Visualize evolution.

Given that command, you are probably picturing that famous drawing found in science textbooks years ago.It illustrates a sea creature coming ashore, followed by tiny mammals, followed by a monkey walking on all fours. The monkey develops into an ape that develops into a hairy little caveman whose knuckles touch the ground. Progressively taller and less hirsute cavemen appear, improve their posture, and voila the animal closest to the inland looks just like modern man.According to science, such a transformation took place over millions of years.Yet evolution opposite, devolution, can take far less time in a grocery store. It occurs because the producer of a healthy processed food sees profits stagnate.After all, only a small segment of all consumers are seriously devoted to optimal nutrition. Once that group learns of a good-for-you product and purchases it on a regular basis, sales hold steady and profits plateau.To increase sales, the food producer needs to reduce costs and expand its consumer base. So cheaper, less nutritious, but better-tasting-to-the-mainstream ingredients are used, devolving the product into something not nearly as good for you as the original. But the new offering appeals to more consumers, so it creates more sales and increases profits.One reason why this works is because of something food producers and researchers call brand impacting. Even when an established product changes, its reputation as a good-for-you food remains.Original Fiber One Bran Cereal from General Mills, for instance, has a reputation as a good-for-you food and deservedly so. Not only is it probably the best tasting brand of the truly hardcore high-fiber cereals, but it is also devoid of added sugars or any sugar whatsoever.Eat one cup of the stuff and you receive more than 100 percent of the recommended amount of fiber for the entire day, and you have only consumed 120 calories.What's just as impressive about the product is its versatility. While you may choose to eat it with milk as a traditional cereal, it works well as a topping for yogurt, cottage cheese, and even ice cream. Pulverize it in a food processor and it becomes a really healthy alternative to any type of breading.But a company like General Mills is always looking for ways to make money. They recognize that producing the best tasting high-fiber cereal when high-fiber cereals are seen by mainstream America as having little taste limits their consumer base.So there's now a Fiber One variety in chocolate "lightly sweetened" as well as a "lightly sweetened" honey version. The addition of the sugar does more than add sugar. It subtracts fiber.While both the chocolate and honey varieties contain significant amounts of fiber compared to normal cereals, it's still far less with the emphasis on far! than the Original Fiber One. General Mills hides this decrease somewhat by increasing serving size of the sugar-infused products.The serving size of Original Fiber One is listed as a half cup. As a result, the front of the box informs you that a serving contains 57 percent of the recommended daily amount of fiber. The front of the Honey Squares' box the higher fiber option of the two new offerings informs you that a serving contains 40 percent of the recommended daily amount of fiber.That figure doesn't seem to be too far from 57 percent, but the serving size listed is three quarters of a cup, or 33 percent more. Equalize the servings, and you'll find that the Honey Squares version has about 52 percent less fiber than Original Fiber One. Chocolate Fiber One contains about 57 percent less.In a further attempt to expand its market, General Mills produces a cereal designed to compete with other companies' raisin bran cereals. On the front of the Fiber One Raisin Bran Clusters box, you read that this product contains twice the fiber of Kellogg's Raisin Bran Crunch.That's great, but what if you had been eating the Original Fiber One and seek a change of pace? If that's the case, be prepared to consume a significant amount of additional calories as well as a slew of sugar although some is natural and contained in the raisins.One cup of Fiber One Raisin Bran Clusters contains 50 more calories than a cup of Original Fiber One, 32 fewer grams of fiber, and 56 calories of some sort of sugar.The ironic part is that this product just may well be your best option if you seek a raisin bran cereal; it's just that it's only a distant nutritional relative to what we might call its grandad, Fiber One Original and a poor substitute for it.Please don't take this analysis to be a condemnation of General Mills. They perform a valuable service by providing so many high-fiber cereals options.The service I provide is to explain how the products are far from equivalent and that assuming they are could lead to long-term weight gain.Next week, read about another food-producing practice that devolves healthy foods and also requires you to be on guard.