Dive Brief:

• General Mills is rolling out a new line of Cheerios aimed at nabbing a piece of the protein craze. 
• Cheerios Protein contains 11 grams of protein per serving -- more than triple the amount found in traditional Cheerios. 
• The new line is aimed at consumers who have abandoned cereal for high-protein meals like Greek yogurt or microwavable breakfast sandwiches.

Dive Insight:

Companies like General Mills have found themselves suddenly vulnerable with the decline of cold-cereals, and it will be interesting to see what innovative responses might come from the cereal kings.

Cheerios Protein is a response, but the new line of cereal contains a whopping 16 grams of sugar per serving. Regular Cheerios has only 1 gram per serving.

General Mills says that side-by-side comparisons of the two lines are misleading because the new cereal is denser. That may be true. But it's also true that sugar-filled cereals -- which are what consumers say they don't want for breakfast anymore -- are the problem, not the solution.