Exaggerated claims
Newspaper reports from around the country have reported the warning which the FDA delivered to General Mills over its claims regarding the cholesterol-lowering benefits of Cheerios. The concern was that the claims being made about the cholesterol-lowering ability of Cheerios gave the indication that the product possessed almost drug-like qualities when, in fact, its ability to lower cholesterol was far more limited. In other words, anyone who is on statins or any other type of cholesterol-lowering therapy should never consider the claims as a justification to replace them by eating Cheerios.
Perhaps the strangest press release came from the newsroom of CSPI . They applauded the FDA for taking action against misleading and exaggerated health claims on foods. This statement came exactly one day after a news conference in which CSPI representatives Michael Jacobson and cohorts claimed that salt was toxic and that our current levels of consumption are prematurely sending countless Americans to their graves. Talk about exaggerated health claims!
CSPI has long been known for their wildly exaggerated and factually baseless tales of terror in the food industry. The organization's current fantasy is salt consumption. Ignoring all the data indicating that our cardiovascular disease performance has improved dramatically over the last 30 years; that countries which consume the most salt have the best cardiovascular figures; that the famous Mediterranean diet contains 30-40% more salt than the typical American diet; and that, even for salt sensitive people, significant reductions in salt consumption results in clinically non-significant reductions in blood pressure, they continues to rant of impending doom to anyone who will listen. The problem is that many do listen, but either cannot discern fact from fancy or are unwilling to do the follow-up research to verify the CSPI statements.
