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Cheerios Helps Lower Cholesterol 4%; No, Make that 10%; Do I Hear 20%?

While we have come to accept that products containing oats may help to lower cholesterol, the claims can be very confusing.

Take Cheerios, for example. On the left is a box purchased a couple of months ago, and on the right is a box purchased last week.

cheerios4    cheerios10

The old one claims that Cheerios can help lower your cholesterol four percent in six weeks, while the new one says by 10% in just one month. It further goes on to claim on the front panel that eating three servings of Cheerios a day “may reduce the risk of heart disease.”  The products themselves are unchanged. So what’s going on here?

*MOUSE PRINT:

Old box: “A [1998] clinical study showed that eating two 1-1/2 cup servings daily of Cheerios cereal reduced bad cholesterol when eaten as part of diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol.”

New box: “A new [2009] study proves that Cheerios cereal plus a reduced calorie diet that is low in fat can help lower bad cholesterol about 10% in one month. … Eat two 1-1/2 cup servings [daily] … and cut 500 calories from your diet.”

So basically, Cheerios found a new study that lets them tout a significantly enhanced cholesterol reduction claim. Well, “found” is too strong a word. How about paid for and co-authored an as yet unpublished study? (See abstract of the study, which was published, in a somewhat unconventional journal.)

*MOUSE PRINT:

cheeriosabstract

This is not to say that every study paid for by a corporation is suspect, but it seems a bit unusual that the company also co-authored the study.

General Mills says that 204 overweight/obese adults with high LDL (bad) cholesterol were tested. While General Mills touts Cheerios helps lower  (bad) cholesterol 10% on its box and website, the abstract of the study seems to say it was actually lowered only 8.7%.

All of this has not made the FDA happy, so they sent the company a warning letter in May. The letter asserts that the  health claims the company is making for Cheerios puts it in the category of a drug, and they have not registered Cheerios as a drug. Interestingly, the letter only refers to the original 4% claim, and not the new 10% one.

Time will tell how this cereal drama plays out, but odds are all their cholesterol lowering claims won’t disappear completely and you still won’t need a prescription to buy Cheerios.

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Ally Bank — We Hide Nothing?

Have you ever heard of Ally Bank? Probably not, but it is being advertised very heavily these days.

What is your bank trying to sneak by you?, they ask. Fine print? Asterisks? Not Ally. They promise “no sneaky disclaimers ever.”

But who is Ally Bank? Clicking “the Ally Story” link on their website, reveals who they really are:

*MOUSE PRINT:

“We are Ally Bank. Built on the foundation of GMAC Financial Services”

When asked to explain that somewhat flowery language, Ally’s customer service department responded, in part:

Ally Bank was formally known as GMAC Bank. The launch of our new name was on 5/15/2009.

Ally Bank is a separate company from General Motors (GM). Ally Bank is a part of GMAC Financial Services, which became an independent company in late 2006. GM holds an equity stake in GMAC, but is reducing its ownership equity due to the federal requirements of GMAC becoming a Bank Holding Company. GMAC provides financing to automotive dealers and customers, but they do not directly finance GM. The companies have separate banking relationships.

So this is really GMAC Bank with a new name. So why did they change their name away from GMAC Bank?

” — We do not own gmac.com, and we do not own the “GMAC” name as it is leased from GM.

— We decided to invest in building a new brand, since we are going to increase our marketing of the Bank to raise retail deposits.

— Our research showed that GMAC brand recognition was largely limited to existing and past customers. We wanted a bank brand name that would have potential for eventual global growth.

— Perhaps most importantly, to launch a unique online bank with a unique customer offering, we felt that it was important to create a truly unique brand – one with a name that means something to the customer and speaks to our business philosophy of working with customers to make money, not against them.” –Manager, Global Marketing Communications

Or, just maybe people were reluctant to deposit money with what was better known as an auto finance company with the name “General Motors” in its title?

In any event, they have savings products that pay higher rates of interest than almost anybody. Their savings account currently pays 2.05% (down from 2.25% just last week), and they have a money market checking account paying 1.90% (limit six checks/withdrawals a month). The latter account also comes with an ATM card, and they will reimburse other banks’ ATM fees for the first four transactions a month, up to $6 a month. And, of course, individual accounts are insured by the FDIC for up to $250,000.

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Home Depot’s Free Propane Exchange — Some Got Burned

hdfreepropaneJust before Memorial Day last week, members of Home Depot’s Garden Club received an email with links to various garden coupons.

The third coupon, for a free tank of propane (when you bring in an empty one presumably), was particularly timely for many families.

Upon clicking the link to print the coupon, a heretofore undisclosed catch is revealed:

*MOUSE PRINT:

hdfreepropcoupon

Oh, you have to buy a $200 grill to get the free propane. Funny how that tiny detail was omitted from their email promotion of the offer. Often, the worst mouse print is the mouse print that is missing.

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