ABC News is running a story about how the candy industry is trying to infiltrate the fitness supplement market. With only so many options for creating candy, and with consumers shying away from sugar-laden confections, the industry is trying make health-conscious consumers buy candy by adding healthy supplements to their diabetes-causing, obesity-inducing, and teeth-rotting drugs, er, I mean, candies.
At the All Candy Expo in Chicago, Jelly Belly Candy Co. of Fairfield, Calif., introduced "Sports Beans." Each one-ounce serving has Vitamins C and E plus 120 milligrams of electrolytes to boost energy and prevent dehydration.
I can just see gym members popping Jelly Belly beans while on the treadmill.
BestSweet Inc. of Mooresville, N.C., signed up stock-car racing star Dale Earnhardt Jr. to endorse its new XLR8 Energy Chews made with caffeine, ginseng, and guarana.
"Over time, more and more candy will contain something of additional value, vitamins or additives," said BestSweet's Steve Berkowitz. He said three of the taffy-like candies provide a boost equivalent to drinking one can of the immensely popular Red Bull energy drink.
Like Red Bull is good for you -- it's a cup of coffee with ten packs of sugar. Next thing you know they'll be making a coffee-spiked beer to keep drunks awake -- oh wait, they already did that.
A (somewhat) rational point-of-view:
"I don't think that (the new products) belong in the candy aisle," said Cynthia Sass, a registered dietitian and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. "I'd like to see some research that shows they do what they claim to do, a track record. A lot of these products may not have that."
Sass said many people, from serious athletes to couch potatoes, don't really need the stimulants and other substances found in many energy products.
"People need to realize if they haven't been sweating and need to replace electrolytes, you don't really need these products," she said. The use of stimulants is an even greater concern because they can cause dangerous increases in a person's heart rate and blood pressure, she added.
The ADA is a bunch of idiots, but she is right -- people don't need this stuff in their candy. In fact, people don't need candy at all.
Don't eat this crap.
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