Is All-Bran Healthy? 10 Things You Should Know

Is All-Bran a healthy choice for breakfast?

If there’s one thing for certain in this world, it might be this: All-Bran can help you poop. But unfortunately, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a healthy breakfast in every way. Today, let’s take a deep dive into All-Bran nutrition. Is it really good for you?

All-Bran has an incredible 12g of fiber per serving, about twice as much as shredded wheat. It is also free of artificial colors and sweeteners. However, All-Bran is not completely healthy due to its high sugar content (6g to 12g per serving, depending on the flavor).

Below, we’ll explore All-Bran’s ingredients and nutrition facts in detail. We’ll look closer at its sugar and fiber content, whether it’s good for weight loss, and more. I’ll also compare All-Bran to Fiber One and oatmeal to see which is best.

Is All-Bran Good for You?

Here are the 10 specific questions I’ll be answering about All-Bran nutrition. Click any of them to skip ahead to that section—or just keep scrolling to read them all:

1. What Is All-Bran Made Of?
2. Is All-Bran High in Fiber?
3. What Kind of Fiber Is in All-Bran?
4. How Much Sugar Does All-Bran Have?
5. Is All-Bran a Processed Food?
6. Is All-Bran Good For Weight Loss?
7. Is All-Bran Healthier Than Fiber One?
8. Is All-Bran Healthier Than Oats?
9. Is It Ok to Eat All-Bran Every Day?
10. Is All-Bran Vegan?

1. What Is All-Bran Made Of?

Let’s start by looking at some All-Bran ingredients. There are only three main All-Bran cereals, so let’s cover them all. I’ll share my observations below the table:

All-Bran Product	Ingredients
All-Bran Original	Wheat bran, sugar, malt flavor, contains 2% or less of salt. [Added Vitamins and Minerals]
All-Bran Buds	Wheat bran, sugar, psyllium seed husk, contains 2% or less of salt, baking soda, annatto color, BHT for freshness. [Added Vitamins and Minerals]
All-Bran Complete Wheat Flakes	Whole grain wheat, wheat bran, sugar, brown sugar syrup, contains 2% or less of salt, malt flavor. [Added Vitamins and Minerals]

Here’s what I notice about these ingredients:

• All-Bran has wheat bran and other high-fiber ingredients. All-Bran Buds also have psyllium seed husk, adding even more fiber. Fiber is often one of the worst deficiencies in the modern Western diet, so this is definitely a positive. More on fiber below.

• All-Bran has added sugar. And the Complete Wheat Flakes flavor also has “brown rice syrup,” which is also basically sugar. The total sugar in All-Bran is surprisingly high for a “healthy” cereal. We’ll check how it compares to other brands below.

• All-Bran is free of artificial colors and caramel color. If you look at one of the main competitors of All-Bran, Fiber One, it has caramel color, which can potentially contain the carcinogen 4-MeI. But All-Bran has no real sketchy coloring dyes. There is just annatto color in All-Bran Buds, which seems safe for the most part.

• All-Bran has added vitamins and minerals. Fortified foods are not the best way to get all your vitamins and minerals—but this is still probably a positive point overall. All-Bran has added vitamin D, iron, and a mix of B vitamins.

• All-Bran Buds have BHT. BHT is a preservative, sometimes negatively associated with BHA, which may have cancer-causing effects at high levels. But the research is more reassuring for BHT. In fact, BHT may be anti-carcinogenic at low levels. So this ingredient should not really be a concern.

Overall, the All-Bran ingredients have some healthy aspects, along with not-so-good aspects (mainly sugar). In the next sections, we’ll look more at the details of the fiber content, sugar content, and other pros and cons.

2. Is All-Bran High in Fiber?

All-Bran cereal is very high in fiber. All-Bran Original has 12g of fiber per 2/3 cup serving (41g). All-Bran Buds have 17g of fiber per 1/2 serving (45g). This is about two to three times the fiber in each serving of shredded wheat.

Even the “Complete Wheat Flakes” flavor of All-Bran, which is much lower in fiber, is still higher in fiber than shredded wheat, Weetabix, and other whole-grain cereals. Truly, All-Bran is high in fiber.

