Advertisement

Q&A: How many biracial couples are in the U.S.?

 
Cheerios’ Heart Healthy campaign includes an ad that features a biracial family.
Cheerios’ Heart Healthy campaign includes an ad that features a biracial family.
Published June 17, 2013

How many mixed-race couples?

With all the controversy over the Cheerios ad with a mixed-race couple, can you tell me how many such married couples are now in the United States?

For those of you who missed the Cheerios ad dustup, here's a summary: At the breakfast table, a girl tells Mom that Dad said Cheerios is good for your heart. "Is that true?" The ad then cuts to Dad on the couch with a pile of Cheerios on his chest. It ends with the word "love" on screen.

Dad is black, Mom is white and the girl is biracial. When the commercial hit YouTube, there were so many negative remarks that Cheerios asked for the comments section to be turned off.

General Mills, maker of Cheerios, said it will continue running the ad as scheduled for several more months. According to the Associated Press, Camille Gibson, vice president of marketing for Cheerios, said the ad campaign reflects the changing U.S. population.

And she's correct. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, 6.9 percent of all married couples have spouses of a different race and 9.5 percent have spouses of a different race or ethnic origin. That 9.5 percent represents an increase of 28 percent since the 2000 census.

Florida is at about the national average in both categories: 6.5 percent of all married couples have spouses of a different race and 10.9 percent of have spouses of a different race or ethnic origin.

"The rise in interracial marriage indicates that race relations have improved over the past quarter century," Daniel Lichter, a sociology professor at Cornell University, told the Huffington Post. "Mixed-race children have blurred America's color line. They often interact with others on either side of the racial divide and frequently serve as brokers between friends and family members of different racial backgrounds," he said. "But America still has a long way to go."

Just a pinch of salt

Is sea salt iodized?

Sea salt, which is salt produced by the evaporation of seawater, contains small amounts of iodine. The amount it is iodized depends on where the sea salt is harvested from. "Sea salt ... generally contains less iodine than table salt," Rachel K. Johnson, Ph.D., R.D., nutrition professor at the University of Vermont, says on the American Heart Association website. "Iodine has been added to table salt since the 1920s to prevent the iodine-deficiency disease goiter."

Don't let the bedbugs bite

Bedbugs have been in the news lately. Is there a natural enemy?

There is not a natural enemy or predator for bedbugs, Chuck Tindol, co-owner of Georgia-based Allgood Pest Solutions, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Since bedbugs are an inside insect, homeowners should not introduce another insect or parasite into their bedrooms, he added.