Sugar discount is a top-of-mind matter for each US customers and meals and beverage firms.
At Innova Market Insights, we’ve seen great client angle shifts involving sugar. It could be a candy matter however customers have soured on sugar of their diets and have more and more related sugar discount with well being and wellness. Trade has responded with reduced-sugar merchandise throughout quite a few meals and beverage classes. In tandem, trade suppliers have developed new sweeteners, embraced new sweetener manufacturing applied sciences, and launched combos of sweeteners that higher replicate conventional sugar’s sensory features.
Tendencies set the Stage
At Innova, we monitor client tendencies, meals and beverage tendencies, and we use a top-down, bottom-up method to raised perceive pattern drivers. In preparation for annual pattern predictions, we mix the macro context of international megatrends, influence of adjusting existence and attitudes, client angle and habits analysis, and class tendencies.
As we speak’s international macro context is unsure and difficult. Shoppers worldwide and within the US are anxious about the whole lot from private security to non-public funds (together with reasonably priced housing). For that matter, customers try for a wholesome, nutritious weight loss plan at an reasonably priced worth. On the constructive facet, advances in expertise have led to revolutionary ingredient options and are empowering customers in lots of features of their lives.
Innova pattern surveys present that buyers wish to be self-sufficient and in management. They search good worth by merchandise which are nutritionally and/or functionally superior. Put up-pandemic, they specific persevering with curiosity in more healthy existence. In our surveys, US customers say they wish to be their finest mentally and bodily, forestall or right in poor health well being, and eat healthily.
Three of Innova’s Prime 10 Tendencies 2025 are notably related for sweeteners and sugar discount. The main pattern, “Substances and Past,” emphasizes the necessity to elevate product high quality past the particular components. For customers, well being advantages comparable to sugar discount are robust indicators of high quality and sweeteners themselves can also replicate high quality.
Our second prime pattern, “Precision Wellness,” contains private weight administration, the main bodily well being concern for customers. Sugar discount is a key weight administration technique for customers. Our fifth prime pattern, “Rethinking Vegetation,” captures the continued love affair with plant-based meals and components—together with sweeteners comparable to stevia and monk fruit.
Well being Attitudes Affect Sweeteners
Innova’s client analysis finds customers serious about meals and beverage merchandise which are each handy and wholesome. Amongst their main well being concerns are (1) wishes to keep away from all unhealthy components (together with sugar) and, particularly, (2) methods to cut back sugar consumption.
Thus, the market presents alternatives—throughout all classes—for brand new and reformulated merchandise with next-generation sweeteners that confer a sugar-like style profile with decreased sugar content material.
US customers additionally need (and little doubt, count on) indulgences to style good. Moreover, they are saying that indulgent meals may very well be more healthy if they’d extra pure components and fewer synthetic components in addition to unfavorable ones, comparable to sugar. This need for pure—and never synthetic—is driving producers and suppliers alike to cut back sugar and improve use of pure sugar substitute choices.
Sweetener Innovation
In comfortable drinks and sports activities diet, a well-liked formulation technique combines synthetic sweeteners sucralose and acesulfame-Okay. Moreover, demand is rising for pure alternate options, comparable to stevia, monk fruit, and allulose. These sweeteners are also extensively utilized in sports activities diet and comfortable drinks, adopted by confectionery and dairy.
Stevia is a naturally derived sweetener that has gained vital recognition. It is typically utilized in mixture with different sweeteners to reinforce style and cut back bitterness. Monk fruit and monk fruit extract have a excessive sweetness depth and likewise are gaining traction as pure, wholesome sugar alternate options.
The uncommon sugar, allulose, is gaining recognition as a pure and low-calorie sweetener. Its style profile intently resembles sugar and that makes it a fascinating possibility for producers. Manufacturing utilizing precision fermentation has elevated the provision of allulose, though excessive worth generally is a barrier for some producers.
Sugar Discount Meals and Beverage Tendencies
New US and Canadian meals and beverage launches with sugar-related claims remained steady between 2022 and 2024. These claims are on-pack references to “sugar-free,” “low sugar,” “decreased sugar,” and “no added sugar.” Innova studied all sugar-related claims throughout a current five-year interval and observed that “sugar-free” product launches elevated—whereas merchandise with “decreased sugar” decreased as a share of complete launches.
Trying extra particularly at product classes, Sugar-related claims grew most inside comfortable drinks and sports activities diet merchandise between 2020 and 2024. This displays innovation in sweeteners and sweetener combos that enhance beverage style and different sensory options. In different classes—all of that are smaller than comfortable drinks and sports activities diet—launches involving sugar-related claims are regular to declining.
Drinks are a major sugar discount battleground. Mushy drinks and vitality drinks, together with sports activities diet drinks, present vital exercise and development. Dairy various drinks are one other beverage format the place customers are shifting towards sugar-free choices. Elsewhere, “no added sugar” is gaining traction because the trending declare in alcoholic and alcohol-free drinks.
Key sweeteners in sugar-reduced drinks embrace non-nutritive excessive depth sweeteners acesulfame Okay and sucralose, the sugar alcohol erythritol, the pure sweetener stevia, and soluble fiber. All play key roles in decreasing sugar whereas sustaining taste and performance.
Indulgent subcategories—together with candy bakery meals, confections, desserts, ice lotions, and fruit-based snacks—are also pure sugar discount targets. That’s as a result of this stuff historically are sweetened with sugar and different nutritive sweeteners. Not too long ago, innovation in candy indulgences included a keto-friendly declare to enchantment to adherents of the favored weight loss plan. Nonetheless, the variety of keto launches has been dropping together with the variety of keto weight loss plan followers since 2022.
Throughout the previous a number of years, probably the most generally used sweeteners in indulgent subcategories are erythritol, different sugar alcohols, and stevia. The elevated availability and use of allulose has begun to erode that of sugar alcohols, and a few merchandise even carry the declare, “no sugar alcohols.”
Sugar discount is also gaining traction in savory classes together with breads, sauces, prepared meals and facet dishes. These classes can capitalize on the growing client need for sugar-free choices throughout the meals and beverage merchandise they buy. Sugar-related claims have turn out to be an anticipated entry on the rising listing of must-have claims for a wholesome product picture.
Prepared meals and facet dishes are notably outstanding and supply customers handy, more healthy meal choices. Pasta sauces, cooking sauces, and desk sauces typically are reformulated with a decreased sugar content material and provides customers extra choices to get pleasure from their favourite dishes with out sacrificing taste or well being. BBQ and Asian sauces are also a simple goal for sugar discount as a result of conventional recipes comprise sugar, honey, syrup, or different caloric sweeteners. In these functions, we discover sucralose most frequently used whereas allulose use will increase.
Not surprisingly, we are also monitoring launches of sugar-reduced candy spreads—together with nut spreads and chocolate spreads. These merchandise marry indulgence with well being in a handy format that permits customers to get pleasure from on a regular basis treats. In recent times, a number of sweeteners right here stand out—together with erythritol, sucralose, and the naturally derived sweeteners stevia and monk fruit.
What’s Subsequent?
America’ sugar discount pattern is poised to proceed properly past 2025. Client curiosity and acceptance drive the pattern and Innova Market Insights expects meals and beverage processors to reply with extra revolutionary merchandise and techniques.
We count on extra exercise within the dynamic and thrilling panorama of sugar-free and sugar-reduced choices. Such components as (1) use of GLP-1 weight reduction medication, (2) client need for pure merchandise, and (3) sentiment in opposition to ultra-processed meals all create an much more welcoming setting for sweeteners (particularly these which are pure) to pave the way in which for a sweeter and more healthy future.
