I saw this while in Mexico and really liked the idea. I was then immediately bummed out when realizing almost everything had that label on it and buying food without excess sugar and salt was a lot trickier.
Yeeeeeppp. Eating cereal in the morning is a very recent invention by American megacorps. Why would you load yourself with carbs first thing in the morning? Eating proteins or not eating at all until lunchtime is better.
Any food with … more than 37 grams of added sugar in a 100-gram serving is also banned from including a mascot on its packaging
Damn, that’s really good. Sounds a little bit like the plain packaging laws many countries have on cigarettes, which have proven to be extremely effective in the decade since they were first rolled out. It’s obviously a bit more limited, but it’s still a great move.
Some people really don't. They grow up with commercials telling them that the cereal is "part of a balanced breakfast" without understanding that that means the cereal should be a small part of the breakfast.
It’s also the case that not all cereals are created equally. Most of Kellogg’s most famous cereals are stuffed full of sugar, but they do have some options that are relatively healthier, like their All-Bran Wheat Flakes. And from other companies, there are some actually-healthy options. Australia’s most popular cereal is probably Sanitarium’s Weet-Bix, with just 3 g added sugar per 100 g. And even healthier than that is my preferred breakfast cereal, Uncle Toby’s Vita Brits, an otherwise-similar product with 0 g added sugar. Both Weet-Bix and Vita Brits are high in fibre and made from mostly whole grain wheat.
The poms have a version of Weet bix, too. Weet bix have to be commended for their marketing though, I still remember all the ads I’d see growing up if sports stars espousingvthe benefits of em. And they pump a lot of money into kids sport (do they still have the kids try-athlon series?) Kinda crazy given how marketing around food is these days.
Yeah the poms call theirs weetabix (not sure how it’s spelt). Dunno where precisely it sits health-wise relative to Vita Brits or Weet-bix.
Honestly I’ve never noticed that much marketing from Weet-bix. The cereal I most associate with sport is Nutrigrain, which is a much more sugary cereal (though not as bad as ones like Cornflakes or Rice Bubbles). I recall Nutrigrain being particularly associated with Iron Man races (the weird surf lifesaving Iron Man, not the triathlon).
My packet of Sainsbury’s own-brand Wheat Biscuits (same stuff, but only £3/KG), says 4.4g of sugar per 100g without milk.
As the ingredients say 95% of it is wheat, and sugar is 3 down the list from there, it’s probably about 2g of added sugar too.
I’m old. There used to be a number of “how many do you do?” campaigns with cricketers, soccer players etc for Weet bix. And yeah, nutri grain has been sponsoring that tournament since the 80s. It’s basically trash though, when it comes to nutrition. Rice bubbles and corn flakes are also fine enough sugar wise, both are below 10%. Not much else going for them though as they are both low in fibre.
Rice bubbles and corn flakes are also fine enough sugar wise, both are below 10%
Oh huh. Both of those are the ones I first think of when I think “sugary cereal”. They’re what I might buy occasionally as a treat. Are people actually buying and eating as their main cereal the ultra-sweet cereals like Crispix and Frosted Flakes? 🤢
Kellogg would be rotating in his grave. The dude was OBSESSED with the healthfulness of cereal (or at least his weird version of it) and his company namesake basically peddles candy in cereal form to children.
Dude thought that meat and flavorful food caused sexual desire and lead to masturbation. He was an anti-masturbation crusader and invented his breakfast cereal to help decrease sexual desire.
This is one of the few things this mexican government has done right. I think this was copied from Chile, and should be copied in many countries including the U.S. F*ck those greedy obese factories.
If I’m seeing this right and the Mexican labels are just either-or “excessive” labels then check out the way the UK does it – the green/orange/red colouring makes it easy to tell how horrible something is at a glance
No, in the US every consumer is meant to be their own health expert. It doesn’t make any sense, but its the easiest way to keep feeding us unhealthy garbage for cheap
You've got to be bold to sexually assault a TV judge. (You'd have to be nuts to do that to Judge Judy in particular. I think she'd tear off your nuts and wear them around her lace-covered neck as a trophy.)
Chile started using these some years back. I honestly like them. We also did the mascot ban as well, so no Tony the Tiger, and even Pringles cans have a censored face
The question I have, are sales of these products down? Do these implementations work to reduce unhealthy consumption? Are hospitals and medical offices seeing less revenue? If they don’t actually work, what will?
At least according to the studies, and reports from people I work with and friends, yes, they do seem to work. Here you can read a Google translated article talking about the effects since the law came into effect in Chile in 2016: …translate.goog/…/ley-de-etiquetado-evaluando-sus…
It’s good to note that another consequence of this law, is that apart from the mascots being prohibited, it’s also prohibited to play ads for unhealthy foods (not sure if they need to specifically target children, or not) aren’t allowed until after a certain hour in the evening, like 9:00pm or something.
We don’t have that sort of data, at least not enough to determine a causal link. But the cereal manufacturers have tons of research on the best way to sell cereal. So consider the inverse. Would a cereal company need to place a cartoon mascot on the box to help sell unhealthy food to children? Would they fight so hard to keep them there if it wasn’t effective?
Every medical scientist would agree that too much sugar is unhealthy. And looking at the nutritional info on the box, these foods have too much sugar. What good is a mascot in the face of cold, hard science? If it appeals to children, they will apply pressure to their parents who will purchase the food “as a treat.” And as a treat, a little sugar isn’t a big deal. But those kids could be equally excited about a pack of candy or some cookies, which are actual treats, not a part of your daily routine. Without Tony El Tigre, Frosted Flakes look like sugar coated khaki pocket lint. They might enjoy eating them, but they won’t clamor for them in the grocery aisle.
Welp, I looked it up, and one study focused on 14 and younger, about a thousand deaths by car crash, and one focused on 13 to 19, with about 3000 deaths, so even combined and ignoring the overlap in the age range of the studies and going over the age of 18, 15% more kids in the US are getting killed by guns than car crashes, and that gap is widening each year.
Car crashes, ODs and cancer fatalities among minors are far lower than I thought. Just as an aside.
It might seem low, but when looking at statistics about fatalities, it’s a good idea to keep in mind the many injured and potentially permanently disabled that aren’t included.
Medical professionals can work magic, and that is great. But non-fatal car crash, overdose, cancer, and gun injuries can also be tragic, both short and long term. Diminished mental capacity, loss of limbs or physical abilities, lifelong pain, the list goes on…
I’m not American, I’m Canadian. Talking about the statistics is important but holy fucking shit it’s depressing. Any more than 0 accidental deaths is too many.
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