Of the three key trends driving the food and drinks market (health, convenience and indulgence), sweeteners deliver consumer benefits in the health arena. Sweeteners are integral to the development of many foods and drinks products marketed on the basis of their ingredients being altered to become “diet”, “light”, “sugar-reduced” or “sugar-free”. The high-potency sweeteners market is driven by the consumer attraction of consuming foods and drinks with reduced calorie contents while still delivering the full sensory experience of sugared products, particularly when evaluated in the context of the global rise in obesity.
Recent regulatory approvals for the stevia-derived sweetener rebaudioside-A (reb-A) and an extract of the Chinese fruit luo han guo have provided opportunities to manufacturer products that can be marketed on a ‘naturally sweetened’ platform. These developments are driving much of the innovation in new product development in countries where approvals have been granted.
Future development of other natural sweeteners, such as monatin, and innovative effective sweet taste enhancers will continue to shape new product development to ensure that consumer demands for naturally sweetened products are met.


Key features of this report

• Analysis of the key trends that are shaping the developments in high potency sweeteners, particularly in the context of growing obesity levels and obesity related diseases.
• Evaluation of new sweetener developments, including:
new synthetic, super-potent sweeteners;
newly approved natural high potency sweeteners;
sweet taste potentiators under development.
• Insight into new product development and innovations utilizing new natural potent sweeteners across multiple food categories.
• Analysis of the key technical innovations that will drive future developments within the sweetener sector, including sweetness potentiators, bitter blockers, next generation sweeteners


Scope of this report

• •Gain insight into the role of high intensity sweeteners within today’s food and drink industry
• Assess the innovation trends in both artificial and natural high-potency sweeteners
• Evaluate the suitability of the emerging natural sweeteners in terms of applications across different food and drinks categories.
• Understand which natural sweeteners have been given approval for use by country and learn about the legislative challenges facing the high-intensity sweeteners market
• Learn about the latest developments in sweetness potentiators and which industry players are at the forefront of innovation


Key Market Issues

• •Low calorie sweeteners account for approximately 10% of total sweeteners consumed globally. The rise in obesity levels globally and the consumer demand for healthier products will ensure that high-potency sweeteners will continue to be vital tools for effective new product development.
• •The majority of mainstream sweeteners currently in use in developed markets are synthetic. As such, they are subject to high, but disproportionate levels of consumer concerns with regards to their safety.
• Government legislation has increased scrutiny on the use of sweeteners in foods, although in the US in particular, acceptance of the GRAS-affirmation process by the FDA is streamlining the process of bringing innovative ingredients to market


Key findings from this report

• Calorie-free sweetener markets continue to grow steadily, demonstrating the strength and longevity of calorie control as a driver of consumer choice.
• Calorie free sweeteners account for around 10% global sweeteners consumption, measured in terms of sucrose equivalent sweetness.
• New developments of super-potent sweeteners will ensure that low-calorie sweetness is economically attractive for food manufacturers.
• Newly approved natural potent sweeteners are in response to consumer demands for the removal of artificial additives from foods and beverages.
• Current naturally sweetened new product developments are mainly focussed on sugar-reduction, rather than calorie-free, reflecting the technical limitations of the newly approved natural sweeteners.


Key questions answered

• How has the market for high-potency sweeteners developed during the last 30 years?
• What new potent sweeteners and sweetness potentiator technologies are under development and which ones have recently been commercialized?
• How have consumers embraced natural sweeteners in those markets where they have been approved?
• What has been the impact of natural sweeteners on the tabletop sweeteners market in the US and how is this driving innovation within the category?
 

