????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?達蒙、約翰?勒珍德，以及電子支付公司Square和社交網站Twitter兩家科技公司的創始人杰克?多西。本周晚些時候，你自己也有機會親自體驗這些名人所關注的產品。

????當你為孩子挑選的萬圣節戰利品，或者挑選同事帶到辦公室的糖果點心時，請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”的糖果產品有著一個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”公司擁有來自知名科技風頭Khosla Ventures等投資者數百萬美元的投資。公司目前銷售的糖果有五種，分別是Un 41、Un 54、Un 5、Un 8和Un 77。雖然聽起來像藥品的名字，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）以及好時花生醬杯（Reese）的克隆翻版產品。不同的是，奇異品牌的產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，也不含轉基因成分。此外，所有的原材料都是“經過可靠渠道采購”而來。

????奇異品牌創始人邁克爾?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。”他認為，奇異品牌的目標不是在有機食品連鎖店Whole Foods和農貿市場出售，而是針對一般消費者，產品在塔吉特百貨（Target）、CVS大藥房和史泰博公司（Staples）有售，很快也會在7-11便利連鎖店上架，價格與其所克隆的產品差不多。布隆納稱，奇異品牌最終將會努力向那些食品巨頭證明，不靠垃圾食品原材料也能生產出美味且賺錢的產品。布隆納是一位成功的企業家，創立了迪杰斯公司（Digitas），這家數字廣告企業現在由陽獅集團（Publicis Groupe）所有。他還創立了優諾公司（Upromise），這家金融獎勵公司現在由助學貸款提供商Sallie Mae所有。

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

????公共利益科學中心（the Center for Science in the Public Interest）營養學政策主任馬爾戈?烏坦稱：“這種所謂的天然食品無異于垃圾食品，依然會造成血管堵塞，會和普通的垃圾食品一樣讓人變得越來越肥胖。”她認為，從健康的角度來看，蔗糖并不比玉米糖漿要好。她進一步指出，向缺乏營養的食品中添加纖維素可能是一種很好的營銷手段，但對健康卻沒有什么好處。“這種營銷策略使得人們認為這種食品更好，可能會讓他們選擇本來不會購買的那些東西。”

????烏坦承認，相比競爭對手的產品來說，奇異品牌的產品較小，含糖量和卡路里較少。但她表示，如果奇異品牌的市場營銷舉措使得消費者吃得更多，那么產品本身帶來的好處就會被抵消。這種情況以前就出現過。烏坦說：“整個水果點心系列對孩子的飲食都有著不利影響，因為孩子的父母更有可能將這些點心加入孩子的午餐菜單中。”

????布隆納表示，他已經聽到了批評的聲音。但他說，小小的奇異品牌公司不太可能對這個年銷售額高達300億美元并且年年增長的產業產生直接的負面影響。他說：“雖然我們不希望甜食成為美國人飲食的一部分，但事實如此，而且還在不斷增長。如果我們能夠讓人們停下來思考一下，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. "