Feeling Their Oats by Scott Lafee on Creators.com

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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.

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Feeling Their Oats

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