The industry newsletter, FoodNavigator.com, which I follow for its thorough coverage of this industry, has collected a set of its articles on sweeteners in a “special edition.”
Reminder: We love sweet foods. Sugars have calories and encourage us to eat more of sweet foods. Food companies wish they had a reasonable alternative to sugars that tasted as good and didn’t cause health problems.
Food and beverage manufacturers have a far wider range of sweetening options than ever before, from coconut sugar and date syrup to allulose, monk fruit and new stevia blends. We explore the latest market developments, formulation challenges, and consumer research.
Sweeteners in focus: Where next for allulose, stevia, isomaltulose? Are sugar alcohols losing their luster, will allulose take off, and is stevia still hot? FoodNavigator-USA caught up with Icon Foods, Cargill and Beneo to explore formulation trends as brands come under increasing pressure to reduce sugar and keep labels clean… Read
Are zero calorie sweeteners fueling, rather than fighting, the obesity epidemic? Are zero calorie sweeteners fueling, rather than fighting, the obesity epidemic by meddling with our metabolism or negatively altering our gut bacteria, as some critics claims? Or do they remain invaluable – and exhaustively tested – tools in the formulator’s toolbox?.. Read
Changes to Nutrition Facts label to call out ‘added sugar’ could save millions of lives, study suggests: Impending changes to the Nutrition Facts label that will require products to clearly label the grams and percent Daily Value of added sugar could prevent or postpone nearly 1 million cases of cardiometabolic disease and save billions in healthcare and societal costs over the next 20 years, according to a modeling study published this month in the journal Circulation… Read
Sugar taxes: The global picture: Sugar taxes continue to hit the headlines, but the introduction of new legislation is never straight-forward. We take a look at 20 countries around the globe where sugar taxes have been in the news… Read
SweetLeaf Stevia CEO: The sugar substitutes category is flat, but stevia products were up 31% YOY in Q1: If fat is back with a vengeance and protein remains on trend, sugar is now public enemy number one for many consumers, who want to cut down, but remain suspicious of the ‘natural’ credentials of some alternatives. FoodNavigator-USA caught up with Carol May (CM), CEO at Wisdom Natural Brands, maker of Sweetleaf Stevia, to find out what’s happening in the US sugar substitutes aisle… Read
Sarah Bowen. Divided Spirits: Tequila, Mezcal, and the Politics of Production. University of California Press, 2015
This remarkable book, a recent addition to UC Press’s series on California Studies in Food and Culture, uses drinks distilled from roasted, fermented agave as a basis for entering into debates about production and protection of indigenous food products in the face of globalization.
In recent years, traditional foods and drinks have emerged as profitable and politically salient alternatives to the perceived homogenizing effects of globalization. Initiatives like the Slow Food movement and DOs [denomination of origin] attempt to rescue eating establishments, dishes, and products from the flood of standardization engendered by the industrial food system. In doing so, they strive to support the rural communities, farmers, and processors involved in the production of traditional products. And yet, as my research shows, efforts to regulate Mexico’s iconic spirits illustrate the limitations of relying on alternative markets to protect food cultures and the livelihoods of those who produce them. My work demonstrates how cultural symbolism can be manipulated to perpetuate and deepen long-standing inequalities along global commodity chains.
Or, as she explains much later, “the right to define what constitutes ‘tequila’ and ‘mezcal’ extends as much from market power and it does from a sense of tradition or justice.”
Snacks are trending. As Food-Navigator-USA’s analysts see it, “there are new opportunities in gluten-free, ethnic breads and gourmet bakery items, while snack makers are tapping into consumer demand for ancient grains and seeds, plant-based proteins, and bean, pea and lentil-based ingredients….Americans are increasingly abandoning three square meals a day for serial snacking.”
