Sugar business sours as U.S. goes diet crazy

Even as the low-carb fad does a slow fade, the move toward products with reduced, low or no sugar is on fire. Five years ago, just 36 products were introduced that had reduced-sugar claims. Last year, there were 607. And through Sept. 10 this year there were 948, reports Mintel's Global New Products Database.

This isn't primarily about diabetes or other disease fears. This is about a sea change in the national image of sugar.

Sugar used to be about Mom and apple pie. Now, even the folks at the Cheesecake Factory have concocted a cheesecake with no refined sugar added.

The industry's giant Sugar Association is so alarmed about its image implosion that it will soon announce plans to do something that it hasn't done in nearly a decade: mount a national ad campaign that extols the virtues of sugar.

"Sugar has an image problem — and we know it," says Andy Briscoe, CEO of the Sugar Association. He likes to remind folks that refined sugar is all natural. That it has just 15 calories per teaspoon. That unlike most artificial sweeteners, it has no added chemicals or preservatives.

Never mind that: In the popular mind now, if sugar were a cowboy, it would wear a black hat. So would many products that contain it. That's why giant food and beverage companies are suddenly trying to squeeze the sugar — and other higher-calorie sweeteners such as ubiquitous corn syrup — out of so many products.

Even some of the most popular kid-targeted cereals are getting a makeover. General Mills recently introduced a line of Trix and Cocoa Puffs with 75 percent less sugar. On the front of the Trix box, the sugar-reduction claim gets more space than the Trix Rabbit, himself. (In another nod to health-consciousness, the company also just announced plans to make all of its cereals whole grain.)

Kellogg's, meanwhile, is hyping Frosted Flakes and Froot Loops with 33 percent less sugar. There's even a version of Cap'n Crunch being tested with about one-third less sugar.

Some nutritionists are skeptical.

"This may make it more marketable — but not necessarily more nutritious," says William Sears, a pediatrician and author of "The Family Nutrition Book: "Everything You Need to Know About Feeding Your Children — From Birth through Adolescence. "

"It raises the philosophical question: Is a healthier junk food still bad?" says Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition at New York University. "Most cereals are junk."