CONSUMER PRODUCTS: Is It a Drug Or a Cereal?

Psyllium is not exactly a household staple, but the obscure grain has provoked a kitchen-table brawl between General Mills and Procter & Gamble. Psyllium contains soluble fiber, which has been shown to reduce cholesterol levels. The grain is an ingredient in Benefit, a new breakfast cereal General Mills introduced in May. Psyllium is also found in Metamucil, one of P&G's fiber laxatives. But while General Mills is allowed to advertise that Benefit helps to reduce cholesterol, P&G is forbidden to make the same claim for its laxative unless it can get FDA approval, which P&G has tried but failed to get so far.

P&G has urged the FDA to order the cereal off the market. But General Mills, which has limited Benefit's sales mostly to the Midwest, intends to fight back. Says a spokesman: "There's no question that it's a food and not a drug. It's packaged like a cereal, it looks like a cereal, and it's sold like a cereal."