Kellogg is the No. 1 cereal maker, with 37.4 percent of the American market.

Nevertheless, unlike the cereal makers, Campbell seems able to raise soup prices without protest.

As recently as 1989, the sixth-largest cereal maker held 5 percent of the market.

Kellogg, the cereal maker with the largest market share, recently raised prices on some of its 38 varieties twice in six months.

If a cereal maker can just increase the amount that never reaches the mouth, it will clearly sell more.

But cereal makers say children will not respond to nutrition.

In response, cereal makers say they have reduced sugar content in some products, giving people a choice.

By contrast, a cereal maker needs consumers to buy the product over and over.

Analysts say other cereal makers are now under pressure to heed that message too.

To the nation's biggest cereal makers, shredded wheat is worth fighting for.