Help, I can’t stop eating Cheerios!
image by flickr
Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve loved Cheerios. They’re great for breakfast, great for snacking, (allegedly) great for my health. Now I can’t stop thinking about them. I must have them; I must feel that taste on my tongue so I can sleep tonight. If it ain’t crunchin’, I’m hunchin’… over the nearest receptacle. I’ve taken installment loans and no fax payday loans for other things before, but for breakfast cereal? It isn’t right. What have you done to me, Cheerios?
Thankfully, the FDA can explain my condition. According to AFP reports (at http://www.healthranker.com/tag/afp), Cheerios is a drug…
… a good drug…
Because of the claims General Mills makes makes on Cheerios labels (like “Cheerios Can Reduce Your Cholesterol!”), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should be considered a drug.
“Based on claims made on your product’s label, we have determined that your Cheerios Toasted Whole Grain Oat Cereal is promoted for conditions that cause it to be a drug,” the FDA said in a letter to General Mills.
Citing a related clinical study, Cheerios labels also claim that “eating two servings a day reduces bad cholesterol when eaten as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol,” an FDA letter states. “Because of these intended uses, the product is a drug.”
… a new drug
Since it is now a drug, Cheerios may not be legally marketed by General Mills unless the company applies for new drug approval or changes the way it labels the product. I’m guessing they’ll opt for the latter, which will still cost them a great deal in product recalls. For the time being, Cheerios has not been “recognized as safe and effective for use in preventing or treating hypercholesterolemia or coronary heart disease,” said the FDA.
Expect General Mills to try to defend its position. They maintain that “Cheerios‘ soluble fiber heart health claim has been FDA-approved for 12 years, and that its ‘lower your cholesterol four percent in six weeks’ message has been featured on the box for more than two years.”
And according to General Mills, one of every eight boxes of cereal sold in the United States is in fact a box of Cheerios. The little oat o’s have been on the American market since 1941.
Yes, it’s good for you, but…
Heart Healthy Cheerios (photo by flickr)
The FDA takes issue with “how the Cheerios cholesterol-lowering information is presented on the Cheerios package and Web site,” said General Mills. However, the parent company is hopeful for a positive resolution to the drug snafu: “We look forward to discussing this with FDA and to reaching a resolution.”
Until that happens, however, the FDA is prepared to strong-arm General Mills into compliance. If they “fails to correct the violations,” reads their letter to General Mills, “boxes of Cheerios could disappear from supermarket and wholesaler shelves around the United States” and the company will face serious legal action.
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Maybe the person that General Foods bought off to SAY that Cheerios helps lower cholesterol just retired. They’ve been saying the same thing about oatmeal for the last few years, but Quaker Oats hasn’t been busted yet. Then again, it IS the FDA. They generally do a good job, but they’ve been known to drop the ball – ESPECIALLY when it comes to things with pharmaceutical benefits. Perhaps Pfizer has a new anti-cholesterol drug in the works?
if cheerios is under attack, what’s next? Tomatoes? Broccoli? You anti-oxidant junkies out there, you broccoli heads, look out. You’re next. You–you–vegetarians, you.
Seriously though, if you squint at the label a bit, it really doesnt say WILL, it says “can” and factors in a good low cholesterol low fat diet. The claim is that it might just help.
If the FDA wants to get tough, let them go after the net guys who insist that by eating apples it will “cure’ your reflux. Permanently.