New sugar claims to offer all the benefits of regular sugar without the drawbacks

• It would cook and bake just like sugar.
• Shugr tastes like cane sugar, feels like cane sugar in the mouth, and has no aftertaste.
• Shugr also cooks and bakes like cane sugar -- it rises, it browns, and it caramelizes.
• A teaspoon of Shugr equals a teaspoon of sugar.
• Rather, it is made from sugars that occur naturally in such good-tasting, healthy foods as fruits, vegetables, corn and dairy products.
• Called erythritol, maltodexterin and tagatose, these natural sugars provide a clean and delicious sweet taste.
• Tagatose comes from dairy products, but does not affect people who are lactose intolerant.
• Tagatose also provides an added health benefit -- prebiotic fiber that promotes intestinal health, similar to the way yogurt does.
• All of these ingredients carry a GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) affirmation for food safety.
• "Shugr is truly the next generation of sweetener," said Loren Miles, CEO of Swiss Research, Inc. in Los Angeles, the maker of Swiss Diet and Shugr.
• "Obesity is arguably the greatest health threat of our time, leading a whole generation toward heart disease, stroke and diabetes.
• Some have no calories, but they taste bitter.
• Until now, there has been no natural, zero-calorie sweetener on the market that tastes and cooks just like sugar, has no aftertaste, is tooth-friendly, and is safe for diabetics and those who are lactose intolerant.
• Miles said Shugr will be available in approximately 3,000 retail outlets, including health food and other natural product stores, as well as in mass drug and food stores, during the first quarter of 2005.
• Since publicly introducing Shugr to the world on Valentine's Day, Swiss Research Inc. has received dozens of inquiries from major food manufacturers who want to explore substituting Shugr for other sweeteners in their products.