According to reports based on the Harvard School of Public Health breakfast cereal sugar content list, Kellogg’s Honey Smacks (which were once more accurately called Sugar Smacks) cereal has more sugar content than any other cereal on the market: 56% of its calories come from sugar! In fact, the sugar content in a one-cup serving exceeds that in a Twinkie or a serving of Oreo cookies. And 5 of the 10 most sugary cereals are made by Kellogg’s.

The respected journal “Nature” published an article by three medical researchers arguing that added sweeteners pose dangerous to health that warrant regulating them like alcohol. The article notes a UN study that “targets tobacco, alcohol and diet as the central risk factors in non-communicable disease. Two of these three — tobacco and alcohol — are regulated by governments to protect public health, leaving one of the primary culprits behind this worldwide health crisis unchecked.”

A fact sheet by the World Health Organization’s European office cites sweetened cereals as a leading source of free sugars, which “are a crucial causal factor in the development of tooth decay and obesity.”

A review of health research published in the British Dental Journal noted that “Regular consumption of high-sugar breakfast cereals is concerning in terms of dental and general health, due to their relationship with dental caries and excess energy intake, which can lead to obesity and its associated conditions, including type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease.”

And another study, also published in the British Dental Journal, noted that “imagery of portion size was grossly misleading and gives cause for concern.” In particular, researchers noted that recommended portion sizes were at least two- thirds less than those depicted on cereal boxes, which could encourage children’s consumption of even greater amounts of sugar.

Researchers at the Center for Science in the Public Interest found that US versions of global cereal brands from companies like Kellogg’s contain much higher levels of sugar and sodium than international versions of those brands. If that’s not bad enough, things are going in the wrong direction for the health of US consumers. For instance, in 2018 Kellogg’s discontinued its lower-sugar version of Frosted Flakes and introduced sweeter, Chocolate and Cinnamon versions of the cereal.

This history describes how Big Sugar has spent nearly 50 years funding research to support its products and battling research that raised concerns. Its conclusion: “Like the tobacco industry before it, the sugar industry may be facing the inexorable exposure of its product as a killer—science will ultimately settle the matter one way or the other—but as Big Tobacco learned a long time ago, even the inexorable can be held up for a very long time.”

An expose of newfound documents published by the Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine shows that the sugar industry began funding research designed to downplay sugar’s role in heart disease as early as the 1960s. The authors who dug into the documents recommend that, “Policymaking committees should consider giving less weight to food industry-funded studies."

According to tax documents, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation contributed $22.4 million to pro-dental therapy research and lobbying campaigns between 2011 and 2019. At least $1.1 million of that went directly to the Children’s Alliance here in Washington, while a Massachusetts-based organization called Community Catalyst received most of it, nearly $11.8 million. And some of that Community Catalyst money also found its way to Washington. In 2019, Community Catalyst funneled $195,000 to the Children’s Alliance and $100,000 to Solid Ground Washington (which happens to be the State Poverty Action Network’s parent organization).