The Future of High-Potency Sweeteners
Executive summary 8
Introduction 8
Market drivers 9
Innovations in high-potency sweeteners 10
NPD in natural high-potency sweeteners 11
Future outlook 12
Chapter 1 Introduction 14
Summary 14
Introduction 15
Development of the high-potency sweeteners market 15
High-potency sweetener profiles 16
Chapter 2 Market drivers 22
Summary 22
Introduction 23
Nutrition and health 24
Obesity 24
Diabetes 27
Taste 31
Convenience 32
Food safety and demand for “natural” 34
Regulation 38
EU 38
US 39
Other countries 41
Competitive innovation 42
Cost-of-sweetness 44
Future market drivers 45
Chapter 3 Innovations in high-potency sweeteners 48
Summary 48
Introduction 49
Artificial sweetener innovations 50
Neotame 50
Advantame 52
Natural sweetener innovations 53
Stevia 54
Luo han guo 56
Brazzein 57
Monatin 57
Sweetness potentiators 59
Future impact 61
Chapter 4 NPD in natural high-potency sweeteners 64
Summary 64
Introduction 65
Tabletop sweeteners 65
Developments in the US 65
Truvia 65
PureVia 66
Stevia in the Raw 67
SweetLeaf Sweetener 68
Sun Crystals 69
Developments in Europe 71
Naturally sweetened foods and drinks 74
Soft drinks 75
Dairy 82
Confectionery 85
Bakey and cereals 88
Other categories 91
Conclusions 94
Chapter 5 Future outlook 96
Summary 96
Introduction 97
Key technical innovations 97
Sweetness potentiators 97
Bitter blockers 98
Next generation sweeteners 98
Health as a future driver 99
Natural nutrition 100
The future potential of Reb-A 102
Market projections 102
Taste modification 104
The future potential of Monatin 105
“Blending” to manage costs 105
Category trends 106
Conclusions 107
Risk versus reward 107
Index 108
References 109
List of Figures
Figure 1.1: Global high-potency sweetener use (million tones sugar equivalent), 1975-2005 16
Figure 1.2: Relative sweetness to sucrose, stability and taste quality of high-potency sweeteners 17
Figure 2.3: Drivers of the high-potency sweeteners market 24
Figure 2.4: Percentage of clinically obese adults by US state (%), 2008 26
Figure 2.5: Prevalence of diabetes in OECD countries (% of population), 2009 28
Figure 2.6: The impact of taste on purchase decision in the US 32
Figure 2.7: Development of US portion sizes, 1980-2000 33
Figure 2.8: Internet anti-aspartame campaigns 34
Figure 2.9: Which is the best description to read on a label? (%), 2009 36
Figure 2.10: Natural vs. artificial sweeteners costs (S/kg sugar equivalent 44
Figure 3.11: Key technical characteristics of neotame and Advantame 50
Figure 3.12: Low/no sugar products sweetened with neotame 51
Figure 3.13: Chemical structure of stevia derived sweeteners 54
Figure 3.14: Luo han guo fruit 56
Figure 3.15: Chemical structure of monatin 58
Figure 4.16: Truvia tabletop sweetener from Cargill 66
Figure 4.17: PureVia tabletop sweetener from Whole Earth Sweetener 67
Figure 4.18: Stevia In the Raw from Cumberland Packing Corporation 68
Figure 4.19: SweetLeaf Sweetener from Wisdom Natural Brands 69
Figure 4.20: Sun Crystals from McNeil Nutritionals LLC 69
Figure 4.21: Recent launches of “light sugar” tabletop products in Europe 73
Figure 4.22: Category share of natural high-potency sweeteners product launches (%), 2006-200974
Figure 4.23: Trop 50 from PepsiCo 75
Figure 4.24: SoBe Lifewater from PepsiCo 76
Figure 4.25: G2 from PepsiCo, 76
Figure 4.26: Aquafina plus from PepsiCo 77
Figure 4.27: Odwalla and Sprite Green from The Coca-Cola Company 77
Figure 4.28: Crystal Light Pure Fitness Powder from Kraft Foods 78
Figure 4.29: Supplement Water from Frucor 79
Figure 4.30: B+ Placenta Drink from Morishita Jintan 79
Figure 4.31: TeaZazz Naturalz ready- to-drink green tea from TeaZazz LLC 80
Figure 4.32: Soft drinks mixes sweetened with luo han guo 81
Figure 4.33: Bliss drinkable yogurt and Yoco yogurt from Nestlé 83
Figure 4.34: YoCrunch from Breyers 83
Figure 4.35: Lightfull Satiety Smoothie from Lightfull Foods 83
Figure 4.36: Silk Chocolate Light soya milk from White Wave Foods 84
Figure 4.37: Noir 70% from Villars Maître Chocolatier S.A 85
Figure 4.38: Lotte-X Cube Gum from Lotte Confectionery Ltd 86
Figure 4.39: Puredent from the Madison Company 87
Figure 4.40: Teicalo Xylicrystal - Mint Nodoame from Sansei Foods 87
Figure 4.41: CulturedCare Probiotic Gum with BLIS K12 from CulturedCare Probiotics 88
Figure 4.42: Jasmine Rosquinas Integrais Light Ring Cookies from Jasmine Cormecio 89
Figure 4.43: Free Cereal from Alimentos Granix 90
Figure 4.44: Protein+ Cookie Bites from Kay’s Naturals 90
Figure 4.45: Delicias Capani Mermelada from Capani 91
Figure 4.46: Ottogi Half Tomato Ketchup from Ottogi Co, Ltd 92
Figure 4.47: Oshisha Cooking Sauce from S and B Foods 92
Figure 4.48: Well-Being Five Grain Snack from Barungil Ltd 93
Figure 4.49: Koikeya Potato Chips from Koikeya 93
Figure 5.50: Change in sweetener consumption by region (kcals/capita/day), 1970-2001 100
Figure 5.51: Consumer awareness of high intensity sweeteners (% ), 2009 103
Figure 5.52: Sweetener costs (average cents/kg), 2009 106
List of Tables
Table 2.1: Percentage of obese adults by country (%), 1995-2015 25
Table 2.2: Product claims in new product launches (%), 2008-2009 35
Table 2.3: The natural (excluding organic) food and drinks market in Europe and US, by key product categories, ($bn), 2000-2010 36
Table 2.4: Proposed uses levels of reb- A 41
Table 2.5: Sweetener type share of new product launches (%), 2006-2009 42
Table 2.6: Growth in stevia derived sweetener sales to US food and drinks manufacturers ($m), 2007-2009 43
Table 3.7: Approved categories and maximum use levels for neotame in EU 51
Table 4.8: Approximate cost per sachet of table top sweeteners ($), 2009 71
Table 4.9: Approved use levels for Reb-A in France 72
Table 4.10: Regional share of natural high-potency sweeteners product launches (%), 2006-2009 75
Table 5.11: Consumer ratings for sugar and artificial sweeteners, 2009 101