Come fly with me! Inflight snacking with JetBlue: Unless you’re sitting in the front of the cabin, the food and beverage options on most airlines are, well, pretty uninspiring. But what if an airplane could be a place to discover new and exciting foods and brands that you haven’t had before?.. Read
That’s it enjoys explosive growth as snackers seek simplicity: When Dr Lior Lewensztain first started pitching That’s it fruit bars to retailers, pretty much everyone he talked to wanted in. Three and a half years later he is in tens of thousands of locations nationwide from Starbucks to 7-Eleven, and sales are still growing in the triple-digits. So what’s his secret?.. Read
Manitoba Harvest sales approaching C$100m in 2015 as hemp food market heats up:OK, so the Declaration of Independence was not, as urban myth would have it, written on hemp (the said document was written on parchment). But 239 years later, this ultra-versatile super seed is finally gaining traction as a food ingredient in the United States, according to the world’s largest hemp foods manufacturer… Read
Where next for gluten-free, and what’s the real size of the prize?: The #1 gluten-free brand in Europe, Schär entered the US market in 2007 and set up a manufacturing facility in New Jersey in 2012, and is now the #2 player in the US gluten-free bread market behind Udi’s Gluten-Free. FoodNavigator-USA (FNU) caught up with marketing director Roberto Cruz (RC) to talk about growth opportunities, market definitions, and the firm’s new Artisan Baker line… Read
20% of snack, granola, energy bars feature non-GMO claims, reveals Label Insight: Data from Label Insight* shows that one in five (21%) snack, energy or granola bars in the US now makes a non-GMO claim of some kind – making it the leading category for non-GMO claims, compared with an average of 4.2% for all the grocery products in its database. .. Read
Which ancient grains are gaining the most traction in the US food & beverage market?: Ancient grains continue to gain traction in the US food retail and foodservice market, with quinoa leading the pack. However, lesser-known grains such as teff, amaranth and freekeh are starting to picking up some steam as well, according to a new report* from Packaged Facts… Read
nomva brings a fresh twist to burgeoning fruit pouch category with HPP and probiotics: If GoGo SqueeZ and Munk Pack have proved that fruit pouches aren’t just for babies, nomva, a new food brand co-founded by Suja Juice founding member Caroline Beckman, is hoping to take the concept one step further with HPP (high pressure processed), organic fruit & veggie probiotic pouches that sit in the yogurt aisle. .. Read
The meteoric rise of barkTHINS snacking chocolate: ‘It took off like a rocketship’: Sometimes the most disruptive food products are less about blue-sky innovation than taking something familiar, adding a new twist, and creating a completely new category, says Ripple Brand Collective founder and CEO Scott Semel, who has seen his latest creation – barkTHINS snacking chocolate – “take off like a rocket ship”… Read
Karma Baker: Dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free… and delicious: If you’re going to launch a gourmet organic, vegan and gluten-free bakery business, L.A. is probably the place to do it, acknowledges Karma Baker’s founder Celine Ikeler. But if you plan to stick around, you’ve got to make products that will appeal to a broader customer base, for whom dairy- or gluten-free is an added bonus, not the primary purchase driver. .. Read
Bakery, snacks & beverage could be next frontier for high-protein products, experts say: As the high-protein trend matures from niche to mainstream, innovative manufacturers are tapping into the still-significant growth opportunity by adding the ingredient to a broader range of platforms, including baked goods, snacks and beverages, according to experts in the segment… Read
Digital web series helps Nestle Toll House reach desirable millennial generation: Digital videos can be an effective marketing tool to help food and beverage brands reach the much-vaunted and hard-to-access millennial generation, but for them to succeed, they must be authentically engaging and tightly targeted, according to digital development firm Reach Agency. .. Read
Conclusion: Maintaining energy balance at a higher caloric intake and expenditure should be a more successful long-term strategy for weight maintenance than reduced consumption or extreme caloric restriction at a low level of energy expenditure (a low energy flux) and improve intervention effectiveness for sustainable methods for body weight stability. [Implication: eat more to lose weight?]
Funding: GA Hand received non-restricted research funding and travel grant from The Coca Cola Company and a travel grant from International Life Sciences Institute. RP Shook received a travel grant from the Coca Cola Company. JO Hill received research support from the Coca Cola Company and the American Beverage Association. JO Hill is on the advisory board for McDonalds, General Mills, Curves, Consumer Goods Association, Calorie Control Council, International Food Information Council and McCormick Science Institute. JO Hill is a consultant for Walt Disney, has equity in Gelesis and Active Planet and is on the Board of Directors for International Life Sciences Institute and Livewell Colarado. SN Blair is the principal investigator on projects supported by unrestricted research grants from The Coca Cola Company to the University of South Carolina.
Comment: Some of these investigators were among those highlighted in the New York Times article revealing Coca-Cola’s funding of research demonstrating that physical activity is more important than diet in weight maintenance.
