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FACT BRIEF

Does General Mills' Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal contain a type of iron that is not digestible?

By Marlo Lee
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NO

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.

See a full discussion of this at Lead Stories
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
Scientific American Get the Iron out--of Your Breakfast Cereal
National Cancer Institute bioavailable
National Institutes of Health Health Professional Fact Sheet
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Lead Stories
Lead Stories is a fact checking and debunking website at the intersection of big data and journalism that launched in 2015. It scouts for trending stories, images, videos and posts that contain false information in order to fact check them as quickly as possible. It actively monitors the fake-news ecosystem and doesn’t wait for reader tips or reports before getting started on a story.
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About fact briefs published on Gigafact
Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.