By Mike Montemarano, Associate Editor04.08.21
Limiting sugar from the diet has become one of the most popular interventions consumers are taking to improve their health. Public consensus, and recent large-scale research, continues to implicate added sugars in a wide array of metabolic problems, primarily due to weight and blood glucose issues.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) requisite to list “added sugars” on food and beverage labels has further brought sugar into the spotlight. Product developers have been compelled to create foods and beverages with lower calorie counts and glycemic loads as nutrition experts, policymakers, and consumers all see the benefit of cutting back or entirely avoiding added sugars.
“The pandemic has put the spotlight on overweight and diabetes as studies show that these conditions are causing a severe progression of COVID-19,” said Kyle Krause, regional product manager of functional fiber and carbohydrates at Beneo. “Consumer insights show that there is a growing recognition that not all sugars and carbohydrates are alike. Sixty percent of consumers believe that some sugars are healthier than others. And every second U.S. consumer believes that carbohydrates that are more slowly released are better for health. So, consumers are becoming aware that with regard to carbohydrates it is the physiological quality that matters.”
The relevance of a lower glycemic diet is gaining traction among public health experts and consumers alike, Krause continued. “Science increasingly makes reference to the health benefits of a carbohydrate-based, low-glycemic diet, especially regarding the development of a number of non-communicable diseases as well as a stronger immune system.”
Within the functional food and beverage market, formulators offering snacks, meals, confectioneries, and nutrient-dense drinks for targeted health benefits are pursuing ingredients for the sweet tooth that work best with a given product. At the same time, product developers are attempting to minimize caloric energy burdens.
While there are certainly plenty of mainstays in the category, including xylitol, monk fruit, raw honey, sucralose, aspartame, and stevia, specialized combination formulations and novel ingredients for specific performance are driving product launches to opt out of sugar. Clean-label alternatives, unlike refined sugar, may contain micronutrients, enzymes, and other health-promoting compounds. While many products haven’t been stripped of all sugar content, they can be several-fold sweeter than sugar without the downsides of over-processing, providing options useful for everyone, including those who need to be wary of blood
glucose levels.
“Ingredion’s conducted a proprietary research study called ATLAS,” noted Jackson Pillow, marketing communications and digital marketing lead at PureCircle by Ingredion. “Consumers in the study across the world continue to rank the ‘ingredient list’ as the most important driver when selecting packaged foods and beverages, with sugar reduction being one of the most important claims. This demand has made sugar reduction table stakes for many manufacturers, rather than front of pack differentiators. Plant-based solutions also continue to be preferable to artificial ones, with stevia leading the way.”
Added Sugars: More Forbidden than Ever
According to the International Food Information Council’s (IFIC) 2020 Food and Health Survey, more than eight in 10 Americans have altered their food habits as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is due in large part to the seismic shifts taking place in consumers’ own self-perceptions of health, extending beyond food safety into healthfulness—which means more to them now than ever before, at least for more than half of
consumers surveyed.
“Nearly six in 10 Americans also say the emphasis they place on their overall health when making decisions about what to eat and drink has increased, surpassing the emphasis placed simply on one’s weight,” IFIC reported. “While there are fewer Americans making general changes to improve the healthfulness of their diet in 2020 vs. what was observed a decade ago, dieting is up vs. 2019.”
IFIC reported that the runners-up in popular diet patterns to intermittent fasting include clean label and ketogenic diets, both of which call for either a reduced intake or complete exclusion of added sugars. Indeed, diet trends are opening up a burgeoning consumer base seeking novel, sweet products that align with their programs.
It is especially noteworthy that Americans’ awareness of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) has increased dramatically since 2010, with 41% of Americans reporting that they know at least a fair amount about the guidelines, compared to 23% of those surveyed in 2010. Added sugars have been caught in the crosshairs of recent government recommendations. The 2020-2025 DGA reported that Americans now consume added sugars at over twice the quantities they should, primarily from beverages. Children should avoid sugar-sweetened beverages entirely, according to the guidance. Today, one half of added sugars intake in U.S. adults comes from sugar-sweetened beverages.
On sugars specifically, IFIC reported that 74% of consumers are actively trying to limit or avoid sugars in their diet this year, which falls slightly below the 80% who were trying to do so the year prior. There are two key health benefits appealing to consumers most, IFIC’s Senior Director of Nutrition Communications Kris Sollid, RD, said. “In addition to calorie-saving benefits, low-calorie sweeteners, such as aspartame, stevia, sweeteners, sucralose, and allulose do not increase blood glucose levels or insulin secretion, and do not promote the growth of bacteria in the mouth that causes cavities.”
The NPD Group also reported a dramatic shift away from sugar from an increasingly aware consumer base. The firm’s survey found that, among the 90% of consumers who report reading Nutrition Facts labels, 57% of those label-readers look for sugars, surpassing those looking for information on calories (45%), sodium (38%), and protein (33%).
According to a survey conducted by the University of North Carolina and published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, between the years 2002 and 2018, combination products containing reduced amounts of sugar, with added sugar substitutes, have overtaken products containing caloric sugar alone. Beverages were also the leading category when it came to consumers transitioning to products containing sugar substitutes alone, according to barcode-level data. While products containing some sweeteners declined, the prevalence of using products containing sucralose increased from 38.7% to 71% of households, the researchers said.