Conclusion: If the physical inactivity industry could commit to increasing physical activity by 78 calories a day per person, we would begin seeing some real success…we need innovative thinking, recognition that both food and physical activity are important, and open minds about how to engage all of society in making changes.
Disclosure: Dr. Hill reports personal fees from Coca-Cola, personal fees from McDonald’s, grants from American Beverage Association, personal fees from Walt Disney Company, personal fees from General Mills, personal fees from Calorie Control Council, other from International Life Sciences Institute, and other from Retrofit outside the submitted work. In addition, Dr. Hill has a patent Energy Gap issued. Dr. Blair reports grants from Technogym and grants from Coca-Cola. Dr. Peters has no competing interests to disclose.
Comment: same investigators as in previous example.
Conclusion: Soy isoflavones, although not as potent as risedronate [a drug used to treat osteoporosis], are effective bone-preserving agents in postmenopausal women regardless of their equol-producing status, and mixed isoflavones in their natural ratios are more effective than enriched genistein. [Equol is an isoflavone produced by intestinal bacteria]
Conflicts: CMW is on the scientific advisory board of Pharmavite [the maker of SoyJoy]. SB has a US patent on the use of conjugated isoflavones and the prevention of osteoporosis.
Conclusions: Agave inulin supplementation shifted the gastrointestinal microbiota composition and activity in healthy adults. Further investigation is warranted to determine whether the observed changes translate into health benefits in human populations. [Note: Agave inulin is a prebiotic, a fiber that can be metabolized by intestinal bacteria. The study reports enrichment of fecal Bifidobacterium (the good kind)].
Funding: Supported in part by Global Nutrition R&D, Ingredion Incorporated, Bridgewater, NJ. V Gourineni and CL Pelkman are employees of Global Nutrition R&D, Ingredion, Incorporated. [Ingredion manufactures prebiotic fibers]
As always, please send examples, particularly of industry-funded studies that do not produce results in the sponsor’s interest.
FoodNavigator-USA.com did a special edition “Where next for natural sweeteners?” “Special editions are collections of previously published articles on topics of interest to this newsletter’s food industry readers.
Why do this? The holy grail of food technology is to find a no-calorie sweetener that tastes as good as sugar, has no bitter aftertaste, and can be marketed as “natural” because it’s extracted from plants. Examples: Stevia extracted from leaves Monk fruit sweetener.
As with high fructose corn syrup, not everyone considers these sweeteners to be natural since they have to go through chemical processing steps.
Stevia is extracted from leaves with ethanol. Whether this process can be considered natural is currently under debate in Europe. Some European regulators prefer “extracted from a plant source.”
Here are some of the articles. For the complete collection, click here.
It might not have garnered as much publicity as stevia, but monk fruit (luo han guo) “has found a niche within the all-natural market but will hit mass market sooner than stevia in this space”, according to one leading supplier… Read
While traders “jumping in and out of the stevia marketplace” are disrupting prices and standards by peddling some “awful” extracts, high-quality stevia suppliers in it for the long-haul will ultimately prosper, according to one leading player… Read
While stevia is beginning to take off in a number of baked goods and snack categories in the US, Asian and South American markets, some other emerging ‘natural’ sweeteners look ready to take it on in the segment, claims Datamonitor… Read
The US alternative sweeteners market will grow by 3.3% a year to reach about $1.4bn in 2015 – and naturally positioned sweeteners like stevia and agave nectar will lead the way, claims a new report from market research organization Freedonia… Read
Thanks to alert reader Glen for pointing out that the FDA already has a regulation for Corn Sugar in the Code of Federal Regulations, under food substances Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS). CFR Section 184.1857 reads:
(a) corn sugar (C6H12O6, CAS Reg. No. 50-99-7), commonly called D-glucose or dextrose, is the chemical [alpha]-D-glucopyranose. It occurs as the anhydrous or the monohydrate form and is produced by the complete hydrolysis of corn starch with safe and suitable acids or enzymes, followed by refinement and crystallization from the resulting hydrolysate.
(b) The ingredient meets the specifications of the Food Chemicals Codex, 3d Ed. (1981), pp. 97-98 under the heading “Dextrose….”
(c) In accordance with 184.1(b)(1), the ingredient is used in food with no limitation other than current good manufacturing practice.
