Sugar-free gum market blowing up

CHICAGO -- The growing popularity of sugar-free gum brands that promise to whiten teeth or fight tooth decay have made the gum market a sought-after category for candy companies.\nU.S. gum sales rose 6 percent to $1.04 billion during the last 12 months, according to Information Resources Inc. Sugar-free brands grew 8.2 percent and accounted for more than 70 percent of U.S. gum sales.\nWrigley, which recently opened a new $45 million research facility in Chicago, is hoping to capitalize on that popularity, in part, through innovation -- a dramatic departure from a company that marketed just three products during its first 85 years of existence: Wrigley Spearmint, Doublemint and Juicy Fruit.\nNow, its 14 brands include the top three U.S. gum brands: Extra, Orbit and Eclipse. Spicing up old reliables -- like pellet forms of Big Red and Juicy Fruit -- also has boosted growth for the Wrigley company.\nBut Chicago-based Wrigley isn't alone in its quest for the cutting edge of gum. Fast-growing rival Cadbury Schweppes PLC has been nipping at Wrigley's heels since its $4.6 billion acquisition of Adams chewing gum from Pfizer Inc. in 2003.\nThe deal gave the London-based company Dentyne and Bubblicious, cementing its No. 2 spot in chewing gum worldwide. Cadbury's Trident brand is No. 4 in the U.S. with $92.9 million in sales for the past 12 months, trailing Extra ($152.3 million), Orbit ($128 million) and Eclipse ($95.7 million), according to Information Resources.\nCadbury fired a shot across Wrigley's bow this summer with the launch of the first sugarless gum with a liquid center, marketed in the U.S. as Trident Splash.\nCadbury expects to open its own new science and technology center in East Hanover, N.J., in December.