We thought we’d heard it all from New York University’s leading diet dictator, Marion Nestle. When General Mills announced that it would use whole grains for its entire line of breakfast cereals, Nestle overlooked the obvious health benefits and instead went on an anti-corporate rant. This is no surprise, considering that Nestle is a frequent speaker at events organized by the Socialist Caucus of the American Public Health Association.
Last week, as the New York Times reported that university students are “consuming cereal as if their grade-point averages depended on it,” Nestle stepped up her rhetoric another notch. It seems the very thought of college kids (known for their late-night pizza indulgences) simply having access to cereal has her in a tizzy. Reacting to this scourge of cereal offered in campus dining halls, Nestle told the Times: “It’s asking far too much of late adolescents to exercise that kind of choice.“
So forget about picking a major, let alone a career. According to Nestle, college students aren’t even capable of choosing their own breakfasts. And this is hardly the first time Nestle has suggested that adolescents can’t be trusted to make their own food choices. Nestle told Food Engineering & Ingredients magazine that food companies should not advertise to children younger than “17 or 18 years.”