You May Need a Prescription for Cheerios

Adventures in food marketing:

The Food and Drug Administration scolded the makers of Cheerios about the way they promote the cereal's health benefits. The FDA sent a letter of warning to General Mills accusing them of making unauthorized health claims.

Current boxes of Cheerios are touting what the company calls exciting news -- the cereal's ability to help lower cholesterol 10 percent in one month.

"My mother actually eats it every day, seven days a week for breakfast to lower her cholesterol," Staten Island resident Lauren Schwam said.

According to a letter from the FDA General Mills' advertising violates the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. The agency said claims that Cheerios ingredients can lower cholesterol within a certain amount of time, all while providing cancer-fighting and heart-healthy benefits, essentially makes Cheerios "a drug" by their definition. And no drug in this country can be legally marketed without an approved new drug application.

They used to market milk in California with the slogan "It Does Every Body Good". The government made them stop because some people are lactose intolerant and therefore it doesn't do their body good.

There goes breakfast.