Are Lucky Charms High in Sugar? How About Equivalent Brands?

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Are Lucky Charms high in sugar? Lucky Charms. You know the colorful marshmallow cereal that children go crazy (and I mean crazy for). Just thinking of the cereal brings back nostalgia of my youth pestering my parents to buy the cereal. It is the cereal that kids (and adults) buy just for the marshmallows. Lucky Charms definitely looks like a higher-sugar cereal (I mean all the color and marshmallows) but are Lucky Charms actually high in sugar? That is the question I wanted to answer in this post.

To answer that question, I have collated the total sugar content data of a serving of Lucky Charms and all Lucky Charms varieties. I have also collated the sugar content data of other brands of Lucky Charms equivalents. I then put together a list of all these Lucky Charms and their equivalents and put them in descending order of sugar content.

So, let’s dig in – are Lucky Charms and equivalent brands high in sugar?

How Much Sugar is in Lucky Charms?

There are 12g of total sugar in a cup serving of Lucky Charms. Most other branded equivalents of Lucky Charms actually have a higher sugar content.

I must admit I was surprised to learn that the original Lucky Charms contained only 12g of sugar. I was expecting it to be much higher than this. To put this into context some frosted flake cereals contain 15g of sugar per serving (see my post Do Frosted Flakes Have A Lot of Sugar? 14 Brands Ranked).

Ranking Lucky Charm Varieties Based on Sugar Content

In this section, I will go through and rank 12 different varieties and alternatives to Lucky Charms based on sugar content. The list goes in descending order from highest in sugar to lowest.

1. Great Value Magic Treasures – 17g of Total Sugar

The highest sugar Lucky Charms equivalent I came across in this experiment is Great Value Magic Treasures cereal. You know Great Value – Walmart’s one brand. There are 17g of total sugar per serving in Walmart’s equivalent of Lucky Charms – their marshmallow cereal version is known as “Magic Treasures”.

2. 365 by Whole Foods Market Organic Galaxy Marshmallow Cereal – 15g of Total Sugar

Even Whole Foods Markets’ equivalent of Lucky Charms is fairly high in sugar at 15g of total sugar per serving. Usually, my research will show Whole Foods Market’s 365 brand as offering a lower sugar alternative – but that’s not the case with its Organic Galaxy Marshmallow Cereal.

There are 15g of total sugar per serving of 365 Whole Foods Market’s Organic Galaxy Marshmallow Cereal.

3. Happy Belly Magic Stars Cereal – 14g of Total Sugar

There are 14g of total sugar in a serving of Happy Belly (aka Amazon’s own brand) Magic Stars Cereal.

4. First Street Magic Shapes – 14g of Total Sugar

Smart & Finals’ own brand, First Street also makes their own version of Lucky Charms – known as Magic Shapes. There are also 14g of total sugar in a serving of First Street Magic Shapes.

5. Millville Marshmallows & Stars – 13g of Total Sugar

Aldi’s own brand of “Lucky Charms equivalents” are their Marshmallows & Stars. This Lucky Charm Alternative contains 13g of total sugar per cup serving.

6. Lucky Charms – 12g of Total Sugar

Finally – we reach the original Lucky Charms themselves. So how does the sugar content look in the original cereal?

Well, a little lower than most alternative versions of Lucky Charms.

There are 12g of total sugar in a cup serving of the OG Lucky Charms. So as much as Lucky Charms is probably perceived as a super high sugar cereal, they actually have a similar sugar content to most Frosted Flakes cereals (Do Frosted Flakes Have A Lot of Sugar? 14 Brands Ranked). They even have a lower sugar content than some flavors of Special K (Is Special K Cereal High In Sugar? Are Any Sugar-Free?).

One thing to note is that Lucky Charms defines a serving size as one cup. A lot of other Lucky Charms equivalents do the same – apart from 365 by Whole Foods Market and Great Value which define a serving as 1 and 1/4 cups. So, if you were to prorate Great Value and 365’s sugar contents so they were applicable to a cup serving, Great Value’s would come out to 13.6g of sugar, and 365 by Whole Foods Market’s come out to 12g.

Essentially this means there are 12g-14g of total sugar in a cup serving of Lucky Charms of equivalents.

7. Lucky Charms Marshmallow Clusters – 12g of Total Sugar

I wanted to dig a bit deeper and see if the different varieties of Lucky Charms were any different in terms of sugar content. First up – Lucky Charms Marshmallows Clusters which also contain 12g of total sugar per serving.

8. Chocolate Lucky Charms Cereal – 12g of Total Sugar

Next up – Chocolate Lucky Charms. Now often the chocolate version of a cereal is higher in sugar than the original (as is the case with Chex, which you can read all about here – How much sugar is in Chex? Which Chex is lowest in sugar?). That isn’t the case with Lucky Charms – the original and chocolate versions have the same sugar content at 12g of total sugar per serving.

9. Chocolate Lucky Charms Limited Edition Haunted – 12g of Total Sugar

It is the same sugar situation with Chocolate Lucky Charms Haunted Limited Edition. This version of Lucky Charms again contains 12g of sugar per serving.

10. Lucky Charms S’mores – 12g of Total Sugar

The S’mores version of Lucky Charms also contains 12g of total sugar per serving.

11. Lucky Charms Hidden Dragon – 12g of Total Sugar

There are also 12g of sugar per serving of the Hidden Dragon edition of Lucky Charms. These are basically promotional and limited edition versions of Lucky Charms – but they still contain 12g of total sugar per serving.

12. Lucky Charms Minis Cereal with Marshmallows Breakfast Cereal – 11g of Total Sugar

The Lucky Charms Cereal that contains a tad less sugar is the minis cereal with marshmallows. Although to be honest there isn’t much in it. There are 11g of total sugar in a cup serving of Lucky Charms Minis Cereal.

Sugar In Lucky Charms F&Q

Are Lucky Charms Sugar-Free?

Lucky Charms are not sugar-free – there are 12g of total sugar per serving of Lucky Charms.

How Much Added Sugar Is In Lucky Charms?

There are 12g of added sugar per serving of Lucky Charms.

How Much Sugar Is In Luck Charms Marshmallows?

There are 23g of total sugar in a 30g serving of Lucky Charms Just Magical Marshmallows. There are 17g in a serving of Jet-Puffed Lucky Charms Magically Delicious Marshmallows.

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Are Lucky Charms High in Sugar? How About Equivalent Brands? – The Final Bite

Are Lucky Charms high in sugar? What have we learned from the above? Well, when it comes to Lucky Charms, I must admit I was absolutely astonished that these were not higher in sugar than they are. Filled with marshmallows I always thought that this would be one of the highest sugar cereals out there. The even more interesting fact is that original Lucky Charms tend to be lower in sugar than own-brand alternatives. If you are looking for the lowest sugar Lucky Charm option, then this would be its mini cereal with marshmallows. This comes in at 11g of sugar per serving. That is one gram less than the original Lucky Charms.

Please note that all the sugar content above is before you add your milk of choice. Depending on the milk you choose this may add additional sugar. If you want to know the best milk to go with your cereal, then check out some of my “milk-focused” posts below:

• Which Milk Has The Least Amount of Sugar
• Which Alternative Milk Contain No Sugar (0g)?

And Remember…