Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs

30. September 2007 William Davis (8)




Take a look at the list of ingredients in Cocoa Puffs: corn, sugar, corn syrup--all high glycemic index foods.

In other words, Cocoa Puffs is the physiologic equivalent of pure table sugar. Sure, it comes packaged with this wacky bird and the back of the box usually has fun games and offers. There's also the clever, fast-paced TV commercials to remind you of how fun Cocoa Puffs can be.


What is the actual consequence of a breakfast of a food like Cocoa Puffs in a cup of skim milk? That's easy: A big surge in insulin and blood sugar (from the corn and sugar), a drop in HDL cholesterol, surge in triglycerides (from the sugar and sugar-equivalents), increase in small LDL. Beyond this, you raise blood pressure and experience an insatiable increase in appetite. Then you get fat.

Obviously, none of this is desirable. Then why does the American Heart Association allow its Heart CheckMark endorsement on the package?

The Heart Association is trapped in 1982. Low-fat was in, saturated fat was the sole enemy of heart disease.

In 1982, the evils of small LDL, for instance, were unappreciated. LDL cholesterol was LDL cholesterol--all of it was bad and saturated fats seem to raise LDL. But the story has evolved enormously since then: LDL is not all the same. Small LDL is among the principal culprits in heart disease, the same small LDL hugely magnified by Cocoa Puffs and other similar products that fill 70% of supermarket shelves.

The American Heart Association needs to get with the times. The conversation on healthy diets has progressed considerably. Yet garbage foods that wreak havoc on health like Cocoa Puffs continue to be endorsed by an organization that still carries substantial clout with the American consumer.

My advice: Until they change their tune, anything that carries the endorsement of the American Heart Association should be eliminated from your diet.
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Comments (8) -

  • Sue

    9/30/2007 5:30:00 AM |

    It's a raeal health drink.

  • Bad_CRC

    9/30/2007 11:24:00 PM |

    Dr. Davis,

    Clearly you have lost it.  You're seriously suggesting that Mega Moose Strawberry Blast Energy Drink isn't heart-healthy?

    http://www.northamericanbeverage.com/
    http://checkmark.heart.org/AdCategory/DC/DC-FM

    Come on!  The manufacturer assures us that Mega Moose "provides a natural, wholesome energy [64g sugars, mostly sucrose] in a great tasting drink that captures the flavor of fresh summer strawberries.  Kids will love the taste and mothers will feel good about giving their kids a nutritious 99% fat free and 98% cholesterol free drink that carries the American Heart Association's heart check mark and the American Dairy Association's 'Real Seal.'"  It even has your beloved D3 in it!

    Sorry, but I've gotta trust the scientific consensus (both the AHA and the ADA) on this one.

  • Bad_CRC

    9/30/2007 11:33:00 PM |

    Actually, at Costco today I bought a 4 lb bag of Rader Farms "Nature's Three Berries," which also bears the AHA Checkmark.  It's just a bag of frozen berries, but your post has me wondering if I should return it, just on general principles!

  • jpatti

    10/4/2007 2:56:00 AM |

    I notice it's also marked "whole grains."

    Has anyone ever tried to sprout a cocoa puff?

  • Dr. Davis

    10/4/2007 11:42:00 AM |

    LOL!

    How about Organic Cocoa Puffs? Maybe that's next.

  • jpatti

    10/6/2007 3:58:00 AM |

    I swear I am not making this up: I saw "organic" toaster pastries at the grocery store tonight.  

    I can't figure out who would buy them.

  • Dave, RN

    9/9/2009 5:25:58 PM |

    So where's the mark? I do'nt see it on the pictures. It's 2009 now, has it been removed?

  • buy jeans

    11/3/2010 2:53:38 PM |

    The American Heart Association needs to get with the times. The conversation on healthy diets has progressed considerably. Yet garbage foods that wreak havoc on health like Cocoa Puffs continue to be endorsed by an organization that still carries substantial clout with the American consumer.

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When pessimism wins

When pessimism wins

15. June 2007 William Davis (3)
When I first met Hank, I immediately sensed it: anger, hostility, fear. His heart scan score of 685 just made it worse.


He didn't want to be there talking to me. His wife was giving him a hard time. Work was a constant source of irritation. The receptionist at the front desk screwed up his paperwork. Our office charges were too much.


In short, Hank was a pessimist. A bad one.


All the nutrition information out there is bunk. Only he knew how he should eat right. It's stupid to take a lot of fish oil. "You want me to grow gills?"


Among the parameters we use in the Track Your Plaque program is blood pressure during exercise, which provides a surrogate measure of blood pressure during emotional stress, anxiety, etc. "No, I don't need that. I already exercise." No amount of justification could change his mind. "A guy at work had a stress test. They said everything was fine, then Bang! He drops dead. What good is that?"


Hank did go along with a few pieces of advice.


A repeat heart scan 12 months after the first: 870, a 27% per year rate of increase. That's about what would happen if Hank had done nothing, had taken no action to try and stop or reduce his heart scan score.


I don't know if Hank will ever succeed in dropping his score. In fact, I suspect that he will fail, meaning that plaque will grow and he will eventually, perhaps in a year, two or three, require several stents, heart bypass, or have a heart attack. In other words, Hank's pessimism is a self-fulfilling phenomenon: If he believes he will fail, he will. If he believes the world is a rotten place, it is.


Is it possible to "cure" someone like Hank of his deeply-rooted pessimistic attitudes? I don't know of any easy solutions for someone with attitudes as deeply-ingrained as Hank's. (See my prior post, "Cure for pessimism?" at http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2007_05_01_archive.html.)

I believe it does help to make someone aware of their attitudes and that it does indeed exert ill health-effects--if they will believe it. But this is a very tough nut to crack.
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Comments (3) -

  • DietKing2

    6/15/2007 1:49:00 PM |

    Attitude--it's half the battle, isn't it? Great post.

  • Mike

    6/15/2007 4:14:00 PM |

    He seems to be in denial. I'm sure that he is not following your guidelines, so no improvement in his health will occur.

  • JT

    6/16/2007 3:22:00 PM |

    When I read about Hank I thought "he could be related!"  Many relatives on my mom’s side of the family are similar to him.  They naturally find faults with situations, other people, and are world class deniers.  They are pretty miserable to be around, to me, for any length of time.  

    My family is a real contrast in that my father’s side of the family is the opposite from moms.  They are eternal optimists.  They tend to see positives in most things.  

    When it was learned that I had a high calcium score on my heart scan, responses received were as expected.   Relatives on mom’s side called to say - "doctors don't know what they are doing", "eat what you want", "those test scores don't mean anything." etc.  Fathers side of the family has been supportive - with my father going so far as to join me on the TYP diet and supplements.  He didn't have to but he wanted to know what it is like to take fish oil, the niacin flush, and to eat like a cave man.    

    Almost everyone who is older on mom’s side of the family, died of heart disease, has heart disease or experienced a stroke.  I want to say to them, why not try something different - like the ideas presented in the TYP book?  What has been tried in the past did not work so well, why not be open to new ideas?  But I know what ever I say will go in one ear and out the other.  They know they know and can not be persuaded other wise.  Being grizzled pessimists is in their blood, I believe.  

    I'm glad that I take after my father’s personality.

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