Does General Mills' Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal contain a type of iron that is not digestible?
The iron found in breakfast cereals is fine to consume and is digested by humans.
A social media post claimed that the iron in Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal "is not bioavailable iron." (Bioavailable is defined by cancer.gov as "the ability of a drug or other substance to be absorbed and used by the body.")
But a spokesman for General Mills, maker of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, told Lead Stories, "The iron in our cereals is bioavailable ... The FDA approves the use of the iron that we use to fortify our cereals."
Iron, a key component in blood production, is listed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as an essential mineral. A 2011 article in Scientific American explained that while eating pure iron is not good for the body, we get it in digestible form in food and vitamins.