The Fitness Myth Buster

I was preparing to give a weight loss, health and fitness seminar the other week and wanted to get some interesting information on various “healthy” foods.

We are hearing a lot of promotional stuff about the “Special K” diet; a breakfast cereal that if eaten a few times per day for 2 weeks, you will see a reduction in weight.

Well, some research I pulled up made me laugh about their claims but firstly, let’s look at the basics of this “diet”. A carb laden meal without any true nutritional value. Covered in the majority with milk that is undigestable for humans again with most nutritional value stripped from it. Usually covered with a sprinkling of sugar or even worse, a spoonful of chemicals that still gives your body the sensation of taking sugar with all the downsides.

Hmm, doesn’t sound so appetising when you put it like that, does it?

So let’s take a look at some of that research I was talking about. The following is extract taken from Wikipedia and discusses “Special K” in particular.

The country of Denmark has outlawed Kellogg’s products since 2004. Danish health officials banned the cereal because, as they claimed, Kellogg’s wanted to add extremely high levels of vitamin B₆, calcium, folic acid and iron, which would reach toxic levels when eaten on a daily basis. Young children risk liver and kidney^[9] damage, while the foetuses of pregnant women can suffer complications from the toxins.

The Dutch television show Keuringsdienst van Waarde^[10], in an episode aired on 15 October 2009, followed up one of Kellogg’s Special K nutritional claims, namely the addition of iron. The show provided evidence that the iron was not nutritional ionic iron – as it occurs in natural foods like spinach – but was in fact metallic iron. A Kellogg’s telephone helpdesk employee was not willing to discuss the ingredients of their products in general, claiming it was a company secret, although in the show the company was not confronted with the findings. The nutritional experts in the show (a university professor and a general practitioner) agreed that actual metallic iron should not be part of a diet, speculating that it might damage organs.^[11] After the airing, the Dutch food authority nuanced the claims made in the TV program, claiming there are no health risks as long as Kellogg’s stays within the legal limits. They also challenged the claim that the cereal could contain ’shredded bikes’, and responded that iron powder is suitable for human consumption.^[12]

The evidence provided during the show follow David Catz’s description of an experiment by Dr. Babu George, Sacred Heart University, in which iron is extracted from cereals.^[13] The description dates from 1984. As a result of this experiment being published and inquiries being made to the manufacturers, some companies have replaced the metallic iron in their products with an iron compound such as iron(III) phosphate, also called ferric phosphate.

Okay, the article isn’t conclusive but it should make you pause for thought. Why would a government actually ban a product, or company for that matter, if everything was hunky dorey?

Instead of trying to take the modern phenomenon of quick fixes with a host of processed foods that anyone with an ounce of sense would realise are not good for us, why not go the way our ancestors HAD to cope and get your nutritional requirements from fresh, preferably organic, produce.

So, interested in what they put in this “healthy” cereal?

Here goes;

Rice, wheat (wholewheat, wheat flour), sugar, wheat gluten, defatted wheatgerm, dried skimmed milk, salt, barley malt flavouring, vitamin C, niacin, iron, vitamin B₆, riboflavin (B₂), thiamin (B₁), folic acid, vitamin D, vitamin B₁₂. ^[8]

Think I’ll stick with my Spinach and fruit smoothies or veg stir fry, thank you very much!

Let me know what you thought of this with your comments below