The Corn Refiners have just petitioned the FDA to be allowed to use the name Corn Sugar to apply to both glucose/dextrose and High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). But the existing definition seems to exclude HFCS. While HFCS is about half glucose, it is also about half fructose, and its manufacture from corn starch requires one more enzyme.
A reminder about sugar chemistry:
Glucose is the sugar in blood, and dextrose is the name given to glucose produced from corn but biochemically they are identical.
Fructose is the principal sugar in fruit. In fruit, it raises no issues because it is accompanied by nutrients and fiber.
Sucrose is table sugar. It is a double sugar, containing one part each of glucose (50%) and fructose (50%), chemically bound together. Enzymes in the intestine quickly and efficiently split sucrose into glucose and fructose, which are absorbed into the body as single sugars.
HFCS is made from corn starch. It contains roughly equivalent amounts of glucose (45 to 58%) and fructose (42 to 55%).
HFCS raises several issues, health and otherwise:
Quantity: the U.S. food supply provides to every American (all ages) about 60 pounds of sucrose and another 60 pounds of HFCS each year. This is way more than is good for health. Sugars of any kind provide calories but no nutrients.
Fructose: increasing evidence suggests that the metabolism of fructose–which differs from that of glucose–is associated with abnormalities. This means that it is best to reduce intake of fructose from table sugar as well as HFCS.
Farm subsidies: these go to large corn producers and have kept down the cost of HFCS relative to that of sucrose. The use of corn to make ethanol has raised the relative price of HFCS.
Genetic modification: Most corn grown in the United States is genetically modified to resist insects or herbicides.
From a health standpoint, it makes no difference whether the sweetener is sucrose or HFCS.
As for agave sugar as a substitute: it can have much higher concentrations of fructose than either sucrose or HFCS but its labels do not give percentages so you have no way to know how much.
Given all this, what’s your guess about what the FDA will decide?
I wish I could answer all of the questions that come into Feedback or Comments, but I cannot except occasionally. It’s a rainy day in New York and today seems to be one of those occasions.
Q: Does the caloric value of a food change when it’s cooked? In his latest book, “Catching Fire: How Cooking Made us Human,” Harvard Primatologist Richard Wrangham argues that cooking foods changes the available nutrient content and actually raises the available calories.
A: The rules of physical chemistry tell us that matter cannot be destroyed or created so the number of calories available in a food does not change with temperature. What can change is our ability to use (digest, absorb) the calories that are there as well as our desire to eat the foods. Cooking makes the calories in potato starch more available, for example, but has hardly any effect on the calories in meat. Both, in my opinion at least, taste better cooked. But cooked or not, the calorie differences will be small and unlikely to account significantly for weight change.
The nutrient situation is also complicated. Cooking destroys some nutrients (vitamin C is a good example) but makes others more available (beta-carotene). This is another reason why nutritionists are always advising variety in food intake. Variety applies to cooked and raw, as well.
Q. Can you please explain what benefits, if any, there are in using a “natural” sweetener, e.g. agave, over regular sugar? Are there any differences in terms of glucose/fructose makeup?
A. Agave is more expensive so you probably won’t use as much of it. Beyond that, it is higher in fructose than table sugar or honey. This is because agave contains inulin, a polymer of fructose, which must be hydrolyzed (broken down by heat or enzymes) to fructose to make the sweetener. It’s a processed sweetener requiring one hydrolysis step, requiring more processing than honey and less than high fructose corn syrup. It has the same number of calories as any other sugar, about 4 per gram or 16 per teaspoon.
Q. Also, you’ve written on a prior blog that fructose is “preferentially” metabolized into fat by the body. Can you explain in more detail what that means?
A. More and more evidence suggests that high amounts of fructose in the diet are not good for health. Fructose occurs naturally in fruit and nobody worries about that because fruits don’t contain all that much and the sugar is accompanies by vitamins, minerals, and fiber that are well worth eating. Honey, table sugar, and high fructose corn syrup (a misnomer) are about 50% each glucose and fructose. Glucose and fructose are metabolized differently and some investigators believe that excessive amounts of fructose stress metabolism in ways that encourage fat deposition. Eating a lot of sugars of any kind is not a great idea, which is why there are so many concerns about soft drinks these days.
A meta-analysis of prospective epidemiologic studiesshowed that there is no significant evidence for concludingthat dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased riskof CHD [coronary heart disease] or CVD [cardiovascular disease]. More data are needed to elucidate whether CVDrisks are likely to be influenced by the specific nutrientsused to replace saturated fat.
