Sugar Reduction

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The past decade has seen the rise of natural, botanical sweeteners of all types and abilities flooding the market. These plant-derived sweeteners range from zero-calorie HIS products such as stevia and monkfruit to monosaccharides like unrefined plant sugars which offer only a slight reduction in calories but bring other advantages to the table. The challenge for product formulators is to meet the demand for products with less sugar but make them as indistinguishable as possible from their full-sugar counterparts.

Sugar reduction—applying the term as a generic for full-calorie sweeteners—remains one of the top concerns among consumers, yet the lack of willingness to sacrifice flavor and function remains a challenge to product developers.

With only a couple of exceptions, lower-and zero-calorie sugar alternatives have failed to live up to the multifaceted functionality and flavor of sucrose and its components, glucose and fructose. In fact, great taste remains one of the primary obstacles to overcome with the range of sugar alternatives cropping up in the marketplace. A close second, of course, is performance in a formulation.

For the manufacturing community, a fundamental challenge resides in the fact that many high-intensity sweeteners feature undesirable characteristics. Most of the components contain off-notes, which often unbalance flavor, especially if a product developer is also attempting to add active substances to increase health attributes.

An internationally patent protected breakthrough in stevia technology, this addition expands Tate & Lyle’s ability to help customers solve stevia solubility issues in food and beverages and helps deliver on consumer demand for healthier and tastier, sugar and calorie reduced products. 

Representing a significant leap forward in plant-based formulation, Cargill will showcase Go!Drop, a   smart fat solution developed by CUBIQ FOODS.

An excellent source of protein and billions of probiotics, Chobani® Zero Sugar* Drinks are made using natural fermentation, where live and active yogurt cultures and probiotics eat the sugars found in milk.

FoodTech start-up CarobWay™, Ltd. will introduce its clean-label, low glycemic index (GI) sweetener at IFT FIRST 2023 in Chicago. The company will demonstrate the new sweetener in gummy and energy bar prototypes to illustrate the new sweetener's capabilities.

Tate & Lyle's presence at the IFT FIRST Conference will be marked by several exciting initiatives, reflecting the company's commitment to scientific expertise and innovative ingredient solutions. 

For a variety of reasons, consumers have expanded the scope of their demand for products featuring low or no sugar content. In response, food and beverage formulators have invested in research and development to uncover further innovative approaches to ingredient technologies. In tandem with the consumer and industry momentum in the sugar reduction category, additional market forces may contribute to future investment in sugar reduction product development. Prices of raw sugar and cocoa touched 10-year and seven-year highs respectively in April 2023, The Smart Cube reports, due to tight supply and rising demand for both commodities.