereal, or oatmeal. But they stressed that parents should microwave or cook oats, not use instant porridge, which is sugar-filled and lacking in fibre.

Or, "buy a bunch of ingredients -- nuts, oat flakes, flax, dates, raisins, berries, whatever -- and let [children] make their own granola," Ms. Schwartz said. "If they make it, they'll eat it, and appreciate it."