Clinical research has certainly been making waves in the average consumers’ understanding of sugars. In recent years, added sugars and sugary foods have been implicated in a number of adverse health outcomes beyond obesity and type 2 diabetes, including dental problems, immune system damage, inflammation, declines in mood and cognition, diseases of the heart and kidneys, and other metabolic issues.
This year, a study from Swansea University (Jones et. al, Nature, 2021) concluded that fructose reprograms glutamine-dependent oxidative metabolism to promote inflammation, a mechanism linked to obesity, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and diabetes, and immune system damage. Once LPS-induced inflammation occurred in the study as a result of high sugar consumption, it was associated with cellular damage, as well as improper organ functions, the authors of the study said.
Another study published in the British Medical Journal found there may even be an association between higher consumption of sugary drinks and an increased risk of cancer, based on associations found in tracking sugar-sweetened beverage intake and overall health outcomes of 101,257 healthy French adults (average age of 42 at enrollment) over the span of up to 9 years. The researchers found significantly elevated risks for overall cancer, as well as breast, prostate, and bowel cancers in those in the highest quartiles of sugar consumption.
Market Review
“Sugar concern is truly universal,” said Cali Amos, research manager, HealthFocus International. “Unlike many other food and beverage product concerns that come and go, concern for sugar and other sweeteners is changing consumer behavior in significant ways.”
Amos said that sweeteners are ingredients consumers can’t live with and can’t live without at the same time, and are the subject of intense scrutiny. Therefore, there are three macro-trends she believes successful formulators must appeal to.
Sweeteners should be clean, with short, clear ingredient lists; real ingredients, no additives, no preservatives, no GMOs; and should be sourced from a transparent supply chain, Amos said. The primary goal of sweeteners should be defined as a better alternative energy source to sugars, which are all carbohydrates. Sweeteners should be optimized for caloric content, formulated to function for the management of healthy weight and other reasons, and provide a source of healthy energy. Lastly, unlike other functional food categories, consumers tend to allow a bit of indulgence with their sweeteners if the caloric or fat content of a sweeter functional food makes them stray from their goals only a little bit.
According to HealthFocus, a majority of consumers are looking to reduce sugars, not replace them. When asked about what they’re doing to reduce sugar in their diet, surveyed consumers said they were most likely to choose foods that are less sweet (47%), choose unsweet foods (38%), choose unsweet beverages (36%), or choose beverages that are less sweet (32%). Eating foods with more non-sugar sweeteners (29%), drinking more beverages with non-sugar sweeteners (28%), choosing beverages that substitute other flavors for sugar (18%), or choosing foods that substitute other flavors for sugar (18%) were all lower on the priority list, Amos said.
Unfortunately, many food developers opt for high-glycemic maltodextrin, which can lead to a high release of insulin in the body, facilitating the storage of fat and insulin resistance, according to Klause.
“A sugar alternative should not mislead consumers and should, in the end, deliver specific health benefits or not be harmful to the body in the way it is metabolized, thus supporting a healthy lifestyle,” Klause said. “Controlled, balanced, and low blood glucose levels are also key for maintaining or losing weight effectively. Therefore, blood sugar management plays a key role in weight management.”
“Poor sugar alternatives highlight the importance of consuming quality carbohydrates,” he added, “including low glycemic carbohydrates that keep blood sugar levels in balance and help with weight management.”
IFIC’s Sollid also categorized the sweeteners category as one with plenty of room for growth in the area of consumer adaptation and knowledge. While Americans are regularly attempting to reduce their intake of added sugars, the current average intake still exceeds nutritional recommendations, he said. “The most common strategy for those who report trying to limit or avoid sugars remains opting for water instead of caloric beverages.”
Still, IFIC research suggested four in 10 consumers prefer sugar, while one in three said they prefer to use low calorie sweeteners; only about three in 10 consumers said they don’t use sugar or low-calorie sweeteners.
HealthFocus surveys further revealed that shoppers remain mistrustful of most mainstream sweetener options and look toward a range of natural options which promise greater sweetness without the same sugar concentration, such as honey (which has held an unshakeable position as a top-ranking “good sweetener”), maple syrup, fruit juices, and agave. Monk fruit extract has had the strongest growth as a natural sweetener containing zero sugars, with a taste that ranges from 100-250 times sweeter than sugar, the company said. The top five sweeteners which had the worst perceptions shared among consumers were high fructose corn syrup, sweeteners containing artificial ingredients, aspartame, saccharine, and fructose.
“When it comes to sweeteners, consumer requirements are diverse and there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach,” Amos said. HealthFocus has identified six sub-segments of consumers, based on how they make choices around sweeteners. This includes: “Naturalists,” the largest group, which avoids artificial in favor of natural sweeteners; “Minimalists,” who want products that are less sweet overall; “Uninteresteds,” who don’t think about sweeteners when making food and beverage choices; “Change-Ups,” who are sometimes focused on taste, sometimes on calories; “Sweet-Tooths,” who choose whatever tastes best; and “Calorie Counters,” who are focused on calories rather than the type of sweetener used.
Looking at global trends in the sweeteners category, HealthFocus said that across 22 countries consumers broadly prefer products that taste less sweet than they used to, and that sensitivity surrounding sweeteners is extremely high in Asia. Across Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Thailand, and the Philippines, between 72% and 79% of consumers reported they have entirely avoided or less-often consumed a product because of the use of a specific sweetener.
