Popular cereal is a drug, US food watchdog says

"Popular US breakfast cereal Cheerios is a drug, at least if the claims made on the label by its manufacturer General Mills are anything to go by, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has said. "Based on claims made on your product's label, we have determined that your Cheerios Toasted Whole Grain Oat Cereal is promoted for conditions that cause it to be a drug," the FDA said in a letter to General Mills which was posted on the federal agency's website Tuesday. Cheerios labels claim that eating the cereal can help lower bad cholesterol, a risk factor for coronary heart disease, by four percent in six weeks. Citing a clinical study, the product labels also claim that eating two servings a day of Cheerios helps to reduce bad cholesterol when eaten as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, the FDA letter says. Those claims indicate that Cheerios -- said by General Mills to be the best-selling cereal in the United States -- is intended to be used to lower cholesterol and prevent, lessen or treat the disease hypercholesterolemia, and to treat and prevent coronary heart disease. "Because of these intended uses, the product is a drug," the FDA concluded in its letter" - Yahoo

Face of Cheerios (USA)

"Dolores Marino, an Apple Valley resident for four decades, nearly died in 2006. Now she's the face of Cheerios' heart awareness campaign, plastered on 8 million cereal boxes in stores and homes across the country. 'The irony of my story is that I have been a nurse for more than 25 years,' Marino, 61, said. 'I take care of patients. Never in my wildest imagination would I have predicted open-heart surgery for myself.' About 20 years ago, Marino attended a health fair put on by nursing students at Victor Valley College. She paid $25 to have lab work done, and found out she had high cholesterol. When she was in her mid-50s, Marino learned she also had high blood pressure." - Freedom Communications, Inc.