According to a consumer watchdog children’s breakfast cereals are laden with sugar and some were found to contain more sugar than a Cadbury chocolate Flake, despite manufacturers' claims to be reducing the level of unhealthy ingredients.

The survey was conducted by Which? of 100 cereals bought from supermarkets and it reported that there was a lower proportion of high-sugar cereals overall compared with 2006 which showed there had been some "positive progress" since it reported on the healthiness of breakfast cereals in 2006.

Despite this only eight of the products tested qualified for a Food Standards Agency healthy "green light" indicating low levels of sugar, while 31 of the 100 products contained more than four teaspoons of sugar to a recommended serving. Kellogg's Rice Krispies specifically targeted for children was found to be high in salt not sugar.

According to the Which? report brands such as Kellogg's All Bran, Bran Flakes and Special K also had high levels of sugar which was said to be "almost the sugar equivalent" to waking up to a serving of Tesco Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake Premium Ice Cream.

The dubious winner was Morrisons Choco Crackles cereal which had more sugar per serving than a Cadbury Flake. Kellogg's Coco Pops Moons and Stars, Frosties and Ricicles followed with 37 % pure sugar.

The report, Going Against the Grain, said there had been an improvement since 2006 particularly in reducing the salt content. Only eight out of the 100 were found to be high in salt in the current year as compared to almost a fifth of the 275 checked in 2006. Only Tesco Special Flakes, was an exception where 100g was still found to contain the same amount of salt as 100g of Walkers ready salted crisps.

There were some positive outcomes the report said, such as Weetabix reformulating its cereals so they were a healthier choice and could be advertised to children.

Sue Davies, chief policy adviser at Which?, said, "Some cereals deserve their healthy image, but most simply don't. It's especially shocking that almost all those targeted at children are less healthy."

She added cereal manufacturers need "to wake up to the fact that people want to eat healthily and provide them with the means to do so by reducing sugar and salt levels and making labelling clearer. With over £1bn spent every year, it's time they rose to the occasion."

The report said the cereals were also still labelled inconsistently, with many manufacturers and some shops still not using the Government's "traffic light" labelling scheme.

In response to the report Kellogg's said, "Which? say reports like this are part of their drive to curb obesity yet they demonise breakfast cereals that, with milk, have around 170 calories and contain less sugar than a slice of buttered toast and jam or a cup of sweetened tea or coffee. While this grabs headlines and sells magazines it shouldn't be confused with sound scientific research that consistently shows that people who eat breakfast cereals, regardless of sugar content, are slimmer than those who don't."