Washington ? Foods should be held to the same scientific standards as pharmaceuticals when promoted as having health benefits, a report ordered by federal regulators said Wednesday.

The Food and Drug Administration doesn’t police food makers’ medical claims as rigorously as those made by drug companies, the Institute of Medicine, the health arm of the National Academies in Washington, concluded in its report. Cereal boxes touting the cholesterol-lowering power of Cheerios, for example, should be proven by more scientific research.

Health claims on foods can “impact a far greater portion of the population than do drug claims,” and may cause harm if they are misleading, the IOM said. One out of every four dollars spent by consumers pays for FDA-regulated products, the report found. While 75 percent of those dollars go to foods, dietary supplements and cosmetics, the FDA doesn’t review these products before they go on sale.