Speaker:
Jim Painter, PHD, RD
Professor
University of Texas, Houston

Since the 1960s sugar has been associated with many chronic diseases, however, it was so overshadowed by the demonization of fat, food innovation has not prioritized reducing added sugars... until today. 

Now with reports of the sugar industry having quietly funded Harvard research in the ‘60s to shift blame from sugar onto fat as the cause of chronic disease, the momentum for the case to find long-term alternatives to added sugar is only gaining. 

With the FDA’s requirement to list added sugar on the nutrition facts panel scheduled to take effect in little over a year, product innovators are faced with the daunting task of finding replacements for added sugars. 

Unlike the low fat fad, this trend is likely to last and have far reaching impacts on the food industry because the trifecta of modern science, consumer perception, and government guidelines all agree that added sugar is a major contributor to chronic diseases. Dr. Painter will address how product innovators can proactively respond to reduce added sugar now and in the future.

Learn more about the 2017 Prepared Foods New Products Conference.