Although we would like to believe every health claim that we see, the truth is that sometimes we are misled. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has said that false health claims are being made by Kellogg’s cereals. In particular they were talking about Rice Krispies cereal.
Kellogg has made the claim that Rice Krispies can improve children’s health. However, there has been no studies or clinical trials done to back up those claims. Last year they made similar false health claims on Frosted Mini-Wheats by saying that the cereal could improve attentiveness in children.
As a result, Kellogg is banned from making any health claims about their food products unless they have evidence to back it up. While I think this is great, I think it’s a standard that should be set for every food product.
After all, how do we as consumers go around proving if a label is truthful? We can only assume that a health claim is true and then go with it. To eat foods that are based on a health claim, only to find out that it wasn’t true is very frustrating.
Since we can’t trust every label then I guess we do need to be like food detectives. A little research and reading up on the ingredients may help. Many times if something sounds too good to be true, then it likely isn’t. Just in the case of Frosted Mini-Wheats claiming it could improve attentiveness would have raised questions in my mind.
Misleading health claims are out there. Be wary and smart about your food choices. It’s a pretty good possibility that processed foods won’t be as healthy as fresh foods like fruits and vegetables. So make sure there is enough of that in your family’s daily diet.
Don’t fall for misleading health claims that sound too good to be true. More than likely, they aren’t true.