CPG manufacturers’ continue to “medify” their benefit statements. News on some of the latest attempts to guilt parents into buying one product over another.
Here’s an idea people, and I know this is cwazy, stop feeding your(self) and kids so much crap.
I cannot tell you how many focus groups I have sat behind the glass and listened as moms seriously say “I am very concerned about what I feed my family. I’m very health conscious and we eat very healthy.” And then they tell you 2 minutes later about how they only eat fast food twice a week and oh, Friday night is pizza night in the living room and we go through 2 cases of soda a week in my family.
Um, sure.
After the FDA fired a warning shot across the bow of General Mills for touting Cheerios as lowering cholesterol, the Health Blog has been taking a closer look at what other claims are being made these days in the cereal aisle. There we saw Kellogg’s Rice Krispies with a banner proclaiming “Now Helps Support Your Child’s Immunity” splashed across the box.
Kellogg rolled out a revamped Rice Krispies product line this month that boosts the amount of vitamins A, B, C and E in the cereal to 25% of the recommended daily value from 10% of daily value, according to Susanne Norwitz, Kellogg’s director of brand public relations. Studies show that these vitamins “play an important role” in the body’s immune system and “nutritionists and dieticians generally recommend that at least 25% of nutrient intake occur at breakfast,” she wrote in an email.
General Mills had raised the FDA’s ire for a box claim that Cheerios Toasted Whole Grain Oat Cereal was “clinically proven to lower cholesterol.” Such a claim needs FDA approval of the product as a drug, the agency wrote to General Mills in May. (The FDA says the company has responded to the letter and is fully cooperating. The agency is currently “in discussions” with the company, according to an FDA spokeswoman.)
So did Kellogg have to go through any special process to get the Rice Krispies claim on the box? Well, no, because of a company analysis of what the FDA rules cover and what they don’t. Norwitz said that Rice Krispies’ immunity claim is a “structure-function” claim, not a health claim, and “as such, it doesn’t require FDA approval.”
Basically, by the FDA’s definition, a structure-function claim describes how a substance maintains a particular bodily function while a health claim states that the substance prevents or improves a disease. Only health claims require FDA approval.
Kellogg’s claim is backed peer-reviewed and published research as well as authoritative statements from the Institute of Medicine, which state that the antioxidants and nutrients in Rice Krispies have been shown to support the body’s immune response,” said Norwitz.
Born Curious 
The key word is “support” – it supports immunity. It’s just good marketing.
http://brownbazooka.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/cereal-immunity/
Thanks for your comment, Mr. Bazooka. Look, I understand the linguistic gymnastics – but my quibble is that one could substitute MANY food items, beverages and behaviors into the sentence and be just as accurate. Statements such as drinking water or getting proper sleep and exercise supports immunity are also true. Thus, these claims are not unique or ownable to the brand.
These new immunity claims remind me of the “with 25% of your child’s required calcium” stickers that first appeared a few years ago on frozen pizzas and packaged cheese slices. I suspect the “supports immunity” claims will be as equally (un)moving to consumers.