????湯姆?布萊迪和吉賽爾?邦辰都是“奇異品牌”（Unreal Brands）的粉絲，還有馬特?達(dá)蒙、約翰?勒珍德，以及電子支付公司Square和社交網(wǎng)站Twitter兩家科技公司的創(chuàng)始人杰克?多西。本周晚些時(shí)候，你自己也有機(jī)會(huì)親自體驗(yàn)這些名人所關(guān)注的產(chǎn)品。

????當(dāng)你為孩子挑選的萬(wàn)圣節(jié)戰(zhàn)利品，或者挑選同事帶到辦公室的糖果點(diǎn)心時(shí)，請(qǐng)留意看看是否有一種包裝頗為顯眼的新型糖果。這種名為“奇異”的糖果產(chǎn)品有著一個(gè)同樣奇異的不凡使命，那就是讓垃圾食品不再垃圾。

????位于波士頓的“奇異品牌”公司擁有來(lái)自知名科技風(fēng)頭Khosla Ventures等投資者數(shù)百萬(wàn)美元的投資。公司目前銷(xiāo)售的糖果有五種，分別是Un 41、Un 54、Un 5、Un 8和Un 77。雖然聽(tīng)起來(lái)像藥品的名字，但你可能想象不到，它們居然是牛奶巧克力糖果M&Ms、花生味的M&Ms、星河巧克力（Milky Ways）、士力架（Snickers）以及好時(shí)花生醬杯（Reese）的克隆翻版產(chǎn)品。不同的是，奇異品牌的產(chǎn)品是用天然原料制造，含糖量和脂肪量更少，纖維素和蛋白質(zhì)含量更多。這些糖果不含玉米糖漿、氫化油、人造色素和香精，也不含轉(zhuǎn)基因成分。此外，所有的原材料都是“經(jīng)過(guò)可靠渠道采購(gòu)”而來(lái)。

????奇異品牌創(chuàng)始人邁克爾?布隆納稱：“人們喜歡吃糖果，我們可以為他們提供更好的選擇。”他認(rèn)為，奇異品牌的目標(biāo)不是在有機(jī)食品連鎖店Whole Foods和農(nóng)貿(mào)市場(chǎng)出售，而是針對(duì)一般消費(fèi)者，產(chǎn)品在塔吉特百貨（Target）、CVS大藥房和史泰博公司（Staples）有售，很快也會(huì)在7-11便利連鎖店上架，價(jià)格與其所克隆的產(chǎn)品差不多。布隆納稱，奇異品牌最終將會(huì)努力向那些食品巨頭證明，不靠垃圾食品原材料也能生產(chǎn)出美味且賺錢(qián)的產(chǎn)品。布隆納是一位成功的企業(yè)家，創(chuàng)立了迪杰斯公司（Digitas），這家數(shù)字廣告企業(yè)現(xiàn)在由陽(yáng)獅集團(tuán)（Publicis Groupe）所有。他還創(chuàng)立了優(yōu)諾公司（Upromise），這家金融獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)公司現(xiàn)在由助學(xué)貸款提供商Sallie Mae所有。

????盡管該品牌抱著強(qiáng)烈的使命感，但很多公共健康的提倡者都懷疑奇異品牌能否真正為對(duì)抗肥胖癥和慢性疾病起到積極的作用。

????公共利益科學(xué)中心（the Center for Science in the Public Interest）營(yíng)養(yǎng)學(xué)政策主任馬爾戈?烏坦稱：“這種所謂的天然食品無(wú)異于垃圾食品，依然會(huì)造成血管堵塞，會(huì)和普通的垃圾食品一樣讓人變得越來(lái)越肥胖。”她認(rèn)為，從健康的角度來(lái)看，蔗糖并不比玉米糖漿要好。她進(jìn)一步指出，向缺乏營(yíng)養(yǎng)的食品中添加纖維素可能是一種很好的營(yíng)銷(xiāo)手段，但對(duì)健康卻沒(méi)有什么好處。“這種營(yíng)銷(xiāo)策略使得人們認(rèn)為這種食品更好，可能會(huì)讓他們選擇本來(lái)不會(huì)購(gòu)買(mǎi)的那些東西。”

