The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines and the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) new Nutrition Facts label, in conjunction with continued consumer demand for transparency, less sugar and clean-label products, have resulted in an increased demand for natural, non-caloric, high-intensity sweeteners (HIS), like stevia, monk fruit and erythritol. These ingredients now are garnering more attention from beverage-makers looking to reduce or eliminate sugar in their products.
“Attempts to reduce sugar consumption have been the trend in recent years,” explains Akshay Kumar Anugu, associate at Ingredion Inc., Westchester, Ill. “Several countries are not only educating citizens about their consumption of caloric-sweetened food products, but are also providing disincentives through regulations, taxes and prohibitions. Growing natural and organic trends have also prompted some beverage manufacturers to focus their product development efforts toward clean-label and/or natural sweeteners for replacing added sugars. These trends have opened a tailor-made gap for high-intensity natural sweeteners such as stevia and monk fruit extracts across the world.”