Here’s a newsflash: Frosted Mini Wheats are not health food. Yes, yes, I too am shocked that anything whose name starts with “frosted” is not perhaps the healthiest thing you can choose for your breakfast.
This was apparently not the view of Kellogg, however. Right on the box, (and I have one in my house so don’t think I am all hating on Frosted Mini Wheats) Kellogg claims the cereal improves children’s attentiveness nearly 20 percent. However, the study referenced in the advertising actually found attentiveness improved in only half the kids who ate Frosted Mini Wheats, and only 11 percent of the kids who ate them improved their attention by 20 percent.
The Federal Trade Commission slapped Kellogg for making these claims, and Kellogg last week entered into a settlement with the FTC which will require them to prove any claims they make are substantiated and true.
Still, with all the crap we’re encouraged to feed our kids, Frosted Mini Wheats is hardly the worst morning choice, magical attentiveness-boosting fiber or no.
And to be fair, Kellogg just donated all of its production for a day to Feeding America, a national hunger-fighting organization , doubtless as a PR counter-move to this news. However, I don’t think someone who’s having trouble getting by and can now feed her kids cereal in the morning necessarily cares.
