With so many foods claiming to be healthy and that they will do this or that, it is hard to tell which foods are posers and which actually are healthy for the consumer. One of the early morning foods that make the biggest ads for a claim is General Mills’ Cheerios. Declaring, “you can Lower Your Cholesterol 4% in 6 weeks", the cereal got into trouble with the Food and Drug Administration. Even though the FDA allowed General Mills to claim reducing the risk of heart disease because of eating the whole grains from the cereal, it did not allow them to claim a specific rate of the risk reduction.
The issue with making such a specific claim is that everyone is different. While the claim could be factual, lowering cholesterol isn’t this simple because there is much more that goes into the process. One cannot just eat Cheerios every morning for 6 weeks and miraculously his or her cholesterol is lowered; he or she must also have a healthy life style. While eating whole grain oats are good for cholesterol, a person must also eat healthy through out the rest of the day and even exercise habitually.
If someone was trying to lower his or her cholesterol, changing their breakfast to Cheerios could help in the process. The whole grains from the oats, the cereal, are known for lowering the risk of heart disease by putting healthier nutrients into the consumer’s body. I would use this product if I was trying to lower my cholesterol, but I would also be aware that I would have to be motivated to sustain a healthy life style as well.
While Cheerio’s claim of lowering cholesterol could be at the center of some controversy, it could not be debunked for actually doing its claim.
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