OPINION: Cheerios: The drug

Anyone with basic nutrition knowledge knows soluble fiber helps lower cholesterol. It's a fact that some cereals, such as Quaker Oats and Cheerios, contain lots of soluble fiber.

So, for what it's worth, eating these cereals can help lower cholesterol.

Therefore, when General Mills buys commercial time on TV to talk about the cholesterol-lowering qualities of Cheerios, the company does the public a service in return for a profit.

But don't expect the company to get accolades from government for earning profits by encouraging good health through dietary responsibility. Instead, the company has been admonished by the Food and Drug Administration for claiming Cheerios can lower cholesterol by 4 percent in six weeks when eaten as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol. The FDA isn't disputing the claim. It's disputing the company's right to make the claim. In a recent letter to the company, the FDA explained that because of General Mills' ad campaign it considers Cheerios a drug, which must be reviewed and approved as a drug.

One of these things is not like the others: morphine, penicillin, aspirin, Cheerios. Most drugs, if taken improperly, will kill the consumer or cause substantial bodily harm. An entire bottle of aspirin at one sitting will harm or kill. If Cheerios is a drug, therefore, one should be able to commit suicide by consuming the entire box.

The FDA admonished General Mills because the National Consumers League complained of the cereal's "drug-like claims." The complaint called the ads "magic bullet health claims" that should be reserved for medications.

The National Consumer League has backed every regulatory idea that has come along in the past 100 years. Its mission is to "protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers." The league advocates national health insurance, which would give government control over the health care decisions of individuals.

By attacking Cheerios, the National Consumer League will aid giant pharmaceuticals that want consumers to believe cholesterol can be lowered only with the expensive drugs they sell.

Does anyone at the FDA or the league believe Americans must be protected from Cheerios because General Mills accurately claims the cereal lowers cholesterol? Of course not. This isn't about protecting consumers. It's about controlling them. The league and the FDA want to decide how consumers lower their cholesterol. They would rather consumers use expensive medications, which require prescriptions that will someday be managed by government health care. How dare General Mills aid the little people in managing their own health.