Web Extra: Branded Ingredients

NutraSweet

It’s the oldest branded ingredient that most of us remember. The brand’s white and red swirled ball marked soda bottles and other sweets, but today you’ll mostly only find the symbol on consume packages of the sugar substitute. The company’s patent on aspartame ran out in 1992, and now a number of companies produce the substance.Creatine

Typically considered a dietary supplement for athletes, creatine raises the body’s ability to produce energy and stimulates muscle growth. Creatine has surfaced as a branded ingredient in SoBo No Fear energy drink and Rage energy drink.Citrimax

Citrimax – a dietary weight-loss supplement – surfaced in the Fuze Slender Energy line of products and in Reebok fitness water. Both have now been discontinued. The additive promises to help customers lose weight, and continues to cling to a sliver of the beverage market through Fuze slenderize and a handful of niche products.Splenda

Splenda is the most prevalent branded product today. You’ll find the logo of this sugar-substitute on every bottle of Diet Coke, as well as the company’s own consumer packets of the artificial sweetener.Olestra

Olestra represents the most disastrous use of a branded ingredient to date. Frito-Lay unveiled their WOW line of snacks in 1998 to $400 million in sales, but Olestra caused bowel problems and attracted mockery from prime-time comedies. By 2000, that figure fell to $200 million, and by 2003 the snack-food company reformulated the line and renamed it altogether.