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Is Froot Loops really a health food?

Saturday, September 5th, 2009 by:

Some parents know more about nutrition than others. But for those that really don’t know what foods are a healthy choice for their children, there’s Smart Choices. The program places a front-of-pack nutrition label on items that are healthy food and beverage choices.

To qualify for the Smart Choices Program, a product must meet a set of nutrition criteria that limits saturated and trans fats and added sugar, while boosting vitamins. Sounds good, right?

In theory, yes, but some of the items that have earned the Smart Choices seal of approval are questionable. Froot Loops, Cocoa Krispies and even Fudgsicles carry the Smart Choice label. The chairman of nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health, Walter Willett, says the criteria used by Smart Choices is seriously flawed, making the program uncredible.

How can Froot Loops be considered a health food? Froot Loops qualifies for the Smart Choices label because it has some Vitamin A and C added, is low in fat and has the maximum amount of sugar allowed under the program for cereals (12 grams per serving). However, in this case that is also equal to 41% of the product–more than in most cookies.

Is Smart Choices really helping consumers or is it just a way for large companies to pass off junk food as healthy choices for our children?

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This entry was posted on Saturday, September 5th, 2009 at 5:47 am and is filed under Nancy's Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Is Froot Loops really a health food?”

  1. Around the Web… – Celebrity Baby Blog – People.com Says:
    September 8th, 2009 at 9:01 am

    […] makes food a real “smart choice”? — Just the Facts, […]

  2. jatava Says:
    November 14th, 2009 at 3:19 pm

    I have found that when I say, “Can I touch your belly then?” people say sure! So I have just become really mean about it. When a hand comes near my belly, I grab it and move it away. I also don’t understand when people ASK if they can touch my belly and I say “no”, why would they ask me why and get upset? If you really wanted to touch my belly, why didn’t you just go after it instead of asking a yes or no question where you have a 50/50 shot of getting an answer of “no”!