Dr. Mercola February 04 2006 2,348 views
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has threatened to sue cereal-maker Kellogg and media kingpin Viacom, owner of the Nickelodeon cable network, if neither stop marketing health-harming foods to children within 30 days.
Out of more than 50 TV ads for Kellogg products, 98 percent of them were for products whose ingredients included, by weight, more than 35 percent of extra sugars.
The lawsuit aims to prevent companies from marketing junk food when 15 percent or more of the audience is 8 years old or younger. It seeks to include not only television commercials, but also Web sites, toy giveaways, contests and other marketing aimed at children.
A lawsuit of this nature has not occurred since 1983, when General Foods company settled a case out of court.
CSPI grabbed some well-deserved attention last summer when they asked the FDA to require cigarette-style warnings on all non-diet soft drinks, the leading source of calories in America. Their newest crusade tackles two more contributors -- TV and processed sugary foods -- to the plague of childhood obesity.
Of course, Viacom and Kellogg denied any responsibility, and with the Alliance for American Advertising and the Federal Trade Commission watching their corporate backsides, realistically, not much may happen.
Clearly, Kellogg is the worst of the cereal companies, the Monsanto of the breakfast cereal business. Strangely, it was founded by two brothers who were seeking to improve health outcomes ...
The irony of all this: Nickelodeon is the one kids-oriented network actively airing health ads that expose refined sugars, hydrogenated fats, processed food, and junk food as bad for children to consume. What's more, CSPI has been on a campaign to lump all sugars together, claiming, wrongly, that corn-derived fructose is no different than the levulose that comes from fruit.
That said, you should never stop doing all you can to protect your kids by cutting down on their TV time and reducing their intake of sugars and grains.
I enjoy the website and thank you for providing everyone with all this information which others would be reluctant to display.
However, I wanted to point something out. Levulose and fructose are the same molecule. Fructose is sometimes referred to as "levulose" because fructose is a levarotatory molecule (i.e. it rotates the plane of polarized light to the left; Glucose is often referred to as "dextrose" because it rotates light right; dex- = right, lev = left).
I think the main problem with high fructose corn syrup is just that it is chemically treated. It is simple sugar with very little, if any, accompanying micronutrients that promote good health and help individuals process the sugar. Also, since it is chemically treated, there is the chance that there are contaminants, from unreacted materials or from incompletely filtered byproducts (I don't know for sure since I am not familiar with the process(es) involved, but this is likely as chemical reactions never proceed with 100% extent and filtration is never perfect).
On a side note, it's interesting to observe the partial hydrogenation process that creates those horrible artificial trans fats (with the main one being elaidic acid) involves using transition metals such as nickel as a catalyst. Trans fats are found in very small concentrations (nowhere near the amounts in hydrogenated foodstuffs) in natural fats such as milk-fat and some other animal fats. It makes me wonder if some of the adverse health effects of trans fats are not just from the trans fats themselves, but perhaps from incomplete filtration of the transition metals...
Obviously the effect of any chemical contaminants in processes like these would be small initially due to the small amounts. The damage, however, could accumulate over time.
I believe we have forgotten something that's even more important, which is artificial color #2, etc., along with other artificial colors to make their additives look like blueberries, etc. The fraud here is they call them by a fruit name that is totally untrue. There is no need to point any fingers here. They know who they are.
Just a little extra I wrote myself.
In order to sell food to millions of consumers, the food industry must make it appealing to as many as possible, from the young child to the elderly. In order to accomplish this, individual food suppliers use additives to make their foods taste better.
www.gomestic.com/.../Are-There-Hidden-Additives-in-Our-Foods.153115
Are There Hidden Additives in Our Foods?