'Healthy' Kids' Foods Usually Aren't

latimes.com:

That's right -- 84 percent of the items declared healthy by an industry group called the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative actually weren't, including the tomato soup, peanut butter and Rice Krispies.

Read the whole story: latimes.com

Comments

[HammerTimes]

05:53 PM on 01/20/2011

Read the label folks...

Up here in Canada, one of the well known cereal brands, well known in the States too, when ridiculed about containing obscene amounts of sugar, claimed that it had reformulated its contents...

Admitting it was an outright lie... what they had done, to make it appear that there was less sugar per serving... they had only CHANGED THE SERVING SIZE... making it smaller, and so claiming less sugar per serving...

LOL!

[eLucida]

01:19 PM on 01/20/2011

Here's a Huffpo blogger I would like to hear more from,
Fred Hahn -- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/fred-hahn

See this post:

"Wheaties - Breakfast of Champions or Just Sea Monkeys?"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/fred-hahn/wheaties---breakfast-of-c_b_244864.html

"A good marketer could sell catnip to a dog if need be. We've all been hoodwinked into buying some sort of product at one time or another in our lives that turned out to be a dud or a downright lie. Sea Monkeys comes to mind. I can remember being so disappointed when my sea monkeys... turned out to be nothing more than brine shrimp i.e., fish food.

"It appears that Wheaties, the breakfast of champions, is now spending millions of dollars in an attempt to brainwash people -- specifically athletes -- into thinking a bowl of sugar is good and will enhance athletic performance.

"Don't let the hype fool you sportsfans. Cereal grains are nasty stuff. Grains are chock full of antinutrients and when refined for consumption and fully digested, are nothing more than simple sugar...

"A cup of Wheaties has 24 grams of carbohydrates (essentially sugar). The typical adult has a only a few grams, more or less, of sugar in her total blood volume - slightly less than a teaspoonful... But who eats a mere cup of cereal for breakfast - especially an athlete? When I was a wee lad, I typically ate 2-3 bowls of cereal..."

[HammerTimes]

06:09 PM on 01/20/2011

Actually, you need to look at some other aspects...

The serving has 24.2g of Carbs... but, only 4g is actually sugar... yes, much of the rest will come from other items...

But remember, complex carbs are much different then simple carbs, the complex kind are actually better for you as they take longer to convert... and usually are found in whole wheat, bran, etc...

A carb is not a carb... there is a difference!

[eLucida]

09:51 AM on 01/21/2011

>"complex carbs are much different then simple carbs, the complex kind are actually better for you as they take longer to convert"

That premise is about 20 years out of date.

Starches are rapidly digested to their component glucose molecules = sugar to your body.

Table sugar = sugar (glucose + fructose)
Potato = sugar (glucose)
"HealthyWh­oleGrains" = sugar (glucose)
Organic Brown Rice = sugar (glucose)

The glycemic index (1981) directly measures the effects of food on blood glucose levels.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycemic_index

For comparison pure glucose has a value of 100

White bread - avg 70 - 73

Whole wheat bread made with whole wheat flour - avg 71

Sucrose (table sugar) most 58-65

Honey - avg 55

Snickers Candy Bar - avg 55

Fruit Loops - 69

Bran Buds - 58

Corn Chex - 83

Golden Grahams - 71

Shredded Wheat - avg 75

Grape Nuts - avg 71

Puffed Wheat - 67-80

Rice Krispie type cereals - 81-95

Cream of Wheat - 66

Oatmeal from rolled oats (not instant) avg 58

http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/whattoeat/a/glycemicindlist_2.htm

[T4]

06:03 PM on 01/19/2011

Big news - have you ever actually lookes at what's in a yogurt container? scary stuff. i stick to my Herbalife shake as will my kids

[HerrMonk]

05:28 PM on 01/19/2011

Shocking!

[T4]

06:07 PM on 01/19/2011

OMG - really? you didn;t know this? Youmus believe in WMDs in Iraq and that megabankers really want to you out financially.

[yourmotherwasahamster]

04:51 PM on 01/19/2011

We eat a "terrible" diet in our house. Whole milk, full fat cheeses, full fat yogurt, mayonnaise, etc. I use real sugar and have nothing--absolutely nothing--in my pantry or fridge labeled "reduced fat" or "sugar free" or "diet". My kids drink no soda of any kind and don't want it even when it's available. Guess what? We are all slim and healthy. By contrast, my 17 yr old's best friend has a huge muffin-top, her whole family is obese and her little sister was just diagnosed diabetic. What do they eat? Nothing but processed "healthy" "diet" food and plenty of splenda on everything all washed down with diet soda.

[Andrew Wojtkowski]

03:08 PM on 01/19/2011

That's awesome. By their criteria, aspertame is healthy! Yeah, nevermind that it causes cancer and actually leads to weight gain. BUT IT HAS 0 CALORIES!!!!!!

[T4]

06:06 PM on 01/19/2011

you are victim of propaganda - get deprogrammed. No cancer ius caused by aspertame - not saying it is healthy or diserable - just cancer agent. It can only lead to weight gain with mentaly weak people whose brains get wored for sweetness - like an addiction. happens with all sweetners including sugar

[Larry Cohen]

06:56 PM on 01/19/2011

I invite you to read the actual study--http:bit.ly/claiminghealth, or the Prevention Institute's--who wrote the study-- blog post on it here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry/front-of-package-labels-h_b_810991.html
The point of the study is that when parent's see a product labeled as a 'smart choice', they think it is--never mind that this label is completely unregulated, that the product might get more than half of its calories from sugar, or that it might have a half day's worth of sodium in one serving. We all deserve better than that.