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Nutritional? 1

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AlexCuse

Programmer
Apr 13, 2006
5,416
US
I was eating a bowl of cereal this morning, and was reading the back as I ate. It read "Get bowled over by the great taste of this wholesome and nutritional acme cereal". While I did enjoy the taste, and I hope that the cereal is wholesome and has some nutritional value, am I wrong in my belief that it should have said "nutritious"?

Alex


It's a magical time of year in Philadelphia. Eagles training camp marks the end of another brutal season of complaining about the Phillies.
 
I would say that either word is acceptable in that context. Nutritional is defined as, "of or relating to or providing nutrition". In my opinion, "nutritious" does sound better.
 
I don't think both can be used here.
While the cereal itself is nutritious, the information on the box is about the cereal's nutritional value.

According to dictionary.com ( nutritious is something providing nourishment, and that's what the cereal does. The value doesn't provide anything, it just the information about exactly how much nourishment the cereal provides. Nutritional, according to is something of or relating to or providing nutrition.

Even the examples they provide in dictionary.com are "nutrional information" and "nutritious meal", not the other way around.

So if your cereal provides nourishment to you, it is nutritious.
If the info on the box provides you with the information about the value of that nourishment, it is nutritional.
 
The very definition of nutritional (of or relating to or providing nutrution) shows that "nutritional cereal" would work. The cereal provides nutrition. It works, it just doesn't sound right.
 

"Nutritional cereal" - I might agree with that, with a bit of a stretch.

But I can't agree with the original question (the opposite statement), that "nutritious value" would work and even sound better.
 
I thought the original question was whether the label should have said "nutritious acme cereal", not "nutritious value
 

Sorry. I read it the second time and realized that I missed something the first time.

In this case, yes, "nutritious acme cereal" is a better choice - as it is the cereal that provides nourishment.
 
What I heavily resent about breakfast-cereal advertising, especially advertising aimed at children, is when the marketer shows a breakfast layout that depicts the bowl of cereal surrounded by a glass of orange juice, two slices of toast, two slices of bacon, 1 or 2 sunny-side-up eggs, and a bowl of raspberries, and the over-enthusiastic voice-over declares: "...and be sure the get Krispy Flakes, the fun part of this nutritious breakfast."

In other words, Krispy Flakes probably have negative nutrition value, but it certainly has at least negligible fun value (especially if you dump the flakes on your sister's head).

[santa]Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I can provide you with low-cost, remote Database Administration services: see our website and contact me via www.dasages.com]
 
On a somewhat related note, I resent the fact that some companies market these food products as 100% natural that actually contain high fructose corn syrup. HFCS is not natural...it is a man-made, and unhealthy, ingredient.
 

As far as nutritional breakfast goes, any cereal wouldn't be my choice. But my children do like some Cheerios (the whole-grain, low-sugar-content kind) with milk for their breakfast sometimes (as a change-of-scenery from other choices).
But that's not the point of this thread, I would guess.
 

Well, I think my post would be better with "As far as nutritious breakfast goes ...", and this is the point of this thread. So forgive me for my mistake, please.
 
rjoubert - i hate that as well. This cereal was, I believe, actually all natural. Not 100 percent sure of that, but I am sure there was no HFCS. There is some history of diabetes in my family, so I avoid that stuff like the plague. There was a little bit of sugar in it (it was granola) but all in all I think it was a fairly nutritious breakfast.

As nobody really has a definitive answer, I guess calling the cereal nutritional was acceptable, but not ideal?

Alex


It's a magical time of year in Philadelphia. Eagles training camp marks the end of another brutal season of complaining about the Phillies.
 
Based on the noun 'nutrition', you can form an adjective by adding the suffix '-al', or by adding the suffix '-ous'. But which is correct, and are they interchangeable?.

Either is correct, but they are NOT interchangeable, because they don't mean the same thing. The suffix '-al' means "of or relating to", but '-ous' means "full of".

A nutritional breakfast is one that pertains or relates to nutrition. It probably contains some nutrition. On the other hand, a nutritious breakfast is one that is full of nutrition.

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...Hence, the original reference: nutritional acme cereal, a tacit acknowledgement from Acme that they hope that their product "pertains or relates to nutrition", but certainly a stretch of the imagination to claim that it is "full of nutrition".

[santa]Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I can provide you with low-cost, remote Database Administration services: see our website and contact me via www.dasages.com]
 
Santa/Dave - do you think that they did not use nutritious for legal reasons? I have seen nutritious grace the boxes of frosted flakes and fruit loops as I walk the aisles, and I would think that the granola contains much more nutrition than either of those. Using the "pertains or relates to nutrition" it seems like I could say that zima is nutritional, as it is not nutritious (or is that not enough of a relationship?). I won't try to stretch and say it is great tasting like the acme cereal though...


It's a magical time of year in Philadelphia. Eagles training camp marks the end of another brutal season of complaining about the Phillies.
 
AlexCuse said:
...do you think that they did not use nutritious for legal reasons?
Absolutely not...legalities don't seem to slow down ad execs. I was simply cutting them undeserved slack by matching CC's excellent distinctions with advertisers totally accidental correct understatement of their product.<grin>

[santa]Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I can provide you with low-cost, remote Database Administration services: see our website and contact me via www.dasages.com]
 
==> cutting advertisers undeserved slack because of totally accidental correct understatement of their product.
[rofl]

--------------
Good Luck
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read FAQ181-2886
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein
 
legalities don't seem to slow down ad execs
I beg to differ - legalities DO slow them down, or at least make them use different wording. Why do you think they invented words like "chocolatey" and "cheezy"? "Chocolatey chip" cookies make or may not contain actualy chocolate, but "chocolate chip" cookies must, by definition, contain chocolate. The same type of thing applies to "cheezy".

In addition, there are distinct differences between foods that are advertised as "natural", "wholesome", "all natural" and the other variations. Most of the differences are based on food labelling rules set down by the FDA and the USDA.

Ad execs are always VERY aware of EXACTLY what they are saying and claiming for their products.

Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard. [dragon]
 
I would think that a label stating "100% Natural" would mean that there are no artificial (man made) ingredients whatsoever. The Nature Valley granola bars that I purchased were labeled as such, but actually contain high fructose corn syrup, which is NOT a natural ingredient.

I sent them an email complaining about that, but they have yet to respond.

I wonder how the FDA views "100% Natural"...I can see how
"natural" and "wholesome" can leave room for interpretation, but a label stating "100% Natural" seems pretty cut and dry to me.
 

You can Google to find out if there actually are standards for the 'Natural' claims.

I know that there are standards for the 'Organic' claims, but not sure about the 'Natural' stuff. If the standards don't exist, they are in their right and you are out of luck. If they do exist, then read what do they say. And what is the definition of a 'man-maid' ingredient - it can be put in such a wording, that high fructose corn syrup can be considered natural.

I've seen, say, '72% organic' facial creme. I am not sure how many percent it should have to be just 'Organic'.
 
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