Former first lady Michelle Obama's newly-announced kids' juice drink venture has come under scrutiny by some critics who say the beverage is secretly loaded with sugar and additives, and that Obama is putting her own bottom line above the well-being of children.
At the Wall Street Journal's Future of Everything Festival on Wednesday, Obama announced the launch of PLEZi , a healthy food and beverage company she co-founded that is targeted at fighting childhood obesity.
"We're hoping not to just provide healthy and delicious drinks and snacks for kids, but to jumpstart a race to the top that will transform the entire food industry," Obama wrote in a PLEZi Nutrition press release announcing the launch. "Because let's face it, even after everything we accomplished during the White House years, it is still simply too hard for kids to grow up healthy."
PLEZi Nutrition is rolling out its first product, a fruit juice for kids, in four flavors that it says contains 75% less sugar than average leading 100% fruit juices.