> get so defensive and try to tell me how unhealthy it was and how I must be underperforming because of that etc. I'm pretty sure I've read somewhere that the

> get so defensive and try to tell me how unhealthy it was and how I must be underperforming because of that etc. I'm pretty sure I've read somewhere that the candy industry, ahem, the breakfast cereals industry's ads and sponsored "research" is behind that. Opening Wikipedia on Kellog's (first guess of where I might find sources on this): > The FTC had previously found fault with Kellogg's claims that Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal improved kids' attentiveness by nearly 20%. > In 2016 an ad telling UK consumers that Special K is “full of goodness” and “nutritious” was banned. And from one of the sources on ftc.gov: > At about the same time that Kellogg agreed to stop making these kinds of false claims in its cereal ads, the company began a new advertising campaign promoting the purported health benefits of Rice Krispies, according to the FTC. On product packaging, Kellogg claimed that Rice Krispies cereal “now helps support your child’s immunity,” with “25 percent Daily Value of Antioxidants and Nutrients – Vitamins A, B, C, and E.” The back of the cereal box stated that “Kellogg’s Rice Krispies has been improved to include antioxidants and nutrients that your family needs to help them stay healthy.” > The expanded order against Kellogg prohibits the company from making claims about any health benefit of any food unless the claims are backed by scientific evidence and not misleading. I, too, heard from my parents that "breakfast is the most important meal of the day!" and that I shouldn't skip it, and you can rationalize it with "sure, it's the first thing, a good start is half the work" or something. But that's not the same as reading the original research or at least doing a cursory search online -- something that my parents aren't used to questioning; and if they look it up, confirmation bias might play a big role. So I don't think you can fully blame the people that got defensive about this, though I am sorry you had this experience. To end on a more positive note, the European Union requires food to only make preapproved health claims. It feelt a bit like censorship or at least overreach when I first heard of this and I read that the number of claims made reduced very significantly (also correct claims, since it's now expensive to prove it truthful) if I remember correctly, but I guess this does stop a lot of this misinformation, at least within the EU. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_claim#European_Laws https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_claim#European_Laws)