Fiber One (marketed as Fibre One in the United Kingdom) is a brand of high-fiber
breakfast cereal
Breakfast cereal is a category of food, including food products, made from food processing, processed cereal, cereal grains, that are eaten as part of breakfast or as a snack food, primarily in Western societies.
Although warm, cooked cereals li ...
,
packaged nutritional bars, and baked food products owned by
General Mills
General Mills, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded ultra-processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in ...
. Originally released as a breakfast cereal in 1985, it directly competes with
Kellogg’s All-Bran.
History
Fiber One was first introduced in 1985 solely as a breakfast cereal, resembling the shape and texture of the already released All-Bran Original cereal from Kellogg’s. General Mills released a second version of the cereal called “Fiber One Honey Clusters” in 2005.
This cereal more resembled
Post’s Honey Bunches Of Oats. The first line of Fiber One breakfast bars were then released in 2007. This was followed with an expansion of the brand, with yogurt, muffin and pancake mixes, and pastries being introduced under the brand.
In January 2014, General Mills released a high-protein
granola
Granola is a food consisting of rolled oats, nuts, seeds, honey or other sweeteners such as brown sugar, and sometimes puffed rice, that is usually baked until crisp, toasted and golden brown. The mixture is stirred while baking to avoid b ...
version of the cereal under the name “Fiber One Protein”. This spin-off version of the cereal came in maple brown sugar and cranberry almond flavor varieties. In January 2019, General Mills debuted a spin-off to their Honey Clusters variety of Fiber One, calling it “Fiber One Strawberries & Vanilla Clusters”. The cereal was made using
steel-cut oats and actual strawberries, which it advertised on each box.
The original cereal throughout previous decades has been viewed as a healthy option for children and adults among breakfast cereals, being labeled as more nutritious as other more sugary cereal options such as
Cocoa Puffs in a 1989 consumer report.
Following the expansion of the brand, it was reported in 2010 that annual sales of the brand’s products had once exceeded 300 million dollars.
In a 2011 survey of 50,000 consumers conducted by the
Better Homes and Gardens Association, Fiber One’s 90 Calorie Chewy Bar released the year prior was voted the
best new food product.
Fiber One currently has a sub-brand of packaged
protein bars sold under the name “Protein One.”
Marketing
Fiber One is marketed for consumers looking to increase their
dietary fiber
Dietary fiber (fibre in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) or roughage is the portion of plant-derived food that cannot be completely broken down by human digestive enzymes. Dietary fibers are diverse in chemical co ...
intake. On each cereal box, the percentage of the recommended value for daily fiber intake the cereal contains per serving is touted. The original version of the cereal is marketed to individuals seeking to reduce their sugar intake as well, touting zero grams of
added sugar
Added sugars or free sugars are sugar carbohydrates (caloric sweeteners) added to food and beverages at some point before their consumption. These include added carbohydrates ( monosaccharides and disaccharides), and more broadly, sugars nat ...
per serving on boxes in addition to its fiber content.
Ingredients
Each of the brand’s products are created to contain one or more whole grain ingredients, these can include whole grain wheat, whole grain oat, whole grain rice,
chicory root (
inulin
Inulins are a group of naturally occurring polysaccharides produced by many types of plants, industrially most often extracted from chicory. The inulins belong to a class of dietary fibers known as fructans. Inulin is used by some plants as a ...
), or
bran
Bran, also known as miller's bran, is the component of a Cereal, cereal grain consisting of the hard layersthe combined aleurone and Fruit anatomy#Pericarp layers, pericarpsurrounding the endosperm. Maize, Corn (maize) bran also includes the p ...
. This is done in order to boost the fiber content of the cereal, with the majority of fiber in the brand’s cereal products containing insoluble fiber.
To compensate for the lack of the presence of sugar in original Fiber One, it was initially sweetened with
aspartame
Aspartame is an artificial non-saccharide sweetener commonly used as a sugar substitute in foods and beverages. 200 times sweeter than sucrose, it is a methyl ester of the aspartic acid/phenylalanine dipeptide with brand names NutraSwe ...
(also known by the brand name
Equal
Equal(s) may refer to:
Mathematics
* Equality (mathematics).
* Equals sign (=), a mathematical symbol used to indicate equality.
Arts and entertainment
* ''Equals'' (film), a 2015 American science fiction film
* ''Equals'' (game), a board game ...
), a
non-nutritive artificial sweetener. Currently, some versions are sweetened with
sucralose
Sucralose is an artificial sweetener and sugar substitute. In the European Union, it is also known under the E number E955. It is produced by chlorination of sucrose, selectively replacing three of the hydroxy groups—in the C1 a ...
(also known by the brand name
Splenda
Splenda is a global brand of sugar substitutes and reduced-calorie food products. While the company is known for its original formulation containing sucralose, it also manufactures items using natural sweeteners such as stevia, monk fruit and ...
), another sugar substitute and some have no artificial sweeteners.
Varieties and products
; Cereals
* Fiber One Original Bran Cereal
* Fiber One Caramel Delight
* Fiber One Frosted Shredded Wheat
* Fiber One Honey Clusters
* Fiber One Raisin Bran Clusters
* Fiber One Strawberries & Vanilla Clusters
* Fiber One 80: Chocolate
* Fiber One 80: Honey Squares
* Fiber One Bran
* Fiber One Protein: Cranberry Almond
* Fiber One Protein: Maple Brown Sugar
; Bars
* Chocolate Peanut Butter
* Chocolate Caramel & Pretzel
* Chocolate
* Oats & Chocolate
* Caramel Nut Protein Bar
; Packaged brownies and pastries
* Chocolate Fudge brownie
* Cinnamon Coffee Cake bar
* Birthday Cake bar
* Chocolate Chip Cookie brownie
* Strawberry Cheesecake bar
* Supreme Brownie Cookie Dough
* Supreme Brownie Triple Chocolate
See also
*
All-Bran
*
List of breakfast cereals
References
{{General Mills
Products introduced in 1985
General Mills cereals
American brands
Snack food manufacturers of the United States