Cheerios=Lipitor?

On Arabic TV, I always see cereal commercials for something like Cocoa Puffs that are pouring into a bowl, but they're coming out of the box as stalks of wheat and corn. While commercials like that haven't aired in the US for a long time, food companies are finding ways to trick their consumers into thinking they're eating something healthier than it really is...see below...

One company that has been using health claims right and left is General Mills cereals. According to General Mills, "Cheerios is the only ready-to-eat cereal clinically proven to lower cholesterol when eaten as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol." The box shouts "Lower your cholesterol 4% in 6 weeks!" The reason Cheerios makes this claim is because it contains whole grain oats, a soluble fiber. One way this lowers choleserol is by binding with bile acids in the GI tract. Instead of the bile being recycled in the body, the bound bile acids are excreted in the feces. The body must then make more bile acids using cholesterol, and therefore lowering the total amount of cholesterol in one's body.

Of course, GM conducted a clinical study to prove this. According to their site, "...eating two 1 1/2 cup servings daily of Cheerios cereal reduced bad cholesterol when eaten as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol." Thank you GM. I was really planning on replacing two of my meals with a bowl of Cheerios every day...

According to this letter from the FDA to GM, the claims on the Cheerios box and website indicate that Cheerios is a cholesterol lowering drug, and "is intended for use in lowering cholesterol, and therefore in preventing, mitigating, and treating the disease hypercholesterolemia." The FDA warned Cheerios that the product is a "drug within the meaning of section 201(g)(1)(B) of the Act [21 U.S.C. § 321 (g)P)(B)]. The product is...not generally recognized as safe and effective for use in preventing or treating hypercholesterolemia or coronary heart disease. Therefore,under section 505(a) of the Act [21 U.S.C. § 355(a)], it may not be legally marketed with the above claims in the United States without an approved new drug application."

Therefore, unless Cheerios is claiming to be a statin, I look forward to seeing some changes on the Cheerios and other cereal boxes. Finally, FDA.