FDA to Cheerios: Not So Fast!

General Mills started out with vague claims that eating Cheerios may help lower cholesterol. I thought that was OK, and I like Cheerios. However, lately General Mills is getting a bit more specific with their claims: “You can lower your cholesterol 4% in six weeks.”

When that happened, the FDA took notice and sent a stern warning letter to General Mills. They believe the 4% claim is too much like a drug claim. I agree. Other violations were also mentioned in the letter.

Claims like that may lead consumers to treat Cheerios as a cholesterol-lowering medicine. In fact, Cheerios is merely part of a healthy diet. You can’t lower your cholesterol by eating Cheerios alone. The rest of your diet counts, but that may be easy to forget when staring at the cholesterol claim each morning.

General Mills is working with the FDA to clear up the matter. They say that the science is there to support their claims.

Perhaps they’ll work something out. If not, the FDA’s letter says:

Failure to promptly correct the violations specified above may result in enforcement action without further notice. Enforcement action may include seizure of violative products and/or injunction against the manufacturers and distributors of violative products.

With that, I’m picturing government employees walking into my local grocery store and dumping boxes of Cheerios into big bins. Pretty funny, right? I’m guessing it won’t come to that!

Read more at USA Today, or read the entire warning letter from the FDA.

What do you think of the Cheerios claim to lower cholesterol by 4% in six weeks?

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