Consumers increasingly are weary of “drinking empty calories,” and are instead looking for less sugar and more functional benefits from their beverages – be it enhanced hydration, gut-health support, mood and mental health management or permissible indulgence from drinks that cut the calories but not the flavor.
The influence of non-GMO claims on purchase intent is declining, while claims such as “no artificial ingredients,” “natural flavors” and “no added sugar” are more impactful, Carla Saunders, senior marketing manager, Cargill, explained to FoodNavigator-USA.
We all need some sweet stories these days but many are also starting the New Year by cutting sugar consumption with aims of losing weight or eating healthier, so here’s some sweet news from the likes of Amyris and their No Compromise sweetener, SweeGen’s Bestevia launch, and Cargill’s EverSweet – all using Reb N, Reb M and other stevia leaf molecules, some extracting it from the stevia leaf itself, some replicating it via yeast and fermentation, to sweeten life up a bit.
In today’s Digest, some sweet solutions and stories of scaling up in a $10 billion global market for sweeteners, and more.