This post is written as part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst 2006. If you're a doughnut lover rooting for Krispy Kreme's comeback, cast your vote for it.

Poor Krispy Kreme. People once stood in line for store openings to get their free doughnuts, and the company and brand were the darling of markets and growing well. Who doesn't love a doughnut?

But Krispy Kreme (NYSE:KKD) has fallen from its perch and been dunked in the hot oil of reality: over the past few years the growth of the low-carb awareness -- in the form of Atkins, South Beach, Sugar Busters, and other diets that caused people to cut simple carbohydrates down or out of their diets -- was widespread. Even bread companies complained about the dip in sales.

Then the doughnut company got hit by a second health punch in the form of health awareness about trans fatty acids.

You want to tell customers that they should have realized well before all this that doughnuts obviously aren't good for you? Did anyone seriously think eating doughnuts was somehow not going be a dietary no-no? Were doughnut-eating customers so naive that when they were told these things were unhealthy they suddenly gave them up? If so, it might be a victory for public health awareness, but you have to wonder what kind of a rock Krispy Kreme's previous customers were under.

You want to root for Krispy Kreme to make a comeback, because really, we all like doughnuts. Sure they're not good for us, but neither is anything else that's truly fun in the world. Many of us secret doughnut lovers will be happy to put in some extra treadmill time if Krispy Kreme can come to grips with its deserters and continue to give us a standard glazed doughnut. Hang in there guys!

Best & Worst: Krispy Kreme has lost its glaze, but we want the sugar back! originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 11 Dec 2006 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.