Hello, this is Monica Reinagle, the nutrition diva.

As the year draws to a close, I've been thinking about some of the themes that seem to define this year's conversation about nutrition.

One recurrent theme was the one where big food totally misses the point.

In an effort to respond to consumer desire for more

wholesome, less processed foods, several huge manufacturers launched new product

lines with mostly disastrous results.

You know, soda sales have been down for the last couple of years

and so Coca-Cola decided to go into the milk business

with a product called Fair Life, which is a highly processed version of milk that's higher

in protein and lower in lactose.

Although protein continues to be a buzzword and sugar continues to be a buzz kill, Coca-Cola seemed to miss the fact

that consumers are also looking for foods that are closer to nature, not foods

that are taken apart and reassembled on a production line.

At least though Coca-Cola recognized that consumers are interested in reducing their

sugar intake, and that's a point that General Mills

seems to have completely missed. In an effort to appeal to health conscious parents

they've announced that they're moving to all natural colorants for cereals like tricks and Lucky Charms, but they haven't

said anything about reducing the scandalous amount of added sugars in these cereals.

And then they further embarrassed themselves with a new high protein

version of Cheerios that had only a fraction more protein, but 17 times as much sugar

as the original brand.

If you're a cereal eater, you might want to check out my article

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