Cheerios are a drug

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That’s what the FDA had to say anyway.

“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,” the FDA said in a letter to General Mills which was posted on the federal agency’s website Tuesday.

Those claims indicate that Cheerios — said by General Mills to be the best-selling cereal in the United States — is intended to be used to lower cholesterol and prevent, lessen or treat the disease hypercholesterolemia, and to treat and prevent coronary heart disease.

“Because of these intended uses, the product is a drug,” the FDA concluded in its letter.

Not only that, but Cheerios is a new drug because it has not been “recognized as safe and effective for use in preventing or treating hypercholesterolemia or coronary heart disease,” the FDA said.

That means General Mills may not legally market Cheerios unless it applies for approval as a new drug or changes the way it labels the small, doughnut-shaped cereal, the FDA said.

You can read the rest of this article here – http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090513/hl_afp/healthusfoodmedicine_20090513020559

This is the same logic that prevented cranberry growers from advertising the health benefits of cranberries.

I think we need ‘Truth in Foods’ legislation.

You’d better study up before the FDA removes all published health information on any nutritional foods or supplements because they haven’t approved it to treat disease.

They probably would have stayed under the radar if they hadn’t gotten so specific.

You have one government body trying to get people to eat healthier, creatiing the food pyramid and extensive websites, and then you have the FDA saying you can’t advertise health benefits unless they approve it. C’mon guys – get it together.

Will you be one of the fortunate ones that knows the truth?