• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, December 27, 2010

Post Foods, LLC has announced that it will lower the sugar content in the Fruity and Cocoa varieties of its Pebbles cereals to 9 grams per serving, from 11 grams per serving, beginning in January.

Sugar in these two Pebbles varieties -- among the company's most popular -- had already been reduced prior to this latest move. The Cupcake Pebbles variety still has 11 grams of sugar per serving, and a new Marshmallow Pebbles variety has 10 grams of sugar per serving, according to the nutritional information on PostCereals.com.

Post -- which reports that all Pebbles varieties are cholesterol-free, low in fat and good sources of Vitamin D and other vitamins and minerals -- described the sugar content reduction as part of its "ongoing effort to address the rise in nutritional concerns among American consumers."

Post also announced that the rice-based Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles cereals have now achieved gluten-free certification.

Other leading cereal makers have also been reducing sugar in kids' varieties, in particular.

In late 2009, General Mills, makers of Cocoa Puffs, Trix and Lucky Charms, announced it would begin reducing the sugar grams-per-serving in all of its cereals advertised to children under 12 to single digits during 2010. In 2008, Kellogg Co., makers of Froot Loops, Corn Pops and other kids' brands, reduced the sugar in several of its brands by between 1 and 3 grams per serving.

Post joined the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI), the voluntary program of marketing pledges related to kids that is overseen by the Council of Better Business Bureaus, in 2009. General Mills and Kellogg were already CFBAI participants. Total participants now number 17.

According to the BBB's report on CFBAI participants' compliance during 2009, issued earlier this month, 52% of the cereals advertised to kids by participants contain no more than 10 grams of sugar per serving, all contain less than 130 calories and provide "many essential vitamins and minerals," and "many" contain a half-serving of whole grains and are good sources of Vitamin D.