Kellogg’s Claim of Immunity Boost From Cocoa Krispies Challenged

Can eating a chocolatey cereal for breakfast really boost your child’s immune system and help stay off disease and illness?

San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera thinks not and is challenging Kellogg, the world’s largest cereal maker, to prove its claim of health benefits, which are prominently displayed on boxes of the popular children’s cereal.

“I am concerned the prominent use of the immunity claims to advertise a sugar-laden chocolate cereal like Cocoa Krispies may mislead and deceive parents of young children,” Herrera said in a letter sent last week to Kellogg.

Boxes of Cocoa Krispies – the chocolate-flavored version of Rice Krispies – carry a banner proclaiming “Now helps support your child’s IMMUNITY.” Parents are led to believe that eating a bowl of the sugary cereal at breakfast will help bolster their child’s ability to fight off infection from a variety of diseases.

Susanne Norwitz, a Kellogg spokeswoman, defended the claim and told UPI that the company added antioxidant vitamins A, C and E to its Cocoa and Rice Krispies products after studies showed the vitamins play a key role in the immune system.

Health Experts Skeptical of Cocoa Krispies Benefits

But some nutrition experts are not convinced and are taking aim at the claim.

“By their logic, you can spray vitamins on a pile of leaves, and it will boost immunity,” said Kelly Brownell, director of Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, according to a UPI news report.

Other Cereal Claims Questioned

It’s been a rough year for cereals that make claims of health benefits on their boxes.

In May, the Food and Drug Administration warned the makers of Cheerios about claims on boxes about the cereal’s ability to lower cholesterol. The FDA said the specific claims of how much eating Cheerios can lower cholesterol amount to unapproved drug claims.

General Mills, which makes Cheerios, stuck to its guns and said medical science supports the claim, but several lawsuits were filed by consumers who say they were duped into buying Cheerios thinking they were lowering cholesterol.

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