
Cheerios might just be too sweet for you
The new brand of honey flavored cereal was released back in 2014, following the then recent trend of protein filled snacks, but today a class action lawsuit claims that the Cheerios Protein might have more sugar than originally advertised.
The lawsuit was filed by the CSPI, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a non-profit organization that took upon itself to regulate the well-being of US citizens when it comes to health and nutrition. This organization was founded in 1971 and is now one of the US top advocates when it comes to consumer rights.
This brand of cereal has been advertised as a new option when looking for a protein rich diet, having 11g grams of protein per serving. The CSPI acknowledges this but says that the only reason this occurs is that Cheerios Protein has a bigger serving size than the original brand, the extra protein coming from the added cereal and milk. The recommended serving size is 55 grams, which is almost double when compared to the normal serving size of Cheerios which is 27 grams. The only large difference between the two is that this new brand has almost 16 times the sugar that the normal brand has. The added 4 grams of protein pale when confronted with the added sugar that children and adults alike are supposed to consume every breakfast with a normal serving of Cheerios Protein.
According to the US FDA, a product can claim to have a healthy source of a specified nutrient if it has roughly between 10% and 19% of the daily intake recommended for a daily dose. This intake is supposed to be achieved by the Cheerios Protein brand only because of its 57 gram serving size, claims the lawsuit, the main problem being that it glosses over the fact that it has an abnormal amount of sugar when it is clearly not advertised as such.
Mike Siemenas, spoke-person for the General Mills Company from which the Cheerios brand emerged, claimed that this lawsuit is only made for publicity sake, the CSPI filing it seeking only to establish itself as a more known establishment by attacking the brand.
This might be true, but the fact that a 200 calorie serving of Cheerios (the normal brand) has only 2 grams of sugar while the Protein one has roughly 16 to 17 grams cannot be ignored so easily.
The problem can be solved by simply adding this information on the box, thus solving the problem that Cheerios Protein has more sugar than originally advertised.
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