Exclusive: Nestle to cut sugar and salt in breakfast cereals

Yahoo! News ^ | October 15, 2012 | Emma Thomasson (Reuters)

[Carriage Hill]

I guess the starving kids in NORK can eat smaller portions of low-cal bark and grass?

[trailhkr1]

98% of the cereals on the market are really crappy for your health to begin with..not one of the best foods for your body.

The ones that say "healthy..." are the worst ones..

[Ellendra]

Their chocolate milk mix has a label on the side boasting about how it now has less sugar per serving. But, if you compare the small print between the old and new packages, the biggest change they made is in how much powder you’re supposed to use.

If you cut the serving size in half, suddenly it has half the calories. It’s magic!

[Carriage Hill]

Boxes stay at 18oz, content drops to 14.5oz, and prices rise 40% due to 25% ethanol content in gas, in 2015. That’ll go over well, like a fart in church.

[TChris]

“You can say without any shadow of a doubt,” as I was told then by Drummond Rennie, an editor for The Journal of the American Medical Association, that the authorities pushing the eat-less-salt message had “made a commitment to salt education that goes way beyond the scientific facts.”

NY Times Op-Ed 6/2012

From what I've been able to learn on the subject, there are far more verifiable health and medical problems associated with consuming too little salt than for consuming too much salt.

It's another "consensus" thing that's thoughtlessly repeated like Global Warming^TM and butter on burns.

[mtg]

I'd rather put my own sugar on my cereal anyway, so I don't see it as such a big deal. And if I want it saltier, I can always pour salt on it too.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Terribly overpriced convenience fodder. The generic version is usually identical at as little as a quarter of the price.

Even more ironic is that a lot of milk today is reconstituted from dehydrated, with fat added for flavor and blue dye for whiteness. Blecch.

[elkfersupper]

there is absolutely no better source of quick enery than oatmeal.

I put salt, sugar, butter and sometimes heavy cream on my oatmeal.

Absent the availability of some or all of those things, I have been known to put ketchup or even Worcesterchire sauce.

[Madame Dufarge]

That was my take, too.

Why don't they just chop up some styrofoam cups and box them as Cheerios? Who'd know?

[Ken H]

I'd rather put my own sugar on my cereal anyway, so I don't see it as such a big deal.

[Battle Axe]

A package of Double Stuffed Oreos jumped into my cart about half an hour ago. They taste dreadful. Maybe I haven't had them in so long that I am not remembering what they should taste like.

The real problem is the bromide in the wheat flour.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

I used to never salt my food. I do now.

[boop]

It's a damn shame what they've done to breakfast cereal over the past several years. Low salt, low sugar sucks. I remember when King Vitaman went "low sugar". Used to be my favorite.

If I wanted "healthy" I'd get a box of the Uncle Sam constipation cereal.

[Born to Conserve]

Eliminate salt for the sake of the few with high blood pressure at the cost of the healthy.

Eliminate sugar for the sake of the few with diabetes at the cost of the healthy.

Eliminate peanuts for the sake of the peanut allergic at the cost of the healthy.

Eliminate dairy for the sake of the dairy allergic at the cost of the healthy.

Eliminate wheat for the sake of the gluten allergic at the cost of the healthy.

Eliminate soy for the sake of the lecithin allergic at the cost of the healthy.

blah blah blah.

I’m ready for the unhealthy to just die so I can eat regular food again.

[nomad]

What, so all this processed crap is what we`re SUPPOSED to be eating? If people want to eat garbage then they can buy and eat their garbage, if some want to eat something closer to REAL food, the way it was intended, then let them eat it. Whats wrong with the consumer, thru the free market deciding? Or put another way, I suppose Moochel`s arm twisting is BAD but from agribusiness conglomerates and people like you its GOOD.

[nomad]

How about giving people a choice, if you don`t want to eat something then don`t buy it or eat it, or is someone putting a gun to your head and forcing you?

[MayflowerMadam]

I don’t have a problem with that. since it appears the companies have made the decision on their own. However, if due to nanny government mandates — not good. If/when they notice a drop in sales... oh, well.

[ExCTCitizen]

The move comes as food and beverage companies seek to preempt tougher regulation due to the global obesity epidemic by offering healthier products or smaller portions.

I guess when the kids come around for donations to UNICEF, I don't have to give $$ if we have a WORLDWIDE OBESITY PROBLEM.

New from CPW: 'Nothing - No sugar, No Taste, but loaded with vitamins and minerals. Free inside --coupon for a FREE bag of Sugar!!'

[Eepsy]

That Uncle Sam stuff isn’t bad once you make rice krispy treats out of it. Heck, most healthy cereals are vastly improved by the addition of melted marshmallows.

[Ken H]

What, so all this processed crap is what we`re SUPPOSED to be eating? If people want to eat garbage then they can buy and eat their garbage, if some want to eat something closer to REAL food, the way it was intended, then let them eat it. Whats wrong with the consumer, thru the free market deciding?

Not a thing. That's not what's happening here, now is it. From the article:

The move comes as food and beverage companies seek to preempt tougher regulation due to the global obesity epidemic by offering healthier products or smaller portions.

Or put another way, I suppose Moochel`s arm twisting is BAD but from agribusiness conglomerates and people like you its GOOD.

It is GOOD when the pressure comes from consumers like me. It is BAD when done to kow-tow to government social engineering.

But feel free to go right on kissing Michelle's fat ass.