ABSTRACT
Ready-to-eat cereals (RTEs) originated from early attempts at managing health through diet. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, health clinics called sanitariums sprang up in which principals such as Dr. John K. Kellogg and C. W. Post prepared and advertised their dietary concoctions for improving health. This time in American history was fairly rampant with unsubstantiated health claims, and many fortunes were made based on wild advertising claims for basic products [19]. RTEs evolved from a rather dubious foundation in the name of health, commonly the result of clever advertising rather than based on science. For example, when C. W. Post’s coffee substitute failed, he repositioned it as a cold cereal called Grape-Nuts™ and claimed it as “brain food” that could cure appendicitis, make blood redder, steady nerves, etc. Dr. Kellogg was not much milder with his focus on bran and its effects on the bowel. His first flake product was of wheat, not the more famous corn flakes—which bears the signature of his business-oriented brother on the box. Nonetheless, RTEs are a good source of fiber and complex carbohydrates and are generally low in fat. Claims relative to fiber’s effect on colon cancer (insoluble fiber) and the more recent allowance for a claim that soluble fiber can help reduce cholesterol levels are interestingly coming full circle. RTEs are also a good food vehicle for delivering vitamins and minerals to the general public, not unlike bread fortification.
