Basic What?

Yesterday's dinner disappointment has made me consider more deeply the packaging associated with food products. I was discussing this subject with Laura, one of the sisters that I have, and she pointed out Basic 4 cereal, a General Mills offering. As many of you are no doubt aware, there has been quite a bit of controversy surrounding this "wholesome" cereal choice. The point of debate has been the Basic 4 components. Nowhere on the box is it clearly stated what the Basic 4 are. The consumer is left to her own logic, supermarket rumors, and internet chat rooms to discover the true make-up. Let's analyze a few of the contemporary views.

One suggestion is that the Basic 4 are in fact the original four food groups (grains, fruits/vegetables, meats, dairy). This seems fairly logical, until one considers the low meat content in Basic 4. Others have declared that the Basic 4 are the four words bolded in green on the front of the box. Grains, nuts, and fruits all pass muster, but "delicious" is a no-go. Tell me how you plan to include "delicious" (independent of all other ingredients) in a cereal box. "Loaded with nine essential vitamins, minerals and adjectives." Please. Delicious isn't even FDA approved. Another hypothesis is that Basic 4 refers to the first four ingredients, namely whole grain wheat (wholesome), corn meal, sugar, and brown sugar. I guess those are all pretty basic, but I don't know why they'd want to call attention to the fact that two of the four are sugars (less wholesome).

In short, we basically (pun intended) have a handful of theories that are tenuous at best, outrageous lies at worst. I turn the matter over to the community at large: Do any of you know what the Basic 4 are? Even better, can any of you produce documentation from General Mills certifying the identity of said 4?