Many cereal boxes are plastered with nutrition claims, but often these are misleading. Here are eight especially deceptive claims to watch out for.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Hey, it’s Robert Davis, the Healthy Skeptic. Trix isn’t just the name of a cereal. It also describes many of the claims on boxes in the cereal aisle. Here are eight especially misleading ones to watch out for.
One: Heart healthy.
Cereals and other foods are allowed to claim they may reduce the risk of heart disease if they’re low in saturated fat and cholesterol. But they can still be loaded with sugar, which isn’t good for your heart or your overall health.
Two: May help lower cholesterol.
The soluble fiber in oat cereals can in fact modestly reduce LDL or “bad” cholesterol. But there’s a catch: you’d typically need to eat as many as four bowls a day to have an impact, which the box doesn’t make clear.
Three: Naturally flavored.
This means the flavors are made from plant or animal sources, as opposed to manufactured in a lab. But natural flavors may also contain synthetic additives, which makes them essentially the same as artificial flavors.
Four: Pictures of fruit.
When you see images of, say, berries on the box, you’d think the cereal contained fruit, right? Well, think again. Often, what you get is only fruit flavor … or a sprinkling of fruit powder or puree… a far cry from whole fruit.
Five: Brown sugar.
This is supposed to give the impression that the cereal is more wholesome and healthful.
In fact, brown sugar is no better for you than table sugar or other sweeteners. To the body, sugar is sugar.
The same applies to six: No High Fructose Corn Syrup.
Instead of this sweetener, the cereal likely contains others that aren’t any healthier.
That includes not only sugar but also things like honey, molasses,
Or fruit juice concentrate, which sound more healthful, but aren’t.
Seven: Antioxidants.
Typically, the levels of antioxidants in cereals, such as vitamins A, C, E, are relatively low. Plus, they’re added, basically making them vitamin supplements, which have been proven to lack the benefits of naturally occurring antioxidants in foods.
Eight: Grams of whole grains.
Whole grains are good for us, so a claim of, say, 10 or 20 grams of whole grains sounds great.
But hold on: this number doesn’t reveal the amount of refined grains, which aren’t so healthful. What really matters is the percentage of grains that are whole… which should be 100% or close to it.
Instead of focusing on claims like these, look at the nutrition facts label. Ideally, a cereal should have six grams or fewer of added sugar…and three grams or more of fiber.
Also, under ingredients, the first one should be “whole” and the list relatively short.
These criteria may lack the allure of splashy marketing claims, but they’re a far better way to tell whether a cereal is truly healthful.
For more on diet and nutrition claims, check out my book, Coffee is Good For You, which reveals the truth about everything from red meat to red wine.