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Parents: That Cereal is NOT as Healthy as You Think

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Scientists at Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity conducted an interesting study with cereals:

Through an online survey, researchers asked parents with children between the ages of 2 and 11 to view images of actual box fronts of children’s cereals. While the cereals were of below-average nutritional quality, the boxes featured various nutrition-related health claims including ‘whole grain’, ‘fiber’, ‘calcium and vitamin D’, ‘organic’ and ‘supports your child’s immunity’.  Participants were provided with possible meanings for these claims and indicated how the claims would affect their willingness to buy the product. source…

What do you think the parents said?

Parents said that the would buy the cereals with health claims because they seemed healthier. For example:

Three-quarters of parents believed that the ‘immunity’ claim on Cocoa Krispies® meant that eating this cereal will keep their child from getting sick.

The problem is that in many cases, the health claims are not very accurate, or don’t paint a full picture of a food’s overall nutritional quality.

“Promoting specific positive nutrients in products with other, less beneficial, ingredients (e.g. high-sugar cereals) appears to be a highly effective and low-risk marketing strategy for food companies,” says Jennifer Harris, lead author of the study and the Rudd Center’s Director of Marketing Initiatives.

The researchers conclude that increased regulation from the FDA is required in order to protect families. We doubt the FDA will step in as it has been sued in the past and lost to companies who took the First Amendment tactic.

What to do at the supermarket:

So how do you decide what’s truly healthy and  what’s just marketing? The only way to know what’s in a product is to read the ingredient list and nutrition label. Select cereals with

  • less than 6 grams of sugar (most kids cereals have 12)
  • 3 or more grams of fiber
  • no artificial colors (yes Trix, we’re looking at you)
  • no partially hydrogenated oils (trans-fat, found in cereals such as Froot Loops)


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  • Anonymous

    Increased government regulation is never the answer in a free market society. How about increased education? How about raising the value of a slower paced lifestyle that allows time for home-cooked meals? Or maybe placing a greater value on the decision of a parent to actually _be_ the parent? Perhaps even reducing the policies and regulations that make it cheaper to use ingredients with little or no nutritional value than to use “real” food when preparing meals? Making it more difficult for companies to navigate governmental regulations only adds cost — and not just to the manufacture of products, and the end price of those products, but the consumer is also stuck paying the price for all the added bureaucracy. It would be much better to make it easier and less expensive for parents to return to the kitchen and families to return to the dining table.

    • http://b.feli.me Weight Loss and Food Blogger

      “government regulation is never the answer”? Why not?

      While I am overall fairly sympathetic to the less regulation is better position, I also believe there are some areas where there are market failures (some of which existing government regulations may contribute to, e.g. corn/soy subsidies) as well as predictably irrational human behaviors that eduction cannot necessarily correct. As a result, it is hard for even well educated people to not fall for some of the marketing “tricks” used with advertising.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=511171567 Austin Danger Wiegand

      A slower-paced lifestyle? Well that’s not profitable at all. When healthy nutrition becomes profitable to the thousands of junk food makers… um, well I guess I’d like to see pigs fly too.

    • Sunshine Jasmon

      Increasing government regulation in America, where corporations and companies are allowed to run so free that they have reaked havoc not just on their own country but on the rest of the world, may in fact be a good idea. 

      And what a sweet idea, returning to the dining table.  I think in an upper middle class home where one parent has the ability to stay home and make nutritious meals is fabulous.  But let’s be realistic – what about the rest of the people/parents who don’t have the time?

      Let’s face it, breakfast cereals are a cheap (and possibly) wholesome way to quickly feed a child breakfast. 

  • http://www.thefrugaldietitian.com Nancy – The Frugal Dietitian

    The Doctor and the Pomegranate
    Antioxidants don’t work, but no one wants to hear it.

    http://www.slate.com/id/2300578/

  • Aimeevw

    Obviously, these companies are out to make money, and they bank on us being ignorant enough to see the giant word “Immunity” splashed across the front of the box and assume it’s a healthy choice.  WE as parents are responsible for what our children eat and their knowledge of what constitutes a healthy food. WE need to read the labels of everything and not be duped by the bulls***t marketing ploys. We must educate ourselves and talk with our children about how these companies work, including all the fun, cute commercials that entice our young ones to want crap.  If I want to feed my children something to boost their immunity, I will give them whole grain choices for cereal (which they love), fresh fruits and veggies, keep the sugar low, and have them wash their hands regularly and get plenty of sleep (when possible, ha!). I will NOT rely on a box of freakin’ Cocoa Krispies.

  • http://www.basicbento.com MH

    The fact that people have to be told this is a searing indictment of the state of education in this country: 75% of parents don’t have the critical thinking skills to figure out that chocolate cereal is not a health food??? Wow. I clicked the headline thinking it would be an exposé on Cheerios or something.

  • Jim Cooper

    Interesting experiment, but when you read the actual paper, you find that the subjects were NOT given access to the actual nutrition labels, only to the box front info. Here’s  my take on this:: http://t.co/BzqncIT 

  • AJLS

    I, personally, find it disturbing that there are parents who would believe, buy, and actually pass off sugar-laden, chemically altered, and highly processed boxed breakfast cereals as a “convenient” and “healthy” way to feed their child breakfast. Just as I get a little sick to my stomach every time I see those terrible Frosted Mini-Wheats commercials on TV with the little animated mini-wheat claiming that eating the cereal will fill your child with the fiber and nutrients they need to get through their day and be successful in school. It’s a marketing ploy, plain and simple. It truly only takes maybe an additional two minutes more out of your hectic morning routine to microwave some quick-oats, add a splash of milk, some dried fruit and nuts and maybe a little honey. Besides, it’s naturally full of fiber and nutrients, and oatmeal has incredible health benefits. Not to mention that a huge barrel of generic store-brand oats is often less than half the price of an overpriced box of sugar and chemicals.

  • Catherine Denis

    Adult cereals are the same. I’m just going to avoid them all together.

  • steves yok

    There are some foods that are bigger avoided. These would cover
    potatoes, white bread, burning biscuit and french fries. The acumen is
    that these are foods that that physique break down bound into sugar.