Balance of Food

The headline reads "Kellogg to Make Kids' Foods Healthier." But I don't think that's true. I will even quote the opening sentence verbatim: "Kellogg Co. said Thursday it will increase the nutritional value of the cereals and snacks targeted at children or else stop marketing those products to them altogether." I'll repeat "or else stop marketing those products to them altogether." This is saying "we'll stop marketing the products to those under age 12." Noble? Perhaps. Making it healthier. No. The goals are decent, but not radical or innovative. -- single serving of a product to contain no more than 200 calories -- have no trans fat and no more than 2 grams of saturated fat -- have no more than 230 milligrams of sodium -- have no more than 12 grams of sugar. Not many cereals exceed 200 calories since 1 cup is a serving size. (Try pouring only 1 cup of cereal.) There is no reason for cereals to have any trans fat and not much reason to have saturated fat. Again, why would you have that much sodium? Sugar is the key category, and 12 is a decent total, but again for only 1 cup of cereal. What I would love to see them do is get rid of high-fructose corn syrup from their cereals. I haven't examined every single cereal, but I have picked up quite a few. The pattern I've noticed is that Kellogg's cereal are much more likely to have HFCS than non-Kellogg's cereals. I had Raisin Bran in Canada recently (there they call it Two Scoops), and it tasted good. Canada does not have HFCS in its food. I hadn't had it in awhile, so when I was back in the States, I reached for a box of Raisin Bran. Then I remembered why I don't buy Raisin Bran: high-fructose corn syrup. This cereal has sugar and HFCS. I flat out can't buy any cereal that has HFCS. As bad as high-fructose corn syrup is for adults, it's worse for children since they can't control how much HFCS they get outside the breakfast table. So Kellogg's, want to impress me. Reduce sugar (naturally) in your cereals, and take out the high-fructose corn syrup. Until then, I'm not impressed and I'm not buying.