A warning letter posted on the Food and Drug Administration’s Web site criticized the maker of Cheerios for making false claims. The letter says that packaging and Internet advertising for the toasted oats violate federal law with promises to lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer.

Authorities have asked the company to resolve the issue at earliest.

The labeling states: "You can lower your cholesterol 4 percent in six weeks." Officials urge that only FDA-approved drugs can make such claims.

Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said, “We certainly don’t have any issues with the safety of Cheerios. We just believe that the labeling on this particular product has gone beyond what the science supports.”

Sundlof added that the FDA started its Cheerios review after the National Consumers League, a Washington-based advocacy group, complained in a September letter that the cereal’s health claims made it out to be a drug.

General Mills said the health claims on Cheerios have been approved for 12 years and the FDA's complaints deal with how the language appears on the box. The company said in a statement that the science was not in question.

(via TopNews United States. Contributed by Amit Pathania)