Among the worst:

• fatty sweets (danish, doughnuts, cinnamon rolls),
• fatty, salty meats (sausage, bacon, ham), and
• eggs (whose yolks add more cholesterol to the average American’s diet than any other single food).

Among the best:

• fresh fruit (oranges, bananas, berries) or juice,
• dairy foods (low-fat milk, yogurt), and
• whole grains (whole-grain hot or cold cereals, whole-wheat toast).

   The trouble is that the food industry keeps tempting us with new worsts.
   “Dessert for breakfast is a trend that we have been following for several years,” Eleanor Hanson of Foodwatch recently told Restaurants & Institutions magazine. Foodwatch is an Edina, Minnesota, consulting firm that analyzes food trends.
   “We’re seeing streusel in cereal, chocolate in muffins and scones, and monster-size cinnamon rolls. Blurring is occurring on the sweets continuum.”
   People who think twice about having a DoveBar for dessert might not suspect that an Almond Croissant from Au Bon Pain is worse than two DoveBars. Do you really want to “grab and go” 630 calories, nearly a day’s worth of artery-clogging fat, and five teaspoons of sugar?
   Another trend: mega-sandwiches. McDonald’s new bagel sandwiches have at least double the fat and calories of its pioneering Egg McMuffin. And its Spanish Omelet Bagel has more fat and calories than a Big Mac or a Quarter Pounder with Cheese.
   We examined popular breakfast items from fast-food chains, sit-down restaurants, and supermarkets (see Breakfast Breakdown chart). Most of the numbers came from the manufacturers. When their information fell short, we sent a handful of items—from places like Au Bon Pain, Dunkin’ Donuts, and Einstein Bros Bagels—to an independent laboratory for analysis.
   The results should sound a wake-up call. If restaurant foods came with the same “Nutrition Facts” labels you can read on, say, the back of a cereal box, the lines at Dunkin’ Donuts might be a lot shorter.
 

Cereal

The more you look at the breakfasts people eat outside the home, the better cereal looks. True, some cereals are more than a third sugar and are mostly—or all—refined flour plus a quarter of a vitamin pill. And that list includes not just kids-only brands but cereals like General Mills’ Frosted Wheaties.
   But even those low-fiber “candy cereals” are relatively low in calories (about 120 per serving) and fat (assuming you eat them with one percent or skim milk).
   High-fiber, whole-grain, low-sugar cereals like shredded wheat, Wheaties, or bran flakes make a top-notch breakfast, especially if you add fresh fruit. No other breakfast offers so much fiber, calcium, and other nutrients for so few calories and so little fat.
   If you’re eating at the office (“deskfast”), bring cereal and plain low-fat yogurt (if milk is too messy) in a plastic container. It should only take a minute to slice in a banana or throw on some blueberries.
   Caution: Don’t confuse cereal with cereal bars. The bars may be low in fat and fortified with vitamins, but they’re not high in whole grains or fiber, and people are less likely to eat them with low-fat milk or fresh fruit. While the fruit splashed over the ads and labels looks good, it’s the equivalent of a generous swipe of jam on a slice of mostly white bread. Our chart puts bars in the “Pastries” section… where they belong.
 

Eggs

It’s not just the eggs that make egg breakfasts so fatty. It’s the fat they’re cooked in, the sausage or cheese in the omelet, and what comes on the side. Most people who eat eggs for breakfast have them with something else. And that something is often buttered toast, hash browns, sausage, bacon, biscuits, or a croissant.
   That’s why a McDonald’s Big Breakfast (scrambled eggs, sausage, hash browns, and a biscuit) or a Denny’s Grand Slam (eggs, sausage, bacon, and pancakes) supplies three-quarters of a day’s fat and saturated fat. And that’s why a Denny’s Slim Slam (Egg Beaters, pancakes with fruit topping, and grilled ham) does away with three-quarters of the fat in the Grand Slam—largely by replacing what comes on the side.
   Of course, fast-food chains are now happy to serve you eggs-to-go…on a bagel, croissant, biscuit, or English muffin. And they pile on enough sausage, ham, cheese, and cooking grease to make sure that you get the equivalent of a burger or worse (see “Breakfast Sandwiches & Hash Browns,” in the Breakfast Breakdown chart ).
 

Muffins

Our appetite for muffins grew by 25 percent from 1987 to 1996. That’s not all that grew.
   Entenmann’s still sells 2½-ounce Blueberry Muffins. But McDonald’s and Dunkin’ Donuts’ muffins approach four ounces, and the muffins at Au Bon Pain come closer to five. That means calories in the 300 to 500 range, ten to 20 grams of fat, and five to ten teaspoons of total sugars (including the sugar from the berries or other fruit).
   The good news is that the fat in muffins is less of a threat to your arteries than the fat in doughnuts, danish, and croissants. Only two to four grams per muffin are saturated or trans fat (exception: Dunkin’s Chocolate Chip Muffin hits six).
   Another plus: McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts (though not at every outlet), and Au Bon Pain all sell low-fat muffins that trim the calories to 250 to 300 and the fat to no more than three or four grams. And all sell bran muffins with at least three grams of fiber, so you get some of the bran’s phytochemicals and nutrients. But you’re still talking about mostly white flour and sugar for breakfast.
 

