Cheerios: Prescription required? 13. May 2009 William Davis (15) Followers of The Heart Scan Blog know my feelings about Cheerios: Can you say "sugar"?Cheerios and heart healthThere's an interesting tussle going on between the makers of Cheerios, General Mills, and the FDA. The FDA says that the Cheerios' package claims of:• "you can Lower Your Cholesterol 4% in 6 weeks" • "Did you know that in just 6 weeks Cheerios can reduce bad cholesterol by an average of 4 percent? Cheerios is ... clinically proven to lower cholesterol. A clinical study showed that eating two 1 1/2 cup servings daily of Cheerios cereal reduced bad cholesterol when eaten as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol." constitute a medical claim, i.e., trying to promote Cheerios as a drug. I'm glad that the FDA has come down on General Mills. But I find this entire episode laughable: The debate is over the purported health benefits of what I would regard as pure junk food, no better in my view than claiming that a cupcake has health benefits, or a carton of ice cream. In my experience, Cheerios does not 1) reduce risk for heart disease, nor 2) reduce cholesterol. It does, however, cause blood sugar to skyrocket and increase the small type of LDL--you know, the type that causes heart disease.