The Supply Side
With heightened consumer interest in holistic health and wellness, Sarah Diedrich, marketing director of sweetening solutions and fibers for ingredients supplier ADM, said functional foods and beverages align well for sweetener innovation and broader market introduction.
“ADM Outside Voice research shows when shoppers are looking to cut calories, their commitment to reduce sugar increases by 62%,” Diedrich said. “Additional research finds 50% of consumers are actively seeking products targeting immune function and metabolic, digestive, joint, cognitive, and skin health. Most consumers prefer functional foods and beverages over dietary supplements for improved well-being, and sweeteners play an important role in developing products that support their health goals and taste great without added sugar.”
Likewise, research conducted by sweeteners supplier Tate & Lyle suggested that 60% of U.S. consumers see non-artificial sweeteners as acceptable solutions to control sugar intake, said Allison Feriozzi, marketing manager, North America. Non-artificial ingredients must conform to taste and functionality expectations though, and appealing across platforms requires suppliers to broaden their sweetener portfolios.
“Our team of expert food scientists are skilled in knowing which of these will work best in each application, and how to best use the synergistic effects between sweeteners to develop great tasting products in a variety of applications,” said Sue Butler, technical manager, nutrition, bakery, and confections, North America. KRYSTAR Crystaline Fructose, for example, can enhance flavor perception by 15% or more particularly with fruit, chocolate, and caramel notes, Butler said.
Consumers still eat for pleasure, comfort, or to satisfy cravings, even when making healthier decisions, Diedrich said. Alternative sweetening solutions serve as permissible indulgences among the consumers cutting back on sugar in beverages (83%), in bars and snacks (79%), in sauces and dressings (75%), in baked goods (70%), in dairy products (69%), and in candies and chocolate (54%).
Diedrich said that when it comes to competition, most sweeteners aren’t competing with one another across multiple food categories, but rather, certain ingredients cooperate across applications. “ADM’s SweetRight portfolio provides a vast amount of optionality through a multitude of sweetening solutions to achieve formulators’ product goals, which could include high sugar-reduction, lower calories, cost savings, improved functionality, or a combination of different targets. Our portfolio contains low- and no-calorie and specialty nutritive sweeteners that work separately and in conjunction depending on the desired finished food or beverage.”
Two ingredients Diedrich mentioned are SweetRight’s RSGS (Reduced Sugar Glucose Syrup), formulated to substitute for traditional corn syrup without losing functionality, which works especially well in ice cream and other frozen treats due to emulsion stability and freezing and thawing characteristics while decreasing sugars by 30%. Additionally, ADM uses SweetRight Edge stevia, in most of its reduced-sugar ingredients, many times in combination with RSGS due to the added sweetness potency.
“It is made with proprietary technology for extraction and purification that maximizes the glycosides for superior taste, delivering 15% more sweetness than other steviol glycosides and minimizing undesirable attributes such as bitterness and astringency,” Diedrich said. “SweetRight Edge stevia also maintains heat and pH stability, doesn’t add calories, and has a glycemic index of zero.”
Similarly, Ingredion relies on cross-functional attributes of natural additives in order to build back functional and sensory attributes in the confectionery category.
“Ingredients like polyols, rare sugars, and reduced-sugar syrups are great tools which can help to build back that functionality, and with the acquisition of PureCircle, Ingredion now provides comprehensive solutions to address sugar reduction across food and beverage categories, simplifying the work for food and beverage product formulators,” Pillow said.
Nonetheless, some ingredients were formulated to maintain advantages across several food and beverage types. One such ingredient which has been rising lately is allulose, an ingredient in the rare sugars family.
“With the FDA’s exemption of allulose from total and added sugars labeling in April 2019, its functional benefits of bulking, browning, and freeze point depression can now be leveraged in applications seeking to achieve ‘reduced sugar’ or even ‘no added sugar’ claims on pack. These characteristics have historically been difficult to achieve with other sugar reduction solutions alone,” said Christina Coles, associate marketing manager, sugar reduction and specialty sweeteners, Ingredion.
Sollid at IFIC also identified allulose as a rising star ingredient which checks off the boxes on many contemporary consumer demands. “Allulose is a rare, naturally-occurring sugar (small amounts are found in wheat and some fruits) that is also commercially produced. While its low caloric content may make allulose an attractive ingredient for food and beverage manufacturers, familiarity with allulose among consumers is low, and it’s unclear how consumers would respond to new or reformulated products that contain it.”
New sources of sweeteners hold a great deal of value for unique characteristics that are difficult to achieve, even with expert combination formulations. Beneo, for example, offers two sweeteners sourced from sugar beet.
“Beneo’s sugar replacer Isomalt for example, is the only polyol derived from sugar beet,” Klaus said. It possesses a sugar-like sweetening profile with no cooling effect, unlike other polyols, making it optimal for chocolates, baked goods, and other confectioneries and sugar-free candies. “Isomalt supports subtle fruit flavors and is very low hygroscopic. The latter means that candies don’t become sticky and therefore do not need to be individually wrapped, a fact that should not be ignored in times where sustainability and our environment are key purchase drivers for consumers.”
