What would the perfect sweetener be?  It would be natural.  It would taste just like sugar.  It would cook and bake just like sugar.  It would have no calories at all.  And it would be healthy: tooth-friendly and diabetic safe.

Sounds impossible?  Meet Shugr.™

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.   There’s no need for complex measurement conversions.  A teaspoon of Shugr equals a teaspoon of sugar. A cup of Shugr equals a cup of sugar. 

Shugr is 99.5% natural.  It’s not a synthetic chemistry lab creation.  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.  Erythritol is commonly found in melon, grapes, mushrooms and soy.  Maltodextrin is derived from corn sugar, which is non-GMO and gluten-free.  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.  The one-half of one percent?  A trace amount of sucralose, less than .005 gram per teaspoon, which adds a final high note to Shugr’s extraordinary sweet taste. 

Perhaps equally important is what Shugr does NOT contain.  It is not made from any aspartame, cane sugar, acesulfame-K, saccharin, high fructose corn syrup, neotame, fructose, honey or stevia.

“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.  Tooth decay is a huge problem.  Americans consume 20 teaspoons of sugar a day on average, 100 percent more that the recommended amount.  Teens consume even more.  For the first time in our history, obesity is now a serious disease in children as well as adults.

“Health-conscious people want to avoid sugar.  But until now, all available sweeteners represented compromise.  Some have no calories, but they taste bitter.  Some have no calories until you cook with them -- then the calorie count goes way up.  All were synthetics.  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.  Shugr represents a new milestone in America’s quest for a sweetener we can both savor and trust.”

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.  The company expects to announce a distribution arrangement with a major premium coffee house and a licensing agreement with a notable beverage in the next few months.

“There have also been calls from gourmet chefs, leading restaurants, and even from schools that train chefs,” said Miles.  “The concept of a natural, zero calorie sweetener that tastes like sugar and really cooks and bakes like sugar is proving especially intriguing to good cooks.”

For more information, visit www.shugr.com or www.swissdiet.com.

About Swiss Research, Inc.
Swiss Research, Inc. markets and sells branded nutraceutical products addressing major wellness categories, including weight management, arthritis support, cholesterol reduction and diabetes management.  SwissDiet®, its flagship line of weight-loss products, includes proprietary diet capsules, SlimSupport™ capsules for craving control, CalorieMinus ™ peppermint wafers for fat absorption, MealSource ™ meal replacement powdered drink mix, and SlimSource ™nutritional energy drink mix.  Other unique and innovative products, marketed under the Swiss Research ® brand name, include CellSource ™ for joint relief and flexibility; CholestMinus ™ for cholesterol reduction; T-Cell90 ® immune booster; and Shugr® a natural, diabetes-friendly, zero-calorie sweetener that looks, tastes and cooks like sugar.  Swiss Research distributes its products through national retail channels as well as online at http://www.SwissDiet.com.

About Health Sciences Group, Inc.

Health Sciences Group, Inc. (OTCBB:HESG) identifies, develops and commercializes innovative nutritional products derived from natural sources to provide consumers and medical professionals with preventative healthcare alternatives.  The company markets its own line of proprietary products based on novel technologies with clinically-supported, FDA-approved ingredients under its Swiss Research® and Swiss Diet ® brand names.  For more information, visit www.Hsciences.com, www.SwissDiet.com, www.Shugr.com and www.SwissResearchRX.com.

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Contact:
Jolie Cross
jcross@freemanpr.com
212-489-8585