Flamin' Hot Cheetos under fire from schools

Could Flamin' Hot Cheetos be hazardous to your health? Some school districts are banning the snack, claiming it provides no nutritional value -- and may even be addictive.

A health teacher from Lyndon B. Johnson Middle School in Albuquerque, N.M. sent a note home with students saying that Flamin' Hot Cheetos should be snacked on at home, according to CBS affiliate WTVR in Richmond, Va. The teacher wrote that the snack had poor nutritional value, often took the place of a lunch, led to sharing more germs with other students and caused red fingerprints that created a mess for janitors.

She's not the only educator who has a beef with the spicy snack food. Other school districts in California and New Mexico are attempting to ban Flamin' Hot Cheetos for their lack of nutritional value, and one school district in Illinois no longer sells the snack in their schools, ABC News reported.

"If children were to bring in snacks that are high in fat, high in calories, that's their choice," Illinois' Rockford School District interim superintendent Robert Willis said to ABC News. "We're not going to be providing those kinds of foods."

Rita Exposito, principal of Jackson Elementary School in Pasadena, Calif., told the Chicago Tribune that her school doesn't allow candy or Hot Cheetos. If they are seen on campus, an administrator takes them from the student.

One ounce of Flamin' Hot Cheetos -- about 21 pieces -- is about 160 calories, including 17 percent of the daily suggested serving for fat and 8 percent of serving for saturated fat. It also contain 250 mg -- or 10 percent of the daily value -- of sodium.

While the snacks may not offer nutritional benefits, are they addictive like teachers are reporting? The Chicago Tribune reported that new research shows "hyperpalatable foods" -- salty, fatty or sweet foods - can create a similar brain response as seen in individuals who addicted to illicit substances.

An unrelated commentary in the Feb 2012 issue of Nature argued that sugar should be regulated as if it were alcohol or tobacco, because of its addictive properties and corresponding health risks.

"It's something that has been engineered so that it is fattier and saltier and more novel to the point where our body, brain and pleasure centers react to it more strongly than if we were eating, say, a handful of nuts," Ashley Gearhardt, an assistant professor of clinical psychology at the University of Mich., told the Chicago Tribune of junk food. "Going along with that, we are seeing those classic signs of addiction, the cravings and loss of control and preoccupation with it."

Frito-Lay, the manufacturer of Flamin' Hot Cheetos, told CBS station KCBS in Los Angeles that they are "committed to responsible and ethical marketing practices, which includes not marketing our products to children ages 12 and under. We also do not decide which snacks are available on school campuses and do not sell snack products directly to schools."

"I don't blame them for creating it," Gearhardt said of the snack. "I think there is a lot of competition to create ... the most rewarding and potentially addictive product possible so people crave it and they want to buy another bag."

[Eyedunno11]

Lern2spel. Past tense/past participle of "lead" is "led". The word "lead", pronounced the same, is a noun referring to a soft, black heavy metal.

[jimmybn]

Now we have companies such as Monsanto whose GMO products target both male and female reproductive processes. The study of only three of Monsanto's genetically modified corn varieties shows distinct effects on the reproductive abilities of male and female rats. Rats are often used to gauge the effects of medicines, health and beauty products, creams and lotions on humans. I'd say Kissinger's plan was well underway.

The FDA claims that there is no significant difference between GMOs and regular crops, (crops grown the age old way), but the FDA lies. There is documented proof that the agency lied, and continues to lie, to this very day.

[jenrfulton]

I work in an ER where certain demographics of people will bring their kids in for stomach pains or vomiting and the kids are eating Flaming Hot Cheetos. In another one of the ERs I worked at we had an inside joke for diagnosing appendicitis called the "Cheetos sign" because we had a lot of kids being diagnosed with appendicitis who had just been eating Cheetos in the lobby. Can't say that Cheetos would be my choice for my last meal prior to abdominal surgery.

[dru7]

I got an idea... How about take all of the COKE machines and candy vending machines out of our schools. While we are at it. lets teach our children proper nutrition. OUR COUNTRY IS REPULSIVE in eating terms. We over consume so much that people are getting lap band... wow. That is one hundred percent lazy. All you have to do is eat correct. No not less... Eat more good food. It is not hard at all. The corporate food in this world is there to kill you. Population control period. Stop eating yourself to death, and letting your kids do the same. You know better. I hope. All of these gimick diets are out there to trick you as well. They work for a month and then you gain the weight back.... hmmmmm. NO BREAD AND NO ADDED SUGAR.. It's simple. Stop drinking diet sodas too. It has tons of SUGAR. Read the labels and look up those cool scientific names. They probably are some form of SUGAR... WHICH IS BAD.....If you need help please IM me. I charge nothing for more info.

