I've had a chance to learn more, and I'm now wondering if the concessions that the Kellogg Co. made this week are enough in terms of limiting sugar content in the foods it advertises to kids under age 12.
You see, I was initially really excited about what I perceived to be momentous changes afoot at the Kellogg Co. So I happily, quickly and eagerly announced the agreement here that CSPI had reached with the company after a year and a half of negotiations. (I was in the midst of many things that day so I didn't have time to delve into this extensively. This is a really hectic week for me because of the CBS News Sunday Morning story on sugar and also because I'm in the middle of a move but still haven't found a new place yet.)
Remember to watch CBS News Sunday Morning this Sunday or set your TiVos, because sugar is the topic of its lead story.
Anyhow, I've now had a chance to read this wonderful article from Andrew Martin of the New York Times. He was quite specific about the nutrition guidelines to which the Kellogg Co. agreed.
Of course, as the author SUGAR SHOCK!, I'm interested in the new sugar guidelines. (The agreement also calls for limiting calories, fat and sodium.)
Basically, under the new guidelines, to advertise to children under 12, one serving of cereal must have no more than 12 grams of sugar. That means one serving can have 3 teaspoons of sugar. (To arrive at that figure, you just divide by 4.)
Take for instance, Kellogg's Cocoa Krispie's -- one of my favorites as a child. Well, you learn here that one serving is only 3/4 cup. So that means the cereal company can't advertise this cereal to children under 12 because it has 14 grams of sugar (3.5 tsp.) in one serving.
Now
take a look at Kellogg's Frosted Flakes. The cereal -- while still quite sugary and sweet -- has 11 grams of sugar (2.75 tsp.) in one serving so that's fair game to still be marketed to kids under 12.
Now now here's where the average person might get tripped up. Kellogg's can still target children under 12 with messages to buy Frosted Flakes -- but bear in mind that
one serving size of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes is a mere 3/4 of a cup.
Don't most kids eat more than 3/4 of a cup in one sitting? I know that as a kid (who incidentally loved both Frosted Flakes and Cocoa Krispie's), I would polish off a lot more 3/4 of a cup for breakfast. I'd easily consume twice that amount. (And I was skinny, too.)
So really, if children eat the normal serving size of Frosted Flakes, wouldn't they be ingesting more like 22 grams of sugar for breakfast? That's 5.5 teaspoons in one sitting.
Even if a child has only 3/4 of a cup at a time, what's the difference, really, between 11 and 12 grams of sugar? Either way, that's still a lot for a growing child under 12 to take in at any one time.
Having said all that, I do applaud the Kellogg Co. for taking some steps in the right direction by beginning to be more responsible, but I just don't think the company is going far enough.
So I'd like to suggest to the Kellogg Co. that their scientists take much more drastic steps than just announced.
Why not invent or reformulate some cereals specifically for children so that the growing youngsters get no more than 4 grams -- that's one teaspoon -- in 1 real serving? In other words, the label would read no more than 2 grams of sugar for 3/4 of a cup.
This is not impossible. Look, I know some really wonderful cereals out there -- granted, not many -- that aren't loaded in sugar. For instance,
Kashi Seven Whole Grains & Sesame and
Kashi Pilaf are fabulous cereals that contain 0 grams of sugar. Isn't Kashi now owned by Kellogg's? Why can't that be marketed to children under 12?
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