Really, you could view All-Bran cereal as more of a fiber supplement than a normal cereal. Here is a table showing how All-Bran cereals compares to other brands for fiber content:

Cereal	Fiber per 100g
Rice Krispies	1.0g
Special K	2.3g
Corn Flakes	2.4g
Cheerios	9.4g
Weetabix	10g
Grape Nuts	12.1g
Shredded Wheat	13.3g
All-Bran Complete Wheat Flakes	16.2g
Uncle Sam	18.2g
All-Bran Original	29.3g
All-Bran Buds	37.8g
Fiber One	46.7g
Poop Like a Champion	57.5g

As you can see, All-Bran is not quite the highest-fiber cereal in the world, but it’s definitely toward the higher end when it comes to fiber content.

In fact, many people just mix some All-Bran into other cereals for extra fiber. For example, you could eat a bowl of Cheerios but add 1/4 cup of All-Bran Buds for an extra 8g or 9g of fiber.

If you eat a big bowl of just All-Bran alone, it may even be too much fiber for some people. (But we’ll discuss “How much All-Bran is too much?” below.)

Related Question:

• Is All-Bran good for constipation? All-Bran is a good source of fiber, which can soften stool and help prevent or relieve constipation.

3. What Kind of Fiber Is in All-Bran?

Each serving of All-Bran Original has 9g of insoluble fiber and 3g of soluble fiber. All-Bran Buds have a similar ratio of insoluble and soluble fiber. The fiber in All-Bran comes mostly from wheat bran.

Let’s discuss soluble vs isoluble fiber a bit. Soluble fiber is known for its ability to lower LDL cholesterol and blood sugar levels. It’s why Cheerios are often touted as a cholesterol-lowering food.

Well, All-Bran Origial has three times the soluble fiber per serving as Cheerios. All-Bran Buds have five times the soluble fiber of Cheerios.

And All-Bran has even more insoluble fiber. Insoluble fiber has its own benefits, including helping with regularity and with insulin sensitivity. (source)

It’s worth noting: The fiber in All-Bran is not mostly from whole-grain wheat or other whole foods. With All-Bran, you’re getting just the wheat bran for the most part. So you’re getting this concentrated source of fiber.

Some critics may complain that All-Bran is imbalanced in this regard. The fiber is not necessarily balanced with all the same micronutrients as in whole, in-tact grains.

So you can’t necessarily say All-Bran is “as healthy” as more natural high-fiber foods like beans or 100% whole wheat. It’s more complicated than just the amount of fiber. That said, considering the diets most people eat, the extra fiber in All-Bran is a good thing.

Related question:

• Does Kellogg’s All-Bran lower cholesterol? All-Bran should help lower LDL cholesterol as it is rich in soluble fiber. (source)

4. How Much Sugar Does All-Bran Have?

All-Bran has quite a lot of added sugar, with 8g per serving of the Original flavor. That is twice as much sugar as in Corn Flakes or Rice Krispies. All-Bran Buds has even more sugar, with 12g per serving. That is the same amount as in Frosted Flakes and Froot Loops.

The sugar in All-Bran certainly makes it taste better—but it comes at a cost. The American Heart Association recommends a limit of 25g of sugar per day for women and 36g per day for men.

And keep in mind: No added sugar is needed for human health. Really, the healthiest diet would likely just have natural sugar from fruit and whole foods. So for me personally, any amount of “added sugar” is a negative.

Here’s a table comparing the sugar content of many popular cereals, including All-Bran cereals at the top:

Cereal	Serving Size	Total Sugars	Added Sugar
All-Bran Original	2/3 cup (41g)	9g	8g
All-Bran Buds	1/2 cup (45g)	12g	12g
All-Bran Complete Wheat Flakes	1 cup (37 g)	7g	6g
Cheerios	1 1/2 cup (39g)	2g	2g
Corn Flakes	1 1/2 cup (42g)	4g	4g
Froot Loops	1 1/3 cup (39g)	12g	12g
Frosted Flakes	1 cup (37g)	12g	12g
Frosted Mini-Wheats	25 biscuits (60g)	12g	12g
Grape Nuts	1/2 cup (58g)	5g	0g
Multi-Grain Cheerios	1 1/3 cup (39g)	8g	8g
Raisin Bran	1 cup (59g)	17g	9g
Rice Krispies	1 1/2 cup (40g)	4g	4g
Shredded Wheat	1 1/3 cup (60g)	0g	0g
Special K	1 1/4 cup (39g)	5g	4g

As you can see, All-Bran Buds are actually among the highest-sugar cereals. If avoiding added sugar is a priority of yours, you can see there are much better choices.