Words are tricky things. They have power (“We hold these truths to be self-evident…”), but they are also mutable. There’s a brilliant example of this currently in the cereal aisle of your local grocery store, where several products of the Kellogg’s company boldly proclaim on the front of the packaging that each “helps support your child’s IMMUNITY.”
Yet these cereals aren’t ones built on whole grains, or bran, or shredded wheat. Nope, they’re built on krispies – as in Rice Krispies, Cocoa Krispies, and Frosted Krispies. This is the latest trend of marketing ordinary packaged items as health foods.
The claim is based on the fact that Kellogg’s has increased the amount of synthetic vitamins they spray onto the cereals, bringing the dosage up to 25% of the recommended daily allowance. But, as The Early Show on CBS reported this week, these are still sugar-packed kids’ cereals, chock full o’ high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils. In our view, these two ingredients are the junk food dividing line.
The claim of enhanced immunity raised red flags all over the place, among not only parents and nutritionists but the government of San Francisco (where everyone is eligible for government health insurance), which has asked for evidence backing up that claim.
The Early Show sought such proof, too, and got this statement from Kellogg’s: “These nutrients have been identified by the Institute of Medicine and other studies as playing an important role in the body’s immune system. Therefore, we believe the claim … is supported by reliable and competent scientific evidence.”