Think inside the box. Which cereal you eat does matter

The Washington Post has an article this morning on the garish state of cereal box design. It got me thinking inside the box.

The United States has the fourth highest per capita consumption of cereal in the world (behind Ireland, England, and Australia). Each year, more than 90% of U.S. households purchase cold cereal. That’s about 10 pounds, or 160 bowls, of cereal eaten per person each year!

Does it matter which one you eat?

It’s probably worthwhile to restate that over about five years, the Physians’ Health Study reported a 27% lower risk of death among men who ate at least one serving of whole-grain breakfast cereal per day compared with men who rarely ate whole-grain cereal.

In addition, those who ate the most whole-grain cereals had a 28% lower risk of death due to heart disease. There was also a 23% lower risk of heart attack compared to men who ate the least whole-grain cereal.

These findings held for special groups like men with type 2 diabetes, hypertension, or high cholesterol.

Eat hardy.

8/26/06 9:52 JR

Hi, I’m JR

John Russo, Jr., PharmD, is president of The MedCom Resource, Inc. Previously, he was senior vice president of medical communications at www.Vicus.com, a complementary and alternative medicine website.