Currently browsing posts about: Sugars

A reader, Betsy Keller, sent me this one.  Her question: Who funded this?  Take a guess!

The study: The Sweet Tooth Trial: A Parallel Randomized Controlled Trial Investigating the Effects of A 6-Month Low, Regular, or High Dietary Sweet Taste Exposure on Sweet Taste Liking, and Various Outcomes Related to Food Intake and Weight Status. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2026; 123 (1): 101073 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2025.09.041

Objectives: to assess the effects of a 6-mo low, regular, and high dietary sweet taste exposure on liking for sweet taste.

With the new dietary guidelines taking such a strong stance on minimizing sugar intake, the sugar industry has its damage-control work cut out.

Lisa Sutherland, my co-author on our forthcoming (September 2026) Sugar Coated: Unboxing the Hidden Forces Shaping America’s Favorite Breakfast. Food, sent this link to information sent out to dietitian subscribers to Today’s Dietitian.

When it comes to added sugars, on one hand the public is hearing they should stop eating sugar entirely, on the other, they’re hearing that real sugar is healthier than other forms of added sugars and sweeteners. The fact is that added sugars currently make up around 13% of Americans total calories – the lowest amount in 40 years and close to the lowest amount ever recorded (11% in 1909). The steep decline in added sugars intake over the past 25 years has coincided with rising rates of childhood obesity and chronic disease – yet most people are unaware of these data and continue to demonize and place a significant amount of blame on real sugar for these conditions.

It then goes on to discuss all this under the following headings:

• Real Sugar plays a key role in healthy balanced diets
• Real Sugar is irreplaceable as a single ingredient
• Facts over fear

And it comes with great charts.  My favorite, too big to reproduce here, is titled “Sugar is a partner in nutrient delivery.”  This points out that high-fiber cereals, fruit yogurs, canned vegetables, salad dressings, peanut butter, and pre-packaged snacks all are more enjoyable to eat and have longer shelf-life with some sugar tossed in.

Alert to readers: Amazon.com displays listings for several more workbooks, study guides, and cookbooks purportedly based on my book, What to Eat Now (see previous post on this).  I did not write any of them.  Caveat emptor!

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Thanks to Erin Croom from Small Bites Adventure Club! for sending this one.

• The Study: The Sweet Tooth Trial: A Parallel Randomized Controlled Trial Investigating the Effects of A 6-Month Low, Regular, or High Dietary Sweet Taste Exposure on Sweet Taste Liking, and Various Outcomes Related to Food Intake and Weight Status. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Available online 27 November 2025, 101073. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajcnut.2025.09.041
• Methods: The investigators gave 180 healthy adults dietary advice plus about half their calories from meals containing 7%, 35%, or 80% food and beverages sweetened with sugars or artificial sweeteners.
• Results: no differences in sweet taste liking or perception or sweet food choice.
• Conclusions: “In the current trial, altering exposure to sweet-tasting foods did not change sweet taste liking, nor other outcomes. These results do not support public health advice to reduce exposure to sweet-tasting foods, independent of other relevant factors such as energy density and food form.“
• Funding: “The sweet tooth project…also received private contributions from: American Beverage Association, Apura Ingredients, Arla Foods amba, Cargill R&D Centre Europe BVBA, Cosun Nutrition Center, DSM-Firmenich, International Sweeteners Association, SinoSweet Co., Ltd., and Unilever Foods Innovation Centre Wageningen.”
• Conflict of interest: “MM has previously received research funding from Royal Cosun (sugar beet refinery) and Sensus (inulin producer) and has received expenses from ILSI Europe. MB has received research funding from Horizon 2020 SWEET…KMA has previously received research funding from the International Sweeteners Association, BE, and has current funding from The Coca Cola Company, US, and Ajinomoto Health and Nutrition North America Inc. US; KMA has received speaker’s expenses from EatWell Global and PepsiCo. KdG is a member of the Global Nutrition Advisory Board of Mars company. KdG has received travel, hotel, and speaker renumeration from the International Sweeteners Association, and received speaker expenses from ILSI North America.”

Comment: The point of all this was to demonstrate that public health recommendations to reduce sugar intake in order to reduce the taste for sugar won’t do any good, so why bother.  To restate the obvious: sugars have calories but no nutrients, and taking in a lot of them at once—as in soft drinks—messes up metabolism and is best avoided.  Eating less of sugary foods and drinks is always a good idea.  But, as I am always pointing out, eating less is bad for business.  Hence this study.

Halloween, no matter its origins and promotion of costumes, means only one thing to the candy industry: sales.

And plenty of detailed research helps that along.

America’s Halloween Sweet Tooth: Instacart’s 2025 Candy & Decor Trends: Who loads up on candy the most? Since Utah’s first full year on the Instacart platform, Utah has once again decisively claimed the crown, buying candy 50% more often than the national average in October 2024.

And if you ever wondered which candies sell best?

Selling Halloween candy

• Halloween scare: Candy costs are soaring: Trick-or-treaters may get fewer sweets this year as high cocoa prices haunt the candy aisle.
• Halloween candy sales soar: Trends & treats driving growth:  Halloween is no longer just for kids, it’s a confectionery goldmine… Read more
• Confectionery market to hit $278bn by 2032 as candy sales surge: The confectionery market is entering a new growth phase, driven by evolving consumer preferences, seasonal demand, and innovation in non-chocolate formats… Read more
• No trick: Halloween 2025 candy sales to hit record highs: After Summerween comes the real deal: Halloween, which expects to see recording spending… Read more

Enjoy!

I am indebted to Melissa Fuster at Tulane University (congratulations on achieving tenure!) and Megan Knapp of Xavier University of Louisiana for telling me about this one.

The USDA has just approved a waiver for the State of Louisiana to exclude soft drinks, energy drinks, and candy from allowable purchases with SNAP benefits.

