Posted on 05/30/2009 5:18:33 AM PDT by FromLori
Based on the long-time claim by General Mills that its Cheerios cereal can lower cholesterol by 4 percent in just six weeks — when part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, of course — the Food and Drug Administration has admonished the giant breakfast cereal producer and said those claims mean the little round “o’s” of oats are to be considered a drug.
Simply by indicating the cereal is intended for use as a cholesterol-lowering product, it now falls under the FDA regulations regarding drugs, and because it’s a “new” drug by definition — never mind that the cholesterol ad has been around for about 2 years — it must be approved via a drug application before General Mills can continue making the claim, the FDA told the company in a letter May 5.
Now, it seems Cheerios can indeed be marketed as a healthy choice in the fight against heart disease because the FDA already has regulations authorizing the claim by products with soluable fiber from whole grain oats.
The FDA goes on to attack Cheerios’ box labeling and associated claims of healty diet and the reduction of cholesterol on the company website. The bottom line: Cheerios can’t say it reduces cholesterol without having gone through specific FDA-approved testing to back it up.
Make the claim and the FDA will regulate the cereal just like a drug.
So who got the FDA all up in arms about the cereal box labeling? The National Consumers League back in September flagged the feds to Cheerios’ “drug-like claims, calling the ads “magic bullet health claims” that are impermissible under the law and “properly reserved to cholesterol-lowering medications.”
For its bit, General Mills issued a statement saying “Cheerios’ soluble fiber heart health claim has been FDA-approved for 12 years. …The science is not in question…and the clinical study supporting Cheerios’ cholesterol-lowering benefit is very strong. We are in dialog with the FDA.”
The agency gave the Minneapolis-based company 15 days to come up with a decision on what to do.
I didn’t see the May 26th story. Thanks for posting it today.
How far will it be, till they classify my beloved Lucky Charms as a drug?/Just Asking - seoul62......
Catherine Zeta Jones = Viagara. Same side effects. Don’t read Maureen Dowd threads on FR without consulting your doctor.
So Aunt Ester and her photo op, shovel and all, are actually a potential health hazard...LOL
Exactly. I’ll bet for 100 years people joked about how “someday they’ll tax the air that we breathe”
Very scary. So scary in fact that I’ll be happy to die and not so sorry I’m not leaving any kids to cope with a planet full of idiots
Cheerios correctly points out its message has been FDA approved for 12 years.....who ya gonna believe, Cheerios or an Obama run FDA??? Obama, creating more wealth destruction in 3 months than Soros in his best year??? or Cheerios (General Mills), another Obama target for his wealth destruction campaign?
Yeah, the other day I had to go to my doctor to get a prescription for my Cheerios. Then, I find my prescription plan will only let me buy one of the small boxes per month. That comes out to about 127 pieces per day. The prescription says I should take my dose 3 times a day, which is about 42 every 8 hours. At the store, they weren’t on the shelves so I had to go to the pharmacy and sign for them.
Exactly lol Aunt Ester!!!
She may be spreading Salmonella!!
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/03/31/video-does-hr875-really-mean-the-end-of-small-farms/
hmmmm, or is it Soros, or King Abdulla....that's the $64 question: Just who did pay for Obama's Harvard days???
Hey man I had to go to rehab for six months... went too coo coo for cocoa puffs. It’s a damn shame the FDA didn’t step in to help.
thanks
I don’t mind multiple post because sometimes I miss the original.
When searching, don’t type in the whole title. Just pick an important word likely to be in any story. Such as ‘Cheerios.’ Doing that gives at least 8 other similar articles.
bingo
my LDL went from 70-ish to around 50 when I started doing nuts.....a bigger dive than I got from lots of sea fish (and I DO mean LOTS) baked in tin foil w only salt/pepper.....if I could choose my numbers, I’d want LDL of 30 and HDL of up to 100 to reduce existing plaque/obstruction.....I have no wish for a second zipper on my chest :) Zocor/etc ain’t all they’re cracked up to be without measures such as this. (Niacin in hefty enough doses was too unpleasant when I tried it to send my HDL north.)
If anything, they really should do something about the awful: Grapenuts, they are truly offer a horrendous culinary experience, akin to eating birdseed./Just Asking - seoul62......
I see them as having the “Tom Dashle” syndrome,
( hey look at me, hey look at me )
But thats just me
TPD
I find it funny that the FDA has found the time to go after Cheerios while they claim they don’t have the resources to inspect alot of things from China.
Now my hubby, who’s reading FR in the other room is calling me....
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