[dru7]

I got an idea... How about take all of the COKE machines and candy vending machines out of our schools. While we are at it. lets teach our children proper nutrition. OUR COUNTRY IS REPULSIVE in eating terms. We over consume so much that people are getting lap band... wow. That is one hundred percent lazy. All you have to do is eat correct. No not less... Eat more good food. It is not hard at all. The corporate food in this world is there to kill you. Population control period. Stop eating yourself to death, and letting your kids do the same. You know better. I hope. All of these gimick diets are out there to trick you as well. They work for a month and then you gain the weight back.... hmmmmm. NO BREAD AND NO ADDED SUGAR.. It's simple. Stop drinking diet sodas too. It has tons of SUGAR. Read the labels and look up those cool scientific names. They probably are some form of SUGAR... WHICH IS BAD.....If you need help please IM me. I charge nothing for more info.

[DadLamb]

We had the same problem in my HS when I was a kid. The answer from the student council was that parents who didn't trust their kids buy lunch tickets for them. The parents who DID trust their kids, or who supported individual choice gave their kids money. Don't let your lack of discipline restrain the freedom of others

[Mathion]

DRU7, your information is worth what you charge. Sugar is in almost NO sodas in the United States. The sweetener is HFCS - High Fructose Corn Syrup. It's "sweeter" than sugar.

As for diet sodas, it has no sugar or HFCS, although it does have a lot of interesting chemical names. None of them add calories to diet sodas, which is the reason those chemicals are added in the first place - to make something taste sweet without adding calories.

HFCS has issues beyond sugar, making sugar a better sweetener from a health point of view, but it's not as economically viable as HFCS for food manufacturers. Because of this, HFCS is in most every kind of prepared food as the sweetener for that food. From the traditional snacks to bagels and bread, HFCS shows up almost everywhere.

Studies on HFCS indicate that it converts to the bad kind of fat more readily, and is harder to burn off, than regular sugar.

The problem with diet sodas is allegedly that the highly sweetened taste from the artificial sweeteners will get people to eat more to satisfy the sweetness craving. This has been demonstrated in mice. But other studies involving diet sodas in HUMANS seem to dispute this craving relationship. Diet sodas don't necessarily make you crave sweets nor make you fat. Fat people tend to drink diet sodas as a way of avoiding extra calories.

New studies are pointing to the possibility that combining HFCS with caffeine (which is added to almost every regular soft drink except "clear" ones) has the potential to make you even fatter than just the HFCS alone. This link hasn't been fully verified, though.

If you want to be a font of information, it would be best if you had the information from the sources instead of what you think is true.

[cntrygirl3]

I had no idea this was such a controversy, I have never eaten these things and never intend to but I find it interesting all those who did seem to find them totally addictive. If I have time the next time I am in a grocery store I will read the bag to see exactly what is in them. I suspect the ingredient list is huge. As this type of snack goes the shorter the ingredient list the better which makes plain potato chips, tortilla chips, and pretzels the best. Major food groups in this country are sugar, fat and salt but forbidding these things at school is not exactly gestapo tactics, it is common sense.

[FrankStein65]

How about educating people about nutrition and then letting them determine the course of their own lives?

WOW! That's the best new idea I've ever heard!

Oh... it's not a new idea?..
and you say that the concept of teaching parents how to be responsible is also an idea that has been around for some time?
Oh, I thought schools were supposed to dictate kids food choices. You mean they're not? Well, then who is supposed to be sure that parents are doing it right? Huh? What do you mean, "Who determines what's right"? School teachers and administrators of course!!!
Oh, they're not the authority on what my kids are and are not allowed to eat?
Well, what the hell! My whole world has just been turned upside-down!
You mean we are supposed to think for ourselves and take responsibility for our choices and actions?
Preposterous!!!

[All_The_Facts]

Are regular Cheetos ok, and why? what about flamin potato chips?

[lolabird]

This has nothing to do with taking people's rights away, or the government trying to take over the world. The reason being is that they make a HUGE mess! The janitors who already have to clean up after all the kids, now have to deal with red finger prints all over the desks, walls, etc. I comnpletly agree with the schools decision. To all the parents who are agiesnt this...let me ask this, If it was your home and you had a bunch a children not caring about making messes and getting their red finger prints all over your furniture etc, would you have a problem?

[FrankStein65]

Sorry but your attempt at justifying this is just as lame as the rest of these same attempts I've seen here.

[jaxotaxo]

OMG! When will the control freaks realize that they cannot think for everyone in the whole world. Banning Cheetos??? This is another example of people forcing their opinions and beliefs on the people that prefer using their own brains to make choices! Pretty soon we will have to donate our brains to science at birth because we will have no use for them!