Kellogg has been criticised by the the UK’s advertising watchdog after it claimed that sugar is not related to obesity or ill-health.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said it received a complaint about Kellogg’s Coco Pops website that stated: “Sugar & health, Sugar gets a lot of bad press, and we are frequently being told to ‘watch out for sugar’. But why is this? Is it detrimental to health? Let’s see what the experts say.”
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Kellogg said an independent dietician had gathered medical evidence from a World Health Organisation committee, that concluded “a high sugar intake is not related to obesity, or the development of diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure or cancer”.
However, the ASA upheld the complaint and ruled that the health information was misleading.
The watchdog said that a number of scientific reviews have found a relationship between sugar intake and obesity. It accepted Kellogg had based its claims on credible scientific evidence, but added: “We considered that Kellogg’s had overstated the certainty of the experts’ conclusions”. The ASA asked the cereal maker to change the wording on its website, which it has agreed to do.
A spokesperson for Kellogg said the company was pleased the ASA agreed that it had used credible studies but added: “We accept we didn’t point out some studies suggesting there may be a link between tooth decay and drinking too many sugary drinks.
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By GlobalData“We didn’t leave it out intentionally and, given the ASA’s decision, we will in future keep information as broad as possible, even if that means talking about foods we don’t make.”
