This bit of news has been making its round around the Internet for a few weeks now, but it you haven’t heard, the Food and Drug Administration is classifying the cholesterol-lowering cereal as a drug.

In a letter to General Mills from the FDA, a passage states:

“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,”

Since the marketing of the cereal focuses on the claim of lowering of cholesterol by 4 percent in 6 weeks, that classifies it as a drug, and not a food item.  With that being said, that means Cheerios is a “new” drug, and since it isn’t approved as a drug, it’s not “recognized as safe and effective for use in preventing or treating hypercholesterolemia or coronary heart disease.”  The claim on the box has been around for two years, and it has taken the FDA that long to realize this?  Either they work very slow, or that they’re looking for something to do, it’s not like they’re really doing much in food safety.  If General Mills does not retract the claim, the FDA is threatening to take Cheerios off of supermarket and wholesaler shelves.  I can see a long legal battle coming down the line.

While it does seem logical why the FDA is pursuing the matter so aggressively, there might be another reason behind this.  While it’s rather simple minded, I think there might be some validity to it.

Marketing Cheerios with the stated claim of lowering cholesterol might take away sales of cholesterol-lowering drugs.  Even though it’s a bit of a stretch, think about the impact on the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture and sell the drugs.  Pharmaceutical companies are in business to make money, and like other businesses, it’s about the bottom line.  Since Cheerios has been clinically proven to lower cholesterol, that would mean it’s an alternative to taking cholesterol-lowering drugs.  Sales of Cheerios goes up, sales of cholesterol-lowering drugs go down or remain stable.

Will we be seeing Cheerios being sold in the over-the-counter drug aisles?  Let’s hope not.

~ Kin

Did you know cereal was created in the 1800’s?  Neither did I!

Here’s the first paragraph of the article:

During the early 19th century, most Americans subsisted on a diet of pork, whiskey, and coffee. It was hell on the bowels, and to many Christian fundamentalists, hell on the soul, too. They believed that constipation was God’s punishment for eating meat. The diet was also blamed for fueling lust and laziness. To rid America of these vices, religious zealots spearheaded the country’s first vegetarian movement. In 1863, one member of this group, Dr. James Jackson, invented Granula, America’s first ready-to-eat, grain-based breakfast product. Better known as cereal, Jackson’s rock-hard breakfast bricks offered consumers a sin-free meat alternative that aimed to clear both conscience and bowels.

Continue reading here.

Not exactly.  So what’s it like?  About half of the flakes are covered in chocolate, and the oat clusters seem to held together with chocolate as well. Surprisingly, the chocolate flavor isn’t over powering, in fact, it’s quite light. It was nice to see that this cereal had the Cocoa Krispies affect, as in it turns your milk into chocolate milk. The flavors of honey and chocolate just didnt seem to complement each other quite well. It’s not a winner in my book, I still prefer the original.

Kelloggs is shrinking the box sizes of several of their well known cereal brands by an average of 2.4 ounces. So if you’ve been eating items sold under the Apple Jacks, Cocoa Krispies, Corn Pops, Froot Loops and Honey Smacks brands, be prepared to pay the same for less. This move was fueled by the rising commodity and energy costs.

Source

~ Kin

I was at Whole Foods looking for some Kashi Heart to Heart cereal.  They were sold out, prompting me to look for an alternative.  Looking up and down, left and right, the Whole Foods Organic Brown Rice Crisps caught my eye.  I was a fan of Rice Krispies while I was growing up.  I would pour half a jar’s worth of sugar into the milk and cereal to make it super sweet.  I don’t do that anymore as I’ve realized that processed sugar is not good for your body.  These brown rice crisps on the other hand, are.  It’s a great way to get in some whole grains in the early morning.  They’re lightly sweetened and crispier than Rice Krispies, but the snap, crackle, and pop sounds are few and far between.  $3.49 at Whole Foods.

~ Kin

I mentioned in an earlier post that I got banned from eating Kashi Heart to Heart Honey Toasted Oat Cereal because it crunches too loud. Well, since I’ve been banned, I had to look for an alternative cereal. It’s probably not the brightest alternative, since it has the word crunch in the name. I’m talking about Kash GoLean Crunch! Cereal. It’s louder and crunchier than the other cereal.  I’m sure to annoy a few more extra rows of cubes while I’m munching on this at work. Let’s see how long it takes until someone pops a blood vessel or starts throwing staplers at me from my crunching.

So I pretty much got banned from eating the ‘Kashi Heart to Heart Honey Toasted Oat Cereal’ at the office. The reason? I was crunching way too loud and it started to annoy my coworkers and neighbors in the adjacent cubicles. I’m impressed, it took them two weeks before they said anything.  Hey, tt’s not my fault that the cereal is full of wholesome crunchy goodness!  Now I can only eat my cereal when no one is around.  Looks like I’ll be eating breakfast at home in the morning.  Seriously, how am I going to enjoy breakfast if I can’t annoy my coworkers?

There are two things I hate about cereal. It’s expensive and I go through an entire regular sized box in half a week. Still, I love cereal. In fact, I can’t live without cereal. I’ve managed to ween myself off of Corn Pops and other high sugar cereals, but where did that leave me? Cheerios is good for you but had no flavor, Honey Nut Cheerios was too sweet for me. Honey Bunches of Oats was good, but I only liked it with milk. As with All-Bran Yogurt Bites, I only ate the yogurt bites. So yesterday I discovered a new one while I was at work. My coworker brought out a box of Kashi Heart to Heart Honey Toasted Cereal. When I saw him pour out the contents, I laughed really hard. It looked like dog food and I put some on a plate and placed it on the floor.

Ralph, I’m sorry, the cereal was delicious. Even though it still looks like dog food.

The cereal is light and crunchy, made with the famous Kashi whole grains, and is lightly sweetened. In fact, you can eat it on it’s own as a snack without any milk. I think I found my popcorn replacement for movie night.