“Beneo’s slow-release carbohydrate Palatinose (isomaltulose) is also derived from sugar beet. It also occurs naturally in honey. Similar to Isomalt, it has a mild sugar-like sweetening profile,” Klause said. It’s been especially popular in more functional foods and beverages, as it provides full carbohydrate energy without the spike and crash effect associated with high-glycemic carbs such as maltodextrin. Like Isomalt, it is also low hygroscopic, and its non-lumping properties make it ideal for powder applications.
“As some intense sweeteners can impart unwelcome aftertastes, both of these ingredients can function well as masking agents,” Klause said.
Continued shifts away from artificial sweeteners aren’t just influencing newer natural alternatives; products like stevia, which has enjoyed mainstream popularity for decades, are seeing plenty of innovation while enjoying their stalwart positioning, said Andrew Ohmes, global director of high intensity sweeteners for Cargill.
“Dramatic improvements to next-generation stevia products, combined with consumers’ great familiarity with the ingredient, have opened the door to a new wave of reduced-sugar formulation. Even amid the pandemic, we continued to see strong growth in 2020. Product launches containing stevia reached more than 7,400 new food and beverages globally, up 8.7% over the previous year, according to Innova Market Insights data.”
More than Sweetness
There is more to what sugar adds to a food or beverage than just sweetness. Flavor, functionality, texture, bulking, binding, and browning are important challenges formulators must take into account when choosing sweeteners.
“In these applications, rebalancing sweetness and sourness or recreating mouthfeel requires a more holistic formulation approach to recreate the experience,” said Wade Schmelzer, principal food scientist, Cargill. “Next-generation stevia products like our ViaTech stevia leaf extract and EverSweet stevia sweetener enable these deeper sugar reductions, but other complementary sweeteners, minor adjustments to the acid system, or use of texturants may be necessary.”
Portfolios are also expanding with specialty syrups, and more plant-based options to appeal to new functional food and beverage categories as well, Diedrich said.
“Hydration beverages like flavored water were early targets for sugar reduction,” she said. “Now product developers are perfecting sweetening solutions in more robust applications, such as ones that are high in protein or fiber, extremely low in sugar, or keto friendly.” These new formulas can ensure viscosity, consistent moisture, and mouthfeel in applications like baked goods, bars, and confections, with ease in processing. ADM has also expanded into sweetener options ideal for textures and functionality in confections, snacks, cereals, sauces and dairy, such as tapioca, rice syrups, and erythritol, which build back bulking and binding.
“We use our entire sugar reduction toolbox to identify the right combinations of sweeteners, flavors, and enabling ingredients coupled with our expertise and technical ingenuity to deliver on flavor, color, texture, nutrition, packaging, and shelf-life demands,” Diedrich said.
“A key challenge in formulating with sweeteners as sugar alternatives comes from trying to replace the bulk functional properties that sugar provides,” Butler said. “Sugar works as a tenderizing agent to give a soft, tender texture in sweet baked goods and helps manage freezing point depression in frozen desserts, for example. Allulose and soluble fibers have made it much easier to formulate reduced sugar products by providing the functionality that is lost when sugar is removed. In some applications, the incorporation of starches may also be needed to achieve the desired texture. By using these in combination with high potency sweeteners, formulators can maintain the desired texture and overall taste that consumers crave.”
Some sweeteners, however, are up to the task, Klause said. “A cookie is not a cookie if you take sugar grams out and replace it with a miniscule amount of a high-intensity sweetener. There is a need to replace the void that is created when sugar is replaced […] Palatinose has a sugar-like taste profile, as does Isomalt, and can replace sugar gram for gram. Additionally, some sweeteners can impart unwelcome aftertastes and both Palatinose and Isomalt can function as masking agents in these instances, while creating a healthier food or beverage.”
There is still much to learn on the stevia front, Ohmes said, and by leveraging both new technologies and a history of research, next-gen stevia sweeteners are expected to become even more versatile. “We’re continually learning how to get more from the stevia leaf, which contains dozens of sweet compounds,” he said. “We’ve invested more than 300,000 hours, studying how to put those compounds together for the best result.” Using its ViaTech portfolio, Cargill utilizes a taste-prediction model for its clients to precisely determine which combination of the leaf’s sweet components will be optimal for certain applications, such as dairy.
Another breakthrough Cargill achieved was the identification of two of stevia’s best-tasting, yet rare leaf compounds—Reb M and Reb D—which the company was able to produce in a sustainable, cost-effective, and scalable way through the use of fermentation technology.
“These sweet components are rare in the stevia plant, produced in less than 1% of the leaf,” Ohmes said. “Unlike earlier stevia products, EverSweet provides a sweetness without bitterness or a licorice aftertaste, delivering a more rounded taste profile with a faster onset of sweetness. This dramatic step forward in sweetener technology enables up to 100% sugar replacement.”
“We’re all still looking for that ‘magic bullet’ zero-calorie, label-friendly sweetener that tastes and functions exactly like a full-sugar version,” Ohmes concluded. “The reality is that all sweeteners, caloric or not, taste slightly different from one another and have different functional attributes. However, we continue to find ways to close the gap, leveraging advances in our stevia technology with our extensive formulation expertise and broad portfolio of sweeteners, texturizers, and fibers.”
In the same vein, PureCircle has mapped the full genome of the stevia leaf, Pillow said. “Now with next generation stevia leaf ingredients and stevia flavor modifiers, stevia can work well across application categories, sugar reduction levels, and provide other taste enhancements through flavor modulation including sodium reduction.”
