post

Fiber One. Cardboard No (?) Deceptive Yes. Do They Think We’re Stupid?

Fiber One has a risky tagline: Cardboard no. Delicious yes.

Why risky?  Because ..well, cardboard is indeed the first word that comes to mind when I taste it.  Oh, well, my Dad likes it.  Lucky for him, since he needs it for health: it’s hard to find this much fiber in half a cup of breakfast cereal elsewhere.  I assume that’s the reason for this product’s popularity, not taste…but wait, building on the base product’s success, there is now a whole range of Fiber One products, cereals, breakfast bars..etc.

They went mainstream. Translation: sweet, tasty, sugary, less healthy.  From 57% of your recommended daily fiber intake down to 20% in some cases.  But wait.. there’s one cereal likely a lot tastier and not that far from the original fiber content:

Forget the standard industry trick that the new box contains only 14.25 ounces instead of the original 16.2 for the same price… it’s almost as healthy and likely tastes better. Let’s check the small print:

Capture Capture1

At first glance the two products are close: 14g vs. 13g fiber.  But how come the tastier version is listed with 42g Carbs while the original had only 25?   And 160 Calories vs. 60?

Oh, there’s the trick: the ingredients are listed as per serving. However, the original serving size was half a cup, while the tastier Honey Clusters’ serving size is 1 cup.   I repeat:

General Mills, makers of Fiber One is using (almost) double the serving size to compare fiber content.  The true comparison would be on the same serving basis, which would show  a drop from 51% fiber content to roughly 25%.

This is an outrage: while technically correct, it gives false impression, especially since these products are typically placed right next to each other on supermarket shelves – and on the company’s website, for that matter.

Shame on you, General Mills for treating us as if we were stupid.

Comments

  1. Be careful with this kind of stuff. Fiber is better sourced from a real food (beans, vegetables, bran). You can get all the fiber you need from Benefiber if you want, and it tastes like nothing when you add it to water. But it still isn’t the fiber you want.

    Fiber One literally just has fiber infused into the cereal, since it has been processed out. So science throws it back in.

  2. i love the original fiber one.
    ive always wondered- if i DID eat cardboard, would it just pass through my system?

  3. It is good to have original fiber and i is not so easily available. Nice post, liked it very much.

  4. I had a coupon and tried the Key Lime Yogert. DELICIOUS! Until the ill effects kicked in. I had uncoltrollable bowels and $h!t my pants! Not once, but twice, until I figured out the cause. Too bad. I liked it.

  5. I noticed that the Millville brand Honey Crunch 'n Oats cereal at ALDI has 25 grams of fiber per 3/4 cup (32g) serving and the flavor and price seem to be superior to most. I also notice that there are no references to this fact on the front of the box, just the nutrition facts area on the side.

    • I was so excited when I read this…I thought WOW…a cereal with 25 grams of fiber! I ran off to my local Aldi's and read the box…the 25 grams is actually the carb count, not the fiber. Fiber is only 1 or 2. bummer.

  6. Eat whole foods, like actual organiclly grown vegatables and fruits,this small suggestion will definitely improve any persons health, do not depend on deceptive food companies to provide 'nutritious{Bullshit}' food.

  7. Richard Stachowski says

    This stuff makes you go. I tried to by some more but both stores here took it off the shelves. They wouldn’t say why.

%d bloggers like this: