Food/Groceries

At the beginning of the new year, many people are diet-conscious. That makes it a good time to promote new weight loss products.

So, don’t be surprised if you are bombarded with ads for Kellogg’s new protein water called Special K2O Protein Water.

It seems to be a diet drink to help you lose some significant weight rather quickly. “Losing up to 6 lbs in 2 weeks* Just Got Easier” the ad proclaims. [SmartSource insert 1/7/07]

When one follows the asterisk after the weight loss claim, one discovers that losing that weight has little to do with consuming the advertised water:

*MOUSE PRINT:

So it is not that you drink this protein water to lose six pounds, but rather you must eat two bowls of cereal (presumably Special K) instead of two regular meals per day. The water helps account possibly for the extra pound of weight loss in their claim if used as a substitute for other higher calorie snacks, but it certainly is not the means to lose the six pounds promoted.

Using the Kellogg’s philosophy, a computer company could advertise a laptop and claim it will help you lose up to six pounds (if you eat cereal for two meals a day, and lug around the computer from place to place daily).

Special K2O water, incidentally, contains 50 calories; sugar, whey, and artificial sweetener per 16 oz. bottle. The whey contributes only five grams of protein, which is what you would get from drinking a mere five ounces of milk. And, the protein water is not cheap — it is $1.25 to $1.50 per bottle on sale.

Scientific studies have repeatedly proven that eating oatmeal regularly can help reduce your cholesterol. So, it is not surprising to see Quaker Oats making such health claims.

They say “it’s a unique whole grain food that goes in and actually soaks up excess cholesterol and removes it from your body.”  And, referring to the quaker pictured on the package, “your cholesterol trembles just at the sight of him.” [Newsweek ad, October 16, 2006]

How much can you lower your cholesterol? Here’s their chart:

The chart makes it look like the drop is dramatic from week one to week four — about a 75% reduction.

*MOUSE PRINT: In their “representative” sample, cholesterol was only actually reduced from about 209 to 198 — a drop of only 11 points, or about 5%.

How can that be because their chart makes it look like a huge drop?  For the answer, you have to go back to high school math. Remember when the teacher said you always have to start the y axis (the left side going up) at zero on any chart or you will give people an erroneous impression?  Well, you have just been skewed by Quaker.

Creating a chart that does start at zero would look like this:

In this chart, one can clearly see the actual point drop in overall cholesterol is rather small. That is not to say that dropping 11 points is bad. Lowering your cholesterol is a good thing. 

What isn’t good is giving the casual reader a misimpression of the effectiveness of eating oatmeal as a means of lowering one’s cholesterol.