Mike Montemarano has been the Associate Editor of Nutraceuticals World since February 2020. He can be reached at MMontemarano@RodmanMedia.com.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) requisite to list “added sugars” on food and beverage labels has further brought sugar into the spotlight. Product developers have been compelled to create foods and beverages with lower calorie counts and glycemic loads as nutrition experts, policymakers, and consumers all see the benefit of cutting back or entirely avoiding added sugars.
“The pandemic has put the spotlight on overweight and diabetes as studies show that these conditions are causing a severe progression of COVID-19,” said Kyle Krause, regional product manager of functional fiber and carbohydrates at Beneo. “Consumer insights show that there is a growing recognition that not all sugars and carbohydrates are alike. Sixty percent of consumers believe that some sugars are healthier than others. And every second U.S. consumer believes that carbohydrates that are more slowly released are better for health. So, consumers are becoming aware that with regard to carbohydrates it is the physiological quality that matters.”
The relevance of a lower glycemic diet is gaining traction among public health experts and consumers alike, Krause continued. “Science increasingly makes reference to the health benefits of a carbohydrate-based, low-glycemic diet, especially regarding the development of a number of non-communicable diseases as well as a stronger immune system.”
Within the functional food and beverage market, formulators offering snacks, meals, confectioneries, and nutrient-dense drinks for targeted health benefits are pursuing ingredients for the sweet tooth that work best with a given product. At the same time, product developers are attempting to minimize caloric energy burdens.
While there are certainly plenty of mainstays in the category, including xylitol, monk fruit, raw honey, sucralose, aspartame, and stevia, specialized combination formulations and novel ingredients for specific performance are driving product launches to opt out of sugar. Clean-label alternatives, unlike refined sugar, may contain micronutrients, enzymes, and other health-promoting compounds. While many products haven’t been stripped of all sugar content, they can be several-fold sweeter than sugar without the downsides of over-processing, providing options useful for everyone, including those who need to be wary of blood
glucose levels.
“Ingredion’s conducted a proprietary research study called ATLAS,” noted Jackson Pillow, marketing communications and digital marketing lead at PureCircle by Ingredion. “Consumers in the study across the world continue to rank the ‘ingredient list’ as the most important driver when selecting packaged foods and beverages, with sugar reduction being one of the most important claims. This demand has made sugar reduction table stakes for many manufacturers, rather than front of pack differentiators. Plant-based solutions also continue to be preferable to artificial ones, with stevia leading the way.”
Added Sugars: More Forbidden than Ever
According to the International Food Information Council’s (IFIC) 2020 Food and Health Survey, more than eight in 10 Americans have altered their food habits as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is due in large part to the seismic shifts taking place in consumers’ own self-perceptions of health, extending beyond food safety into healthfulness—which means more to them now than ever before, at least for more than half of
consumers surveyed.
“Nearly six in 10 Americans also say the emphasis they place on their overall health when making decisions about what to eat and drink has increased, surpassing the emphasis placed simply on one’s weight,” IFIC reported. “While there are fewer Americans making general changes to improve the healthfulness of their diet in 2020 vs. what was observed a decade ago, dieting is up vs. 2019.”
IFIC reported that the runners-up in popular diet patterns to intermittent fasting include clean label and ketogenic diets, both of which call for either a reduced intake or complete exclusion of added sugars. Indeed, diet trends are opening up a burgeoning consumer base seeking novel, sweet products that align with their programs.
It is especially noteworthy that Americans’ awareness of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) has increased dramatically since 2010, with 41% of Americans reporting that they know at least a fair amount about the guidelines, compared to 23% of those surveyed in 2010. Added sugars have been caught in the crosshairs of recent government recommendations. The 2020-2025 DGA reported that Americans now consume added sugars at over twice the quantities they should, primarily from beverages. Children should avoid sugar-sweetened beverages entirely, according to the guidance. Today, one half of added sugars intake in U.S. adults comes from sugar-sweetened beverages.
On sugars specifically, IFIC reported that 74% of consumers are actively trying to limit or avoid sugars in their diet this year, which falls slightly below the 80% who were trying to do so the year prior. There are two key health benefits appealing to consumers most, IFIC’s Senior Director of Nutrition Communications Kris Sollid, RD, said. “In addition to calorie-saving benefits, low-calorie sweeteners, such as aspartame, stevia, sweeteners, sucralose, and allulose do not increase blood glucose levels or insulin secretion, and do not promote the growth of bacteria in the mouth that causes cavities.”
The NPD Group also reported a dramatic shift away from sugar from an increasingly aware consumer base. The firm’s survey found that, among the 90% of consumers who report reading Nutrition Facts labels, 57% of those label-readers look for sugars, surpassing those looking for information on calories (45%), sodium (38%), and protein (33%).
According to a survey conducted by the University of North Carolina and published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, between the years 2002 and 2018, combination products containing reduced amounts of sugar, with added sugar substitutes, have overtaken products containing caloric sugar alone. Beverages were also the leading category when it came to consumers transitioning to products containing sugar substitutes alone, according to barcode-level data. While products containing some sweeteners declined, the prevalence of using products containing sucralose increased from 38.7% to 71% of households, the researchers said.
Clinical research has certainly been making waves in the average consumers’ understanding of sugars. In recent years, added sugars and sugary foods have been implicated in a number of adverse health outcomes beyond obesity and type 2 diabetes, including dental problems, immune system damage, inflammation, declines in mood and cognition, diseases of the heart and kidneys, and other metabolic issues.
