The FDA said such specific cholesterol-lowering claims can be made only for drugs, and it suggested that if General Mills wants to keep the box labeling as is, it should file a new-drug application for Cheerios.
This is so stupid. Like anything that can help you achieve healthier cholesterol levels or triglycerides or whathaveyou has to be a drug? Oats contain soluble fiber which sticks to cholesterol and removes it from your bloodstream. This is a proven mechanism, and there are clinically proven results (the Cheerios study being one example). OATS ARE FOOD, FDA. Food can be beneficial to your health!
I know they try to regulate this stuff because "health foods" can go crazy with the claims and stuff, but this is taking it to a ridiculous extreme.
I am so supremely suggestible when it comes to food.
I don't have any Cheerios in the house, but I do have Kashi's equivalent, Heart To Heart. They're supposed to be the mini-Zinhas's breakfast, but that last bowl is joyfully being shoveled into my piehole.
I can't do cereal by itself as a meal, especially for breakfast, but it's a wonderful snack or light dinner for nights when you don't feel well or feel like cooking.
I always thought that because it said "may" rather than "will" lower cholesterol, they were clear for liability. Apparently not.
I used to like Cheerios, especially Honey Nut, Frosted, MultiGrain, et al. However, ever since my bf started working in a grocery warehouse I have stopped eating cereal. Ask anybody who works in the food industy if there's anything they DON'T eat, and cereal is almost always the answer. The FDA allows certain percentages of ... things ... in cereal grains.
Aw, dammit! I've been eating Cheerios (mostly of the honey nut variety) like it was crack ever since I found out my cholesterol was a bit high. So do I need to give them up and find something healthier?
@dj_chick: Regular old oatmeal is probably your best bet ... toss a few berries or nuts 'n' raisins in there if it tastes too bland, or a spoonful of honey.
Oh its clinically proven allright. If by "clinic" you mean advertising agency boardroom and by "proven" you mean proven to make General Mills a shitload of money.
This is not the first time General Mills has crossed the line. As Sergeant Mills he claimed that Betty Crocker's cake frosting was maybe scientifically proven to increase libido in lab mice.
Cheerios need to come with a warning that says "This stuff tastes like cardboard and you will constantly be finding little stray O's underfoot for the next month and a half."
@rd2uk: See, I don't even like things with table sugar, even just a few teaspoons, because then it gets all sludgy to me. I'm a weirdo. I'd probably put like, tikka masala on them.
Suh-weet. Maybe they'll stop airing that obnoxious, poorly dubbed commercial where the guy asks his ladyfriend if she's trying to lose weight because she's eating Cheerios or some such thing. Samanthrax says shut up, Cheerios.
My boyfriend is pretty convinced that it was filmed in England and then they dubbed them with American accents. I guess it does look kind of like a British house / couple?
@trakkie: That is an interesting theory. The only thing I can positively say is that it had to have been filmed in a flourescent lit cubicle because the lighting is that shitty.
@Devi: Bit of both. Sometimes it airs with the OBVIOUSLY ORIGINAL accents, and sometimes not. It looks really weird too, and the delivery of "the box says shut up steve" doesn't work at all.
@Samanthrax is Sarcastic: Ha, I was complaining to my boyfriend about that commercial last night. How is Cheerios so cheap that they're doing a shit job dubbing UK commercials?
@MissMoneypenny: I think this is where I should admit that, for someone who is passionately interested in all sorts of different foods, I sure am a curmudgeon about breakfast cereal. I haven't bought any in years because I just don't like it anymore.
Even staunchly good-for-you things like Kashi and Cheerios and Other Stuff With Protein And Fiber aren't enough to get me through a morning. I'm a Cereal Curmudgeon.
@tscheese: I'm the same-- even high- protein Kashi will only keep me full for like 1.5 hours after breakfast, and then it's 9 am and I'm starving at my desk and it's too early for my mid-morning snack. Toast with cheese, toast with nuked egg whites, and I'm good to go until 10:30 am.
Wait. Over here inn OZ, companies are allowed to emphasise the cholesterol-lowering effects of their products. Including oats. Is this just because Cheerios are, well, Cheerios?
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The FDA said such specific cholesterol-lowering claims can be made only for drugs, and it suggested that if General Mills wants to keep the box labeling as is, it should file a new-drug application for Cheerios.
This is so stupid. Like anything that can help you achieve healthier cholesterol levels or triglycerides or whathaveyou has to be a drug? Oats contain soluble fiber which sticks to cholesterol and removes it from your bloodstream. This is a proven mechanism, and there are clinically proven results (the Cheerios study being one example). OATS ARE FOOD, FDA. Food can be beneficial to your health!
I know they try to regulate this stuff because "health foods" can go crazy with the claims and stuff, but this is taking it to a ridiculous extreme.
05/13/09
I don't have any Cheerios in the house, but I do have Kashi's equivalent, Heart To Heart. They're supposed to be the mini-Zinhas's breakfast, but that last bowl is joyfully being shoveled into my piehole.
I can't do cereal by itself as a meal, especially for breakfast, but it's a wonderful snack or light dinner for nights when you don't feel well or feel like cooking.
I always thought that because it said "may" rather than "will" lower cholesterol, they were clear for liability. Apparently not.
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Yuck.
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My boyfriend is pretty convinced that it was filmed in England and then they dubbed them with American accents. I guess it does look kind of like a British house / couple?
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Also, I wonder if Cheerios COULD be classified as a drug.
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Even staunchly good-for-you things like Kashi and Cheerios and Other Stuff With Protein And Fiber aren't enough to get me through a morning. I'm a Cereal Curmudgeon.
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