Feeling Their Oats by Scott Lafee on Creators.com

Recently

Phone Ringing? Walk On By Two new studies suggest many people can't walk and talk (on a cell phone) simultaneously — at least not safely. The studies, in which participants crossed a virtual street while talking on the phone or listening to music, found that cell phone …Read more. Teens and Food: The Raw Truth Sure, it's a good thing to teach teens how to cook. It helps makes them self-reliant. But a new Kansas State University study finds that when preparing frozen foods, adolescents are far less likely than adults to wash their hands and far more likely …Read more. Short, Chubby and Happy If you're female and not built like a supermodel — that is, tall and skinny — don't despair, you may be the shape of things to come. Yale University researchers say they've detected the effects of natural selection among two generations …Read more. The Smell of Virtue A new study out of Brigham Young University suggests cleanliness actually is next to godliness. Or at least it makes one a better person. In the journal Psychological Science, BYU researcher Katie Liljenquist reports that people who live in clean-…Read more.

Feeling Their Oats

Is the popular breakfast cereal Cheerios a drug?

The Food and Drug Administration apparently thinks so.

FDA officials have determined that labeling on Cheerios boxes, which touts the cereal as being "clinically proven to lower cholesterol," violates federal rules.

In a recent letter to General Mills, the FDA informed the cereal maker that the government had concluded Cheerios was being "promoted for conditions that cause it to be a drug because the product is intended for use in the prevention, mitigation and treatment of disease."

As a result, the FDA wrote, Cheerios cannot be legally marketed as such until it applies for and receives new drug approval.

Not surprisingly, a spokesman for General Mills told The Wall Street Journal that the company was eager to discuss the situation and reach a resolution.

BODY OF KNOWLEDGE

A larger percentage of left-handers than right-handers smoke cigarettes.

STORIES FOR THE WAITING ROOM

A new World Health Organization study that investigated why Americans are getting increasingly fat has concluded that it's not a problem of reduced physical activity, but it is a result of increased food intake.

"In the U.S., over the last 30 years, it seems that the food side of the equation has changed much more than the physical activity side," said Boyd Swinburn, an Australian researcher who helped conduct the study.

OBSERVATION

There must be something to acupuncture.

After all, you never see any sick porcupines.

— Humorist Bob Goddard

NUMBER CRUNCHER

A one-cup serving of "Better Than Mom's Beef Stew" from Souplantation contains 270 calories, 153 from fat. It has 17 grams of total fat or 26 percent of the recommended total fat intake for a 2,000-calorie daily diet.

It also contains 35 milligrams of cholesterol (12 percent); 1,100 mg of sodium (46 percent); 19 grams of total carbohydrates (6 percent); 2 g of dietary fiber (8 percent); 3 g of sugar and 9 g of protein.

PHOBIA OF THE WEEK

Taphephobia — fear of being buried alive

LAST WORDS

This is no time to make new enemies.

— French philosopher Voltaire (1694-1778) when asked on his deathbed to forswear Satan

To find out more about Scott Lafee and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Comments

Email updates

RSS Feed

Wellnews by Scott LaFee

Recently

Feeling Their Oats