Instant press coverage.

"Instant oatmeal delivers longer-lasting energy," says last January's press release from Quaker. Oh really?

"College-age women who ate Maple Brown Sugar-Flavored Instant Oatmeal ... 45 minutes before exercising on a stationary cycle were able to maintain a designated speed on the cycle for 15 minutes longer ... than after consuming a sweetened lower-fiber cereal," claims Quaker.

Only one problem: "I've told [Quaker] several times that there wasn't a significant difference between the two cereals," says study author John Kirwan of Pennsylvania State University.

That could be due to the small size of the study--it included only six women. But it's also possible that the difference in cycling time was due to chance, not cereal. Women who ate either cereal did exercise significantly (40 minutes) longer than those who had no cereal.

Quaker makes another leap in its press release: "The output of energy required to maintain the designated speed compares to that required for a busy morning of rushing around to get the kids off to school, doing errands, or working in the garden," it claims. Just how it "compares," no one knows.

It's entirely possible that people who eat oatmeal for breakfast have longer-lasting energy than people who eat something else. But this study sure doesn't prove it.