This year, a study from Swansea University (Jones et. al, Nature, 2021) concluded that fructose reprograms glutamine-dependent oxidative metabolism to promote inflammation, a mechanism linked to obesity, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and diabetes, and immune system damage. Once LPS-induced inflammation occurred in the study as a result of high sugar consumption, it was associated with cellular damage, as well as improper organ functions, the authors of the study said.
Another study published in the British Medical Journal found there may even be an association between higher consumption of sugary drinks and an increased risk of cancer, based on associations found in tracking sugar-sweetened beverage intake and overall health outcomes of 101,257 healthy French adults (average age of 42 at enrollment) over the span of up to 9 years. The researchers found significantly elevated risks for overall cancer, as well as breast, prostate, and bowel cancers in those in the highest quartiles of sugar consumption.
Market Review
“Sugar concern is truly universal,” said Cali Amos, research manager, HealthFocus International. “Unlike many other food and beverage product concerns that come and go, concern for sugar and other sweeteners is changing consumer behavior in significant ways.”
Amos said that sweeteners are ingredients consumers can’t live with and can’t live without at the same time, and are the subject of intense scrutiny. Therefore, there are three macro-trends she believes successful formulators must appeal to.
Sweeteners should be clean, with short, clear ingredient lists; real ingredients, no additives, no preservatives, no GMOs; and should be sourced from a transparent supply chain, Amos said. The primary goal of sweeteners should be defined as a better alternative energy source to sugars, which are all carbohydrates. Sweeteners should be optimized for caloric content, formulated to function for the management of healthy weight and other reasons, and provide a source of healthy energy. Lastly, unlike other functional food categories, consumers tend to allow a bit of indulgence with their sweeteners if the caloric or fat content of a sweeter functional food makes them stray from their goals only a little bit.
According to HealthFocus, a majority of consumers are looking to reduce sugars, not replace them. When asked about what they’re doing to reduce sugar in their diet, surveyed consumers said they were most likely to choose foods that are less sweet (47%), choose unsweet foods (38%), choose unsweet beverages (36%), or choose beverages that are less sweet (32%). Eating foods with more non-sugar sweeteners (29%), drinking more beverages with non-sugar sweeteners (28%), choosing beverages that substitute other flavors for sugar (18%), or choosing foods that substitute other flavors for sugar (18%) were all lower on the priority list, Amos said.
Unfortunately, many food developers opt for high-glycemic maltodextrin, which can lead to a high release of insulin in the body, facilitating the storage of fat and insulin resistance, according to Klause.
“A sugar alternative should not mislead consumers and should, in the end, deliver specific health benefits or not be harmful to the body in the way it is metabolized, thus supporting a healthy lifestyle,” Klause said. “Controlled, balanced, and low blood glucose levels are also key for maintaining or losing weight effectively. Therefore, blood sugar management plays a key role in weight management.”
“Poor sugar alternatives highlight the importance of consuming quality carbohydrates,” he added, “including low glycemic carbohydrates that keep blood sugar levels in balance and help with weight management.”
IFIC’s Sollid also categorized the sweeteners category as one with plenty of room for growth in the area of consumer adaptation and knowledge. While Americans are regularly attempting to reduce their intake of added sugars, the current average intake still exceeds nutritional recommendations, he said. “The most common strategy for those who report trying to limit or avoid sugars remains opting for water instead of caloric beverages.”
Still, IFIC research suggested four in 10 consumers prefer sugar, while one in three said they prefer to use low calorie sweeteners; only about three in 10 consumers said they don’t use sugar or low-calorie sweeteners.
HealthFocus surveys further revealed that shoppers remain mistrustful of most mainstream sweetener options and look toward a range of natural options which promise greater sweetness without the same sugar concentration, such as honey (which has held an unshakeable position as a top-ranking “good sweetener”), maple syrup, fruit juices, and agave. Monk fruit extract has had the strongest growth as a natural sweetener containing zero sugars, with a taste that ranges from 100-250 times sweeter than sugar, the company said. The top five sweeteners which had the worst perceptions shared among consumers were high fructose corn syrup, sweeteners containing artificial ingredients, aspartame, saccharine, and fructose.
“When it comes to sweeteners, consumer requirements are diverse and there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach,” Amos said. HealthFocus has identified six sub-segments of consumers, based on how they make choices around sweeteners. This includes: “Naturalists,” the largest group, which avoids artificial in favor of natural sweeteners; “Minimalists,” who want products that are less sweet overall; “Uninteresteds,” who don’t think about sweeteners when making food and beverage choices; “Change-Ups,” who are sometimes focused on taste, sometimes on calories; “Sweet-Tooths,” who choose whatever tastes best; and “Calorie Counters,” who are focused on calories rather than the type of sweetener used.
Looking at global trends in the sweeteners category, HealthFocus said that across 22 countries consumers broadly prefer products that taste less sweet than they used to, and that sensitivity surrounding sweeteners is extremely high in Asia. Across Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Thailand, and the Philippines, between 72% and 79% of consumers reported they have entirely avoided or less-often consumed a product because of the use of a specific sweetener.