Check the definition of  excluded soft drinks [my emphasis]:

“Soft drinks” are defined as any carbonated nonalcoholic beverage containing high fructose corn syrup or artificial sweeteners.

By this definition, soft drinks made with cane or beet sugar are fully allowed to be purchased using SNAP benefits.

What is the difference between high fructose corn syrup and cane or beet sugar?  Not much.  All are mixtures of glucose and fructose and have the same number of calories.

So why the distinction?

Guess which state is the #2 producer of cane sugar.

As I said, nutritionally hilarious (see my clip in John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight on this point).

The President of the United States says Coke should switch from high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) to cane sugar.

My response: this is nutritionally hilarious.

• HFCS is glucose and fructose separated in liquid form.
• Cane sugar (sucrose) is glucose and fructose bonded, but quickly split (so is beet sugar, but the President is not mentioning it).
• Both HFCS and cane sugar are sugar(s).  Both provide about 4 calories per gram.
• There may be people who can taste the difference, but when Coke found that nobody could tell the difference, it switched from sucrose to HFCS.

I’ve written about this previously, most recently in 2014: HFCS politics, continued. Endlessly.

Yes, HFCS is derived from genetically modified corn, but that doesn’t change the basic biochemistry, taste, or health effect.

Note: A 12-ounce Coke has 39 grams of either one.  It doesn’t matter which sugar is used; it’s too much to be consumed at one time.

At the time Coke switched to HFCS, it was much cheaper.  It is still cheapter but less so (because half of corn production is used to produce ethanol).

It will cost Coke more to replace HFCS with cane sugar or even beet sugar (which is identical to cane sugar).  So Coke is not exactly committing to doing this.

As Reuters reports, the switch would raise prices for consumers and be tough on US farmers too.

On this issue, I have to agree for once with the Corn Refiners Association.

This is one of those issues it will be enormous fun to watch.  Stay tuned.

Why alas?  I love maple syrup.

But the Quebec Maple Syrup Producers association apparently has decided that it needs to boost sales by promoting maple syrup as a superfood.

Sigh.

The article in the New York Times is titled: “A Scientist Is Paid to Study Maple Syrup. He’s Also Paid to Promote It.”

The subtitle: “Funded by the maple industry, a researcher has exaggerated his findings to suggest that syrup could help prevent serious diseases.”

For more than a decade, Navindra Seeram, a biomedical researcher, has praised maple syrup, calling it a “hero ingredient” and “champion food” that could have wide-ranging health benefits…As he straddles the realms of scientific inquiry and promotion, he has distorted the real-world implications of his findings and exaggerated health benefits…In videos and press releases, he has suggested that consuming maple syrup may help stave off diseases including cancer, Alzheimer’s and diabetes.

The article continues…

At the University of Rhode Island, where he worked until last year, Dr. Seeram oversaw projects that were awarded $2.6 million in U.S. government funding, including a grant explicitly intended to increase maple syrup sales. That promotional work produced a stream of social media posts like, “Maple Syrup’s Benefits: Anti-Cancer, Anti-Oxidant, Anti-Inflammatory.”

Oh how I wish.

As for who pays for this,

The Quebec Maple Syrup Producers, an industry association that markets and regulates most of the world’s maple syrup, has long funded Dr. Seeram’s work. The association and the Canadian government have together provided at least $2.8 million for his research, according to a 2019 grant applicatio

Maple syrup is just a form of sugar, and mostly sucrose at that.  It does have a few minerals in small amounts, along with its fabulously delicious flavoring ingredients.

But a nutritional powerhouse?  Alas, no.

I don’t say much about candy on this site, mainly because it’s best consumed in small amounts, if at all.

Candy sellers, however, have a very different view.  Their job is to sell candy, and the more the better (never mind consequences).

I’m always interested to see what they say and do to increase sales, especially when they try to make candy seem healthier (oops).

• What ‘unlikely’ social factors are shaping the candy market?  Surprising reasons like cultural changes and social shifts are transforming confectionery consumption habits. Here’s what you need to know… Read more  [Would you believe fewer marriages and an older population?]
• Freeze-dried sweets boosted by TikTok as new confectionery craze: Bursting onto our shelves and socials with eclectic flavours and novel textures, freeze-dried candies are set to be the coolest confectionery trend of 2024…. Read more
• How gifting brings together top confectionery trends: Sweet-treat gift-giving creates engagement and brand loyalty, so it’s no wonder many global brands are tapping into the purchasing driver…. Read more
• Has the world’s first ‘super candy’ arrived?  Protein candy aims to revolutionize confectionery with high-protein treats… Read more  [Oh great; candy as a superfood]
• Scientists develop better-for-you chocolate, and it’s better for the planet:  Healthier and more sustainable chocolate? While it sounds almost too good to be true, that’s exactly what scientists have created in Switzerland…. Read more  [Anything to get you to eat more chocolate and not feel guilty]
• The race to replace red no 3: Is your brand ready?Colour manufacturers advise confectioners on top considerations when replacing soon-to-be-banned synthetic food dye… Read more  [This will be a big issue, given RFK Jr’s concerns about artificial food dyes] 
• Governor Patrick Morrisey Signs Food Dye Legislation Into Law: Charleston, W.Va. – Today, Governor Patrick Morrisey signed House Bill 2354 into law, which prohibits certain harmful food dyes in school lunches and unhealthy food items for sale in West Virginia. [The dyes are red 3 and 40, yellow 5 and 6, blue 1 and 2, and green 3].
• How Prevalent Are Dyes in Foods? We Crunched the Numbers. RFK Jr. and consumer advocates want to rid Americans’ diets of artificial colors; switching to natural alternatives can be costly.   [Candy will get hit hardest]