This is a review of previous epidemiological studies (not clinical trials). These fail to find a correlation between consumption of saturated fat and heart disease. This could be because there is no correlation or there is one but they can’t find it. My interpretation: even if there is one, it is likely to be small.
I am increasingly convinced that studies of single nutrients – sugar, fructose, saturated fat, or even omega-3s – will give complicated results when removed from their dietary context. People who eat foods containing a lot of sugars or animal fats eat and behave differently than people who do not, but not so differently that health differences will show up in the kinds of studies scientists are currently able to do.
Keep in mind: nutrition science is exceedingly difficult to do because there are so many factors in foods that affect health and so many behavioral, economic, and social factors that affect what people eat.
All of this is why I find nutrition so interesting but I can understand why others might find it frustrating.
This page is somewhat disorganized in that I now put occasional print, audio, and video interviews, which used to be separated, together by year. The section at the very end is called Controversies; it is where I post letters from critics. Scroll down to find whatever you are looking for. Media interviews and reviews for specific books are on the pages for that book. For old podcasts and videos of presentations, look under Appearances and scroll down for Past Appearances; in recent years, I’ve been putting them in the chronological list here.
Interviews, media appearances, and lectures (the ones for which I have links)
2024
Apr 12 Portside, the Lie that Made Food Conglomerates Rich, about ultra-processed foods. Video.
Jan 17 Podcast interview with Kathlyn Carney, Connecting the Dots. Lisen on Spotify or Apple Podcast
Jan 16 LA Times guide to Japanese subscription snack boxes (Video Part I). Part II is Jan 23 (same clip?)
Jan 14 The Franklin Institute’s Ben Franklin Birthday celebration. My talk comes first. Others are from Eric Oberhalter and honoree Wendell Berry. Use passcode $H81iALu
Jan 15 Two short answers to questions at FAO’s Regional Office in Santiago, Chile. Video 1: on what governments can do about childhood obesity. Video 2: on food choices in an unhealthy food environment.
July 5 Goldberg R. Food Citizenship: Food System Advocates in an Era of Distrust. Oxford University Press. Chapter 1. Health and Nutrition: Interview with Marion Nestle:1-13. Video online
July Carter J. Interview with Marion Nestle. In: Food for Thought: Feeding the People, Protecting the Planet. Aspenia [Aspen Institute Italia] 2015;67:101-105.
July Carter J. Intervista a Marion Nestle. Come cambiano le politiche alimentary. In: Fame Zero: Rinascimento agricolo. Aspenia [Revista di Aspen Institute Italia] 2015;69:198-202.
January 10 Video interview on Star Talk, co-hosts Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Eugene Mirman, with Anthony Bourdain, about the science of cooking (sort of).
May 21 Print interview with Revital Federbush for an Israeli women’s magazine, mostly about dairy foods I’m told (it’s in Hebrew, which I cannot read, alas).
November 19 Interview with Al Jazeera for a Fault Line program on “Fast food, fat profits: obesity in America (my 10 seconds starts at about minute 15).
September 16 Speech at Columbia University conference on Global Food Systems: Their Impact on Nutrition and Health for All on panel on Advanced Technologies, Food Safety and the Role of Local and Organic Food Production (video)
November 12 Panel discussion on the farm bill, Wagner School of Public Service, Puck Building (Lafayette at Houston), 2nd floor. Here is Wild Green Yonder’s take on it.
February 6, 2008 Biologique Foods radio, two podcast interviews with TJ Harrington in Bloomington, MN, one on food politics and the other on what’s in your food.
Interview with Laura Flinders (and Arun Gupta and Peter Hoffman), Grit TV. It’s on how to eat well without going broke, and starts with a Monty Python clip on Spam 11/26/08
September 5, 2007 Scientific American Podcast with Steve Mirsky. Because I am a Paulette Goddard professor at NYU, he sends along an article he wrote about Einstein’s experience with the gorgeous movie star.
NPR Science Friday, panel on the farm bill with Michael Pollan and Sandor Ellix Katz 8/10/07
Are you responsible for your own weight? Balko R. Pro: Absolutely. Government has no business interfering with what you eat. Brownell K, Nestle M. Con: Not if Blaming the Victim Is Just an Excuse to Let Industry off the Hook. Time June 7, 2004:113.