Doughnuts

All doughnuts are not created equal.
   “Cake” doughnuts can have twice as much fat as “yeast” doughnuts. And a chocolate or coconut coating or frosting is worse than other coatings, whether it’s yeast or cake.
   Take a Glazed or Sugar Raised yeast Donut at Dunkin’ Donuts. Eat only one (good luck!) and you can get away with about 200 calories, a teaspoon or two of sugar, and eight or 12 grams of fat.
   That’s not terrific. Like any doughnut, the trans fat in the frying shortening matches the damage caused by the saturated fat. We found six grams—nearly a third of a day’s worth—of “bad” fat (sat plus trans) in one yeast Glazed Donut. But you could do a lot worse.
   A single Dunkin’ Donuts Chocolate Cake Glazed Donut, for example, has 340 calories, three teaspoons of sugar, and 22 grams of fat—12 of them trans or saturated. Of course, doughnut lovers seldom stop at one.
   Dunkin’ makes it tough by running frequent promotions like “Buy six, get six free.” And don’t let your eyes wander over to the crullers, fritters, or coffee rolls while you’re waiting in line. Think of each as 250 to 300 calories of deep-fried sugar-coated flour.
 

Bagels

You can’t talk about bagels without talking about cream cheese. And it’s the cream cheese that can turn a decent breakfast into a lousy one.
   Unless you get whole-wheat or multi-grain, your bagel is essentially three to five one-ounce slices of white bread. That typically means about 250 to 350 calories, little or no fat or sugar, and 500 to 700 mg of sodium. (A few varieties, like chocolate chip, cheese, or nut, might hit four to seven grams of fat.)
   While you may not be getting whole grains or fruit in a bagel-only breakfast, you’re also not getting a load of fried fat and/or sugar, like you would with a doughnut, danish, croissant, or muffin.
   Then there’s the shmear. At Dunkin’ Donuts, the largest bagel-seller in the country, a plain bagel with (regular) cream cheese has 540 calories and 19 grams of fat, 12 of them saturated—more than half a day’s worth. Who knew? And don’t think you’re getting much protein from the cream cheese. It’s more cream than cheese.
   In contrast, at most Einstein Bros locations, all the cream cheeses are “double whipped,” which means they have at least a quarter less fat than regular (non-whipped) cream cheese. And eight of the 11 flavors have half the fat of regular cream cheese. (Those eight are labeled “25 percent reduced fat”—don’t ask us why Einstein doesn’t call them “50 percent reduced fat” or “light.”)
   Solution: At home, if you’re not willing to go naked or use fat-free cream cheese, try preserves, tub margarine, or a thin layer of light cream cheese (it’s got half the fat of regular). Outside, if it’s gotta be cream cheese, make sure you get Einstein’s 25% reduced fat or Au Bon Pain’s or Dunkin’ Donuts’ lite (they both have half the fat of regular)…and get it on the side, so you can use a thin layer.
   Cream cheese used to be the worst thing you could do to a bagel. No longer. The new bagel sandwiches make cream cheese look good.
 

Breakfast Sandwiches

Burger King’s most popular breakfast item is the Croissan’wich. Each day, the number-two chain dispatches more than 800,000 to coronary arteries across the nation. Leave it to BK to combine all three of the worst breakfast foods—pastry, sausage, and egg—into one cheap, hold-in-your-hand package. Now you can gobble up 500-some calories and more than half a day’s bad fat and cholesterol while you wait at a traffic light.
   Maybe Burger King’s recent success inspired McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, and Einstein Bros to create their bagel sandwiches. Most will run you 500 to 600 calories and half a day’s fat, sat fat, and sodium. That’s like eating a Big Mac. Missing are the fruit, low-fat milk, and high-fiber whole grains that many people eat at breakfast—or not at all.
 

Cinnamon Rolls

Like muffins, cinnamon rolls are, well, on a roll, climbing 25 percent between 1987 and 1996. They’re nothing more than breakfast cake.
   But at least when you buy Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls at the supermarket, there’s a chance that you’ll eat only one, which means 150 calories, five grams of fat, and two teaspoons of sugar. Move up to Pillsbury Grands and the numbers double. But that’s still better than the Cini-minis Pillsbury makes for Burger King.
   With icing, your “mini” fast-food breakfast totals 530 calories, nine teaspoons of sugar, and 22 grams of fat, nine of them saturated or trans. Cini-minis have doubled Burger King’s breakfast sales. What’s next? Cini-minis with chocolate coating, M&M’s, and Reese’s Pieces?
 

French Toast

At home, you can make delicious French toast with whole-wheat bread, low-fat milk, and Egg Beaters. With Burger King’s French Toast Sticks you get white bread and enough sugar and frying grease to supply 500 calories and half a day’s “bad” fat. And the company sells over 165 million sticks a year.
 

Hash Browns

Potatoes are the most frequently ordered breakfast food in restaurants. Fast-food hash browns are fattier than fries. And Burger King’s are fattier than McDonald’s. Fatwise, a small order of Burger King’s Hash Brown Rounds is like the chain’s Bacon Cheeseburger. And a large order means 70 percent more fat to line your arteries, which brings us to…

THE BEST & WORST CHAINS    

Between its hash browns, French Toast Sticks, Croissan’wiches, and Cini-minis, Burger King deserves special recognition for its efforts to block Americans’ arteries before they get to work. It wins our coveted “Breakfast Busters” award. Bypass Burger King before you need your own bypass.
   In contrast, Einstein Bros deserves a “Breakfast Boosters” award for switching to lower-fat cream cheese. We’ve still got plenty of bones to pick with its menu. But eight flavors of lower-fat cream cheese—from cappuccino to jalapeño salsa—is a trend we’d like to see spread.