The Supply Side
With heightened consumer interest in holistic health and wellness, Sarah Diedrich, marketing director of sweetening solutions and fibers for ingredients supplier ADM, said functional foods and beverages align well for sweetener innovation and broader market introduction.
“ADM Outside Voice research shows when shoppers are looking to cut calories, their commitment to reduce sugar increases by 62%,” Diedrich said. “Additional research finds 50% of consumers are actively seeking products targeting immune function and metabolic, digestive, joint, cognitive, and skin health. Most consumers prefer functional foods and beverages over dietary supplements for improved well-being, and sweeteners play an important role in developing products that support their health goals and taste great without added sugar.”
Likewise, research conducted by sweeteners supplier Tate & Lyle suggested that 60% of U.S. consumers see non-artificial sweeteners as acceptable solutions to control sugar intake, said Allison Feriozzi, marketing manager, North America. Non-artificial ingredients must conform to taste and functionality expectations though, and appealing across platforms requires suppliers to broaden their sweetener portfolios.
“Our team of expert food scientists are skilled in knowing which of these will work best in each application, and how to best use the synergistic effects between sweeteners to develop great tasting products in a variety of applications,” said Sue Butler, technical manager, nutrition, bakery, and confections, North America. KRYSTAR Crystaline Fructose, for example, can enhance flavor perception by 15% or more particularly with fruit, chocolate, and caramel notes, Butler said.
Consumers still eat for pleasure, comfort, or to satisfy cravings, even when making healthier decisions, Diedrich said. Alternative sweetening solutions serve as permissible indulgences among the consumers cutting back on sugar in beverages (83%), in bars and snacks (79%), in sauces and dressings (75%), in baked goods (70%), in dairy products (69%), and in candies and chocolate (54%).
Diedrich said that when it comes to competition, most sweeteners aren’t competing with one another across multiple food categories, but rather, certain ingredients cooperate across applications. “ADM’s SweetRight portfolio provides a vast amount of optionality through a multitude of sweetening solutions to achieve formulators’ product goals, which could include high sugar-reduction, lower calories, cost savings, improved functionality, or a combination of different targets. Our portfolio contains low- and no-calorie and specialty nutritive sweeteners that work separately and in conjunction depending on the desired finished food or beverage.”
Two ingredients Diedrich mentioned are SweetRight’s RSGS (Reduced Sugar Glucose Syrup), formulated to substitute for traditional corn syrup without losing functionality, which works especially well in ice cream and other frozen treats due to emulsion stability and freezing and thawing characteristics while decreasing sugars by 30%. Additionally, ADM uses SweetRight Edge stevia, in most of its reduced-sugar ingredients, many times in combination with RSGS due to the added sweetness potency.
“It is made with proprietary technology for extraction and purification that maximizes the glycosides for superior taste, delivering 15% more sweetness than other steviol glycosides and minimizing undesirable attributes such as bitterness and astringency,” Diedrich said. “SweetRight Edge stevia also maintains heat and pH stability, doesn’t add calories, and has a glycemic index of zero.”
Similarly, Ingredion relies on cross-functional attributes of natural additives in order to build back functional and sensory attributes in the confectionery category.
“Ingredients like polyols, rare sugars, and reduced-sugar syrups are great tools which can help to build back that functionality, and with the acquisition of PureCircle, Ingredion now provides comprehensive solutions to address sugar reduction across food and beverage categories, simplifying the work for food and beverage product formulators,” Pillow said.
Nonetheless, some ingredients were formulated to maintain advantages across several food and beverage types. One such ingredient which has been rising lately is allulose, an ingredient in the rare sugars family.
“With the FDA’s exemption of allulose from total and added sugars labeling in April 2019, its functional benefits of bulking, browning, and freeze point depression can now be leveraged in applications seeking to achieve ‘reduced sugar’ or even ‘no added sugar’ claims on pack. These characteristics have historically been difficult to achieve with other sugar reduction solutions alone,” said Christina Coles, associate marketing manager, sugar reduction and specialty sweeteners, Ingredion.
Sollid at IFIC also identified allulose as a rising star ingredient which checks off the boxes on many contemporary consumer demands. “Allulose is a rare, naturally-occurring sugar (small amounts are found in wheat and some fruits) that is also commercially produced. While its low caloric content may make allulose an attractive ingredient for food and beverage manufacturers, familiarity with allulose among consumers is low, and it’s unclear how consumers would respond to new or reformulated products that contain it.”
New sources of sweeteners hold a great deal of value for unique characteristics that are difficult to achieve, even with expert combination formulations. Beneo, for example, offers two sweeteners sourced from sugar beet.
“Beneo’s sugar replacer Isomalt for example, is the only polyol derived from sugar beet,” Klaus said. It possesses a sugar-like sweetening profile with no cooling effect, unlike other polyols, making it optimal for chocolates, baked goods, and other confectioneries and sugar-free candies. “Isomalt supports subtle fruit flavors and is very low hygroscopic. The latter means that candies don’t become sticky and therefore do not need to be individually wrapped, a fact that should not be ignored in times where sustainability and our environment are key purchase drivers for consumers.”
“Beneo’s slow-release carbohydrate Palatinose (isomaltulose) is also derived from sugar beet. It also occurs naturally in honey. Similar to Isomalt, it has a mild sugar-like sweetening profile,” Klause said. It’s been especially popular in more functional foods and beverages, as it provides full carbohydrate energy without the spike and crash effect associated with high-glycemic carbs such as maltodextrin. Like Isomalt, it is also low hygroscopic, and its non-lumping properties make it ideal for powder applications.