????烏坦承認(rèn)，相比競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手的產(chǎn)品來(lái)說(shuō)，奇異品牌的產(chǎn)品較小，含糖量和卡路里較少。但她表示，如果奇異品牌的市場(chǎng)營(yíng)銷(xiāo)舉措使得消費(fèi)者吃得更多，那么產(chǎn)品本身帶來(lái)的好處就會(huì)被抵消。這種情況以前就出現(xiàn)過(guò)。烏坦說(shuō)：“整個(gè)水果點(diǎn)心系列對(duì)孩子的飲食都有著不利影響，因?yàn)楹⒆拥母改父锌赡軐⑦@些點(diǎn)心加入孩子的午餐菜單中。”

????布隆納表示，他已經(jīng)聽(tīng)到了批評(píng)的聲音。但他說(shuō)，小小的奇異品牌公司不太可能對(duì)這個(gè)年銷(xiāo)售額高達(dá)300億美元并且年年增長(zhǎng)的產(chǎn)業(yè)產(chǎn)生直接的負(fù)面影響。他說(shuō)：“雖然我們不希望甜食成為美國(guó)人飲食的一部分，但事實(shí)如此，而且還在不斷增長(zhǎng)。如果我們能夠讓人們停下來(lái)思考一下，為什么要吃這種垃圾食品，我們就有可能能夠讓那些大公司減少產(chǎn)品的含糖量、玉米糖漿和人造成分的含量。”

????Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen are fans. So are Matt Damon, John Legend, and Jack Dorsey, the techentrepreneur of Square and Twitter fame. Later this week, you may get a chance to find out what all these celebs are fussing about.

????As you sift through your kids' Halloween loot -- or the pile of sugary treats your colleagues will undoubtedly drop off at the office -- keep an eye out for a new type of candy wrapped in shiny packaging. It's called Unreal, and it's on an improbable mission: to "unjunk" junk food.

????Unreal Brands, a Boston-based company with millions in backing from renowned tech investor Khosla Ventures and others, sells five types of candy for now. You might not guess from their clinical names -- Un 41, Un 54, Un 5, Un 8 and Un 77 -- but they're clones of M&Ms, peanut M&Ms, Milky Ways, Snickers, and Reese's peanut butter cups. Unreal's versions are made with natural ingredients. They have a less sugar and fat, and more fiber and protein. They use no corn syrup, no hydrogenated oils, no artificial colors or flavors and no GMOs. Oh, and all the ingredients are "responsibly sourced."

????"People are going to eat candy, so we want to give them a better choice," says Michael Bronner, the founder of Unreal. He says Unreal's goal is not to appeal to the Whole Foods (WFM) and farmer's market set. It's going after average consumers, and its treats are sold at Target (TGT), CVS (CVS), Staples (SPLS), and soon at 7 Eleven, at prices similar to those of the items they clone. Ultimately Unreal is trying to prove to giant food companies that they can make tasty -- and profitable -- products that are free of junky ingredients, says Bronner, a successful entrepreneur who founded Digitas, the digital ad firm now owned by Publicis Groupe (PGPEF), and Upromise, the financial rewards company now owned by Sallie Mae.

????For all its mission-driven ethos, some public health advocates are skeptical that Unreal can be a net positive in the fight against obesity and chronic disease.

????"Natural junk food will clog your arteries and make you just as fat as regular junk food," says Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. From a health perspectivecane sugar is no better than corn syrup, Wootan said. And adding fiber to a nutritionally worthless food may be good marketing, but can be bad for health, she added. "It helps people think of the food as better and may make them eat stuff they would otherwise not buy."

????Wootan acknowledged that Unreal's products come in smaller portion sizes, have less sugar and fewer calories than rival treats. But those benefits could be more than undone, she said, if the marketing of Unreal's product prompts people to eat more than they would otherwise have. It's happened before. "The whole category fruit snacks has had a negative impact on children's diets, because parents are more likely to include them in their lunches," she says.

????Bronner says he's heard the criticism. But he says tiny Unreal is unlikely to have a direct negative impact in an industry that rings in $30 billion in sales annually, and that continues to grow every year. "As much as we'd like to see candy not be part of the American diet, it is and it is growing," he says. "If we can get people to stop and think about why this junk is in their food, maybe we can get the big companies to cut down on their sugar, corn syrup and artificial ingredients. "