Honey Nut Cheerios - Is this true?

[SoTotallyNotANinja]

I'm not one of those people who starves himself and feeds like a gopher on Honey Nut Cheerios, but as a kid I just liked the cereal and ate boxes of it within weeks. I liked it a lot. Then I heard about this cholesterol thing, I'm a biology flunk, and when I was 10-13 I learned how to cook eggs, steak'ums, make omelots, and other high chol foods. So the incentive to eat them was more pleasurable than jsut a meager childhood addiction.

But then I read this...TL;DR people better hit back.

That is ridiculous marketing that people believe, so they use it to promote profits. They are profiting on the unbelievable paranoia over cholesterol. They buy cheap grains and that is mostly genetically engineered junk that contains antibiotic marker genes, terminator genes, and insecticide genes designed to kill bugs that eat the junk grains. They add synthetic vitamins that are not vitamins at all, but synthetic chemical activators that actually damage your DNA based on recent quantum physics experiments showing how these chemicals damage cells.

The sugars they add to this junk and excytotoxins to "enhance" the flavors, etc. plus preservatives to allow the pretty boxes to sit on shelves for years does your body NO good. If you actually believe these guys are interested in your health beyond getting sued for causing major problems, you need to free yourself from the lies you believe. It's all about money, not health.

Cholesterol is sometimes called a fat, but in reality it is a special kind of alcohol. Our brains are largely cholesterol and saturated fat. Children who do not get enough cholesterol in the first years of their lives develop a loss of cognitive functions and is necessary for the part of the brain in the fetus that allows the eyes to develop. Our hormones are made of cholesterol, our cell membranes are protected from free-radical attack by cholesterol, and our body heals itself using cholesterol. If we don't make quite enough, and we don't eat very much, we risk running short. Cholesterol is a transporter of fatty acids that repair damaged arteries. Why do you think doctors are so concerned now about blood pressure in people who take these insane statin drugs? The arteries are not getting repaired and creating a high stroke condition! Do you think this is why STROKES are now Number 3 on the list of diseases in America today that are killing people? The real culprit is inflammation from infections in the body, not cholesterol. Cholesterol is doing what it is designed to do. To concentrate on lowering cholesterol and ignore the infection and inflammation issue is just plain stupid and bad science.

I think if you eat cheerios to lower your cholesterol, there is a lot of things you need to understand that will have a much greater impact on your life.

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I'm not going to stop eating them, I love them and there a fine breakfast for me. But when I originally found out about this I suspected a marketing ploy, I just never had the patience to indulge in the scientific/biological aspect of it. Is it true?

[Warrickneff]

There are acceptable limits on what is appropriate for cholesterol in healthy adults.

While I understand that children in development have different needs, I found that when Honey Nut Cheerios came out with the low cholesterol marketing campaign that it was directed towards adults, as it should have been.

I don't really feel cheated, most people understand that Cheerios aren't going to be the reason people live or die, but larger lifestyle choices that will impact more people.

[HeavyMetalGuy]

So you're saying that "cheerios lower your cholesterol" is bullshit?

[Letiger]

i read it all

i will never look at cherious the same again

[Anth0n]

Pretty much all processed food is unhealthy. Another thing to watch for is when it says "0g trans fat per serving" in prominent lettering on the package. Companies are legally allowed to claim 0g as long as there is less than half a gram of trans fat per serving. Recommended intake of trans fat is less than 2g per day, so it can be easy to go over that if "0g trans fat" foods contain .49g per serving.

[TheJamoke]

Firstly, it's Cheerios, not Honey Nut Cheerios, that makes the cholesterol-lowering claim.

Secondly, the FDA is not bringing Cheerios under fire because their claims aren't true, they are upset over the way the claim is worded on the box.
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Apparently only FDA certified drugs are able to advertise the same claim Cheerios does. So even though Cheerios may improve heart health and lower LDL cholesterol levels, the FDA simply wants General Mills to more appropriately word their advertisement.

I'll tell you one thing though, Honey Nut Cheerios contains no honey or nuts. Anyone who was old enough back in the mid '90s might remember the 20/20 story on this. Now that was some out-and-outright bullshit right there.