Cereal eaters, beware

It's crunch time in the cereal industry again. After a booming year when companies began offering the public "low sugar" cereals, tests commissioned by the Associated Press on six major brands of sweetened cereals show they are no more nutritious than the old "high sugar" versions. In order to keep the "crunch" in the cereal, companies simply replaced sugar with other empty ingredients, such as carbohydrates.

And the culprits are the usual suspects: Frosted Flakes, Froot Loops, Trix and Cocoa Puffs, among others.

This development calls several issues into high relief.

First, companies have been skirting the edges, trying to beat the truth-in-advertising concerns. The cereal companies didn't say their products were healthier, but by showcasing "low sugar" on the boxes, they certainly gave that impression. Nevertheless, the body processes the added "crunchy carbohydrates" as if they were sugar. In short, subtle innuendo serves the same purpose as misinformation. It's a lie.

Also, the situation shows that food companies are feeling the heat to make their meals healthier. And given what could almost be called an epidemic of obesity sweeping over America's youth, that heat is bound to grow more intense. Companies are feeling the push to produce more nutritious eats, yet many drag their heels. The pressure on them to do better needs to be steady and sustained.

Finally, it must be said that cereal companies, though lax with nutrition, are not by any means the most dastardly villains on the food aisle. With crunchy breakfast cereal, at least kids get some nutrients. And the addition of milk tends to fortify the meal. No, the real enemies of healthy kids don't even bother to disguise themselves. Many snack foods don't even make token gestures concerning good health. They pitch themselves as "feel good food," or something to eat to reward yourself. Soft drinks, candy, chips — also known as "salt shakers in a bag" — take a much bigger toll on the health of the nation's kids than does cereal.

Still, that doesn't mean cereal manufacturers get a pass. When 90 percent of the nation's kids between ages 6 and 12 eat sugared cereal and the industry gobbles up $6.2 billion a year of parents' money in that feeding frenzy, society has a right to expect more, especially when the concern is not just the ability to make informed choices, but public health as well.