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They Say: Froot Loops is a Healthly Choice. Really?
When I think of healthy food choices I envision broccoli, tofu or a wheat bread. What does not come into my mind? Froot Loops. But yet this sugary cereal treat has been deemed a healthy choice by a new food labeling campaign called Smart Choices.
The industry backed program will mark items with a green checkmark which will soon be found on hundreds of packages such as the above mentioned Froot Loops and nutritionally questionable choices like Cocoa Krispies.
But a smartypants at Harvard disagrees. Walter C. Willett – a chairman for their School of Public Health – said that “these are horrible choice”. He continued to state that the criteria used to measure these food was ‘seriously flawed’.
The Food and Drug Administration is also chiming in. They’ll be keeping an eye on the program and will watch how it effects consumer food choices and if they “had the effect of encouraging consumers to choose highly processed foods and refined grains instead of fruits, vegetables and whole grains.”
A defender of the Smart Choices label said that items like Froot Loops was a better choice than others, saying, “You’re rushing around, you’re trying to think about healthy eating for your kids and you have a choice between a doughnut and a cereal…So Froot Loops is a better choice.” Using that kind of logic you can say giving your child water is better than white wine or feeding them bananas is better than barbed wire. You can make any combination of comparison and make Froot Loops look good.
The president of global nutrition for Kelloggs, the maker of Froot Loops, heralded the health of the cereal saying ““Froot Loops is an excellent source of many essential vitamins and minerals and it is also a good source of fiber with only 12 grams of sugar. You cannot judge the nutritional merits of a food product based on one ingredient.”’
Would you ever make the claim that Froot Loops is a healthy choice?
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0 Comments
SussLW commented on Sep 08 09 at 4:01 pm“Good source of fiber”? There is 1 gram. I do not call that a good source.
jenny tries too hard commented on Sep 08 09 at 8:45 pmD’oh! Froot Loops are better than a doughnut? Sure, but maybe then soda needs a little smart-choice sticker, too. Come on…Your kid is thirsty and in the kitchen there’s a bottle of Mountain Dew and a fifth of Jack….
Mistress_Scorpio commented on Sep 08 09 at 8:56 pmThe food industry knows no shame. Seriously, I don’t even bother buying organic unless it’s locally grown because the food industry has been so successful at watering down the requirements to qualify as “organic.”
Mistress_Scorpio commented on Sep 08 09 at 8:57 pmOh yeah, and FDA? Way to do your effing jobs, ya punkazz mofos.
PlumbLucky commented on Sep 09 09 at 9:01 amHmmm…is this a case of “the product doth protest too much”? As in, “if you have to tell me its a smart choice, it probably isn’t otherwise I could have figured that one out for myself by reading the darn label”?
Good thing I don’t rely on stickers ;-)
Rebecca commented on May 07 10 at 10:46 amAn educated consumer is a powerful thing. If we read labels and emand change then we get that. Froot loops good for you. Wow (as I wipe away tears) I needed a good laugh. I just saw a commerical about many of they high sweetened cereals making winning children. I just rolled my eyes and sighed for the parents that truly believe that they 5 year old can win a marathon after eating a serving of coco puffs.
Sarah commented on Feb 20 11 at 10:17 pmI’ve heard/read somewhere that if a product has to work really hard to tell you what it does or doesn’t have, then it’s probably no good. Honestly, the closer to its natural state something is, the better off you are. Froot Loops is soooooo far off the mark, I can’t believe anyone would believe it to be a health food.
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