Wednesday, 04 November 2009
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Can a Cereal Protect Your Child from the Swine Flu?
Parents have been trying to figure out the best ways in which to ensure that their children are safe from the H1N1 virus, also known as the swine flu. Some parents have taken their children for flu shots or nasal sprays others have bought cereal. Cereal as a preventative measure against H1N1 you ask? That’s right according to one popular cereal brand.
Recently, the popular cereal maker Kellogg’s has stirred up some controversy with a new label on one of their most popular children’s cereals, Cocoa Krispies. Kellogg’s Cocoa Krispies is now being sold with a large label across the front of the box which reads “Now helps support your child’s IMMUNITY”. Many people have felt that Kellogg’s is simply using the fear parents have over the swine flu to boost cereal sales. How can a cereal with 12 grams of sugar boost immunity health? Kids are kids and should be able to enjoy a sugary snack or meal every now and again but is this really a healthy, immunity boosting food? Whatever happened to eating fruits and vegetables for building a healthy immune system?
According to a USA TODAY article, Kellogg’s claims they have been working on this new and improved version of Cocoa Krispies for about a year in response to consumers concerns for a healthier version of the product not to be a preventative measure against the H1N1 virus. However, the improved cereal was just released in May 2009 in the middle of the swine flu scare. The new and improved version of Kellogg’s Cocoa Krispies has an increased amount of vitamins A, C and E, which are antioxidants. The percentage of these vitamins has increased from 10% to 25% in this particular cereal. It is great that Kellogg’s has upped the amount of vitamins in this cereal but children need a wide variety of vitamins and minerals to help boost their immune systems, not just these three.
Even though these vitamins are known to support immunity health do you think Kellogg’s claim is misleading or too grand?
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- From: michcoy@xanga
- Name: Michelle
- About Me: I am a full-time nanny and a part-time writer and absolutely love both jobs. The outdoors is where you can find me when I am not working. I love to go kayaking, camping and hiking.
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Comments (8)
Wow, they boosted it from 10% to 25%... nice effort, but not impressive.
I don't want to sound like I'm bragging- but every morning my kids have oatmeal with fresh bananas and apples cut into it along with flax seeds.. and a multivitamin lol. I think that is healthier and cheaper than if I were buying boxes of cocoa krispies (I have 5 kids, we cant do cereal cause we seriously go through a box every 2 days- too expensive).I think it's great they put in the effort to boost the vitamins up, BUT the immunity label is a bit misleading.
LOL. Chocolate cereal will NOT prevent your child from getting the flu. All these companys are trying to get you to buy their products by advertising this. It's sad, because alot of parents believe this! =/ Take a vitamin, eat fruits and veggies, and wash your hands!
We have 7 kiddos running around my house. They all take a multi-vitamin and vitamin C daily. I doubt we're going to buy a cereal because it says it will boost immunity!
this cereal does NOT protect you from H1N1 flu. goddamn, i wish you people read the papers. its in the newspapers TODAY.
It says it helps support immunity, not that its gonna prevent anything on its own... if everything our kids ate helped support immunity, it still doesn't mean they won't ever get sick...
I think they are trying to sell a cereal.
Duh...
Why feed a kid sugary cereal when they can get these vitamins from fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts. I hope no one is silly enough to fall for this and buys tons of this junk for their children.
Its misleading, if you ask me. Its a marketing gimmick. And apparently, if some mothers are really buying cereal to boost their children's immune systems, then it is a gimmick that works.
Even if it did boost the immune system, from all the information out there on the H1N1 virus it is not going to protect your kid against that virus. Nor is getting regular seasonal flu shots or nasal sprays. Either you get the vaccine for your kid or you don't, but cereal isn't going to help you out with this. If you don't get your kid the vaccine, then you just have to hope they get lucky and don't get the virus. Just like if you don't get your kid vaccinated for anything else. And that doesn't mean that not getting vaccinations is wrong, or that getting them is right. It really is personal preference and opinion. But, the idea that buying cereal, even one that has a label like that (or perhaps especially one that has a label like that), and expecting it to help your child's immune system be strong enough to keep your kid from getting H1N1 is ridiculous. :/