Your oats-and-bran breakfast

There's more to healthy breakfasts now than just cornflakes or porridge.

Breakfast for most people consists of having aloo paranthas, idlis or butter and jam with toast. If someone is health conscious then they might opt for cornflakes or porridge.

But there are a few people who are getting more health conscious and venturing into even healthier foods such as muesli, oats and oat brans "” so much so that this is actually becoming a huge category in itself.

Take the example of Sneha Ratra. Twenty-six-year old Sneha works for the research wing of a consultancy firm and says, "Breakfast is my big and proper meal for the day and I make it a point to have healthy food for it."

With the country's youthful population increasing, the eating habits of people are changing considerably. Office-goers skip lunch, or even if they do get around to eating something, it's likely to be food from outside, which is hardly healthy. That's why a decent breakfast is what many health-conscious Indians are opting for. But what is on their menu?

At the very top of the list is muesli. A healthy snack, muesli is made from various combinations of oats, barley, corn or wheat with nuts, fresh berries, honey and milk along with some other edibles for taste.

It contains both oats and wheat, is a rich source of fibres, which helps in lowering blood cholesterol levels, benefits diabetics, controls weight, reduces risks of colon cancer, prevents heart problems and varicose veins.

New Delhi-based Bagrrys India is one of the companies which is present across all segments of health foods.

"Since we are the only producers of oat bran in India, our muesli has better fibre content," says Sham Bagri, managing director, Bagrry's India.

"It can be consumed by people of all age groups and has no harmful side effects." Muesli comes in various sizes, from 250 gm to 1kg. It is priced in the range of Rs 50-250 and has variants like coconut, sugar-free and extra light.

Pepsi has the Quaker Oats range and Kelloggs, famous for their cereals, have launched Just Right muesli. While Kelloggs brought the cornflakes-and-cereals culture into India, they are gearing up for the next level with oats and muesli.

"The launch of Quaker Oats in India addresses the rapidly growing health trend," says a spokesperson from Frito Lays. Although cornflakes still remain very popular, healthy snacks like wheat porridge, white oats and muesli, as well as breakfast cereal bars, are catching up.

According to Bagri, the oats and muesli segment is becoming very popular. "It's a huge market, especially in whole grain cereals," he says.

Oats and brans are another option that people are chomping at. White oats are made from high quality natural oat grain, imported from the best oat-producing regions of the world.

Pepsi's Quaker Oats are available in three pack sizes "” a 35 gm trial pack priced at Rs 8,a 200 gm carton priced at Rs 38 and a 400 gm carton priced at Rs 70. Bagrry's White Oats comes in attractive and convenient packaging. The 500 gm box is available at Rs 60, the 1kg pouch at Rs 105 and jars of 800 gm and 1.2 kg at Rs 95 and Rs 125 respectively.

Says a Kelloggs spokesperson, "We have become increasingly dependent on refined foods like wheat flour or maida, this has robbed us of grain's nutrition and fibre."

Cornflakes and porridge are still favourites and have been for a long time. But more and more people are switching to other healthy snacks. Flavours, variants and attractive packaging are being looked at to entice more customers.

Judging by the response, we can safely say, move over aloo paranthas and idlis, oats and cereals are here to stay!