“As some intense sweeteners can impart unwelcome aftertastes, both of these ingredients can function well as masking agents,” Klause said.
Continued shifts away from artificial sweeteners aren’t just influencing newer natural alternatives; products like stevia, which has enjoyed mainstream popularity for decades, are seeing plenty of innovation while enjoying their stalwart positioning, said Andrew Ohmes, global director of high intensity sweeteners for Cargill.
“Dramatic improvements to next-generation stevia products, combined with consumers’ great familiarity with the ingredient, have opened the door to a new wave of reduced-sugar formulation. Even amid the pandemic, we continued to see strong growth in 2020. Product launches containing stevia reached more than 7,400 new food and beverages globally, up 8.7% over the previous year, according to Innova Market Insights data.”
More than Sweetness
There is more to what sugar adds to a food or beverage than just sweetness. Flavor, functionality, texture, bulking, binding, and browning are important challenges formulators must take into account when choosing sweeteners.
“In these applications, rebalancing sweetness and sourness or recreating mouthfeel requires a more holistic formulation approach to recreate the experience,” said Wade Schmelzer, principal food scientist, Cargill. “Next-generation stevia products like our ViaTech stevia leaf extract and EverSweet stevia sweetener enable these deeper sugar reductions, but other complementary sweeteners, minor adjustments to the acid system, or use of texturants may be necessary.”
Portfolios are also expanding with specialty syrups, and more plant-based options to appeal to new functional food and beverage categories as well, Diedrich said.
“Hydration beverages like flavored water were early targets for sugar reduction,” she said. “Now product developers are perfecting sweetening solutions in more robust applications, such as ones that are high in protein or fiber, extremely low in sugar, or keto friendly.” These new formulas can ensure viscosity, consistent moisture, and mouthfeel in applications like baked goods, bars, and confections, with ease in processing. ADM has also expanded into sweetener options ideal for textures and functionality in confections, snacks, cereals, sauces and dairy, such as tapioca, rice syrups, and erythritol, which build back bulking and binding.
“We use our entire sugar reduction toolbox to identify the right combinations of sweeteners, flavors, and enabling ingredients coupled with our expertise and technical ingenuity to deliver on flavor, color, texture, nutrition, packaging, and shelf-life demands,” Diedrich said.
“A key challenge in formulating with sweeteners as sugar alternatives comes from trying to replace the bulk functional properties that sugar provides,” Butler said. “Sugar works as a tenderizing agent to give a soft, tender texture in sweet baked goods and helps manage freezing point depression in frozen desserts, for example. Allulose and soluble fibers have made it much easier to formulate reduced sugar products by providing the functionality that is lost when sugar is removed. In some applications, the incorporation of starches may also be needed to achieve the desired texture. By using these in combination with high potency sweeteners, formulators can maintain the desired texture and overall taste that consumers crave.”
Some sweeteners, however, are up to the task, Klause said. “A cookie is not a cookie if you take sugar grams out and replace it with a miniscule amount of a high-intensity sweetener. There is a need to replace the void that is created when sugar is replaced […] Palatinose has a sugar-like taste profile, as does Isomalt, and can replace sugar gram for gram. Additionally, some sweeteners can impart unwelcome aftertastes and both Palatinose and Isomalt can function as masking agents in these instances, while creating a healthier food or beverage.”
There is still much to learn on the stevia front, Ohmes said, and by leveraging both new technologies and a history of research, next-gen stevia sweeteners are expected to become even more versatile. “We’re continually learning how to get more from the stevia leaf, which contains dozens of sweet compounds,” he said. “We’ve invested more than 300,000 hours, studying how to put those compounds together for the best result.” Using its ViaTech portfolio, Cargill utilizes a taste-prediction model for its clients to precisely determine which combination of the leaf’s sweet components will be optimal for certain applications, such as dairy.
Another breakthrough Cargill achieved was the identification of two of stevia’s best-tasting, yet rare leaf compounds—Reb M and Reb D—which the company was able to produce in a sustainable, cost-effective, and scalable way through the use of fermentation technology.
“These sweet components are rare in the stevia plant, produced in less than 1% of the leaf,” Ohmes said. “Unlike earlier stevia products, EverSweet provides a sweetness without bitterness or a licorice aftertaste, delivering a more rounded taste profile with a faster onset of sweetness. This dramatic step forward in sweetener technology enables up to 100% sugar replacement.”
“We’re all still looking for that ‘magic bullet’ zero-calorie, label-friendly sweetener that tastes and functions exactly like a full-sugar version,” Ohmes concluded. “The reality is that all sweeteners, caloric or not, taste slightly different from one another and have different functional attributes. However, we continue to find ways to close the gap, leveraging advances in our stevia technology with our extensive formulation expertise and broad portfolio of sweeteners, texturizers, and fibers.”
In the same vein, PureCircle has mapped the full genome of the stevia leaf, Pillow said. “Now with next generation stevia leaf ingredients and stevia flavor modifiers, stevia can work well across application categories, sugar reduction levels, and provide other taste enhancements through flavor modulation including sodium reduction.”
Mike Montemarano has been the Associate Editor of Nutraceuticals World since February 2020. He can be reached at MMontemarano@RodmanMedia.com.
