The American shift toward healthier eating continues to focus on added sugars, specifically sucrose, fructose, glucose and other full-calorie mono-and disaccharides. According to Nielsen IQ data compiled exclusively for a 2021 presentation by the International Dairy Deli Bakery Association, two-thirds of US consumers (67%) prioritize “avoiding negatives” in choosing healthier food products, with “low sugar” and “no added sugar” claims topping the list.

The current Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends “limiting calories from added sugars to less than 10 percent of total calories per day.” And while there are no FDA limits currently imposed on added sugars, since 2021, labels must clearly state them in detail, in both gram amounts per serving and as a percent Daily Value.

This brings to light the fact that there a number of dairy products on the market that are considered to be high in sugar, recognized as having more than 2.5g per serving. Some main items in that high-sugar category, besides confections, are yogurts, creams/non-dairy creamers, and beverages.

Creating lower-sugar alternatives to high-sugar dairy products has becomes especially important considering that, according to the CDC’s 2022 National Diabetes Statistics Report, some 130 million Americans—around one-third of the total population—have diabetes or pre-diabetes, and more than 10% don’t even know it. But the dairy industry has not been asleep at the wheel when it comes to this crisis.

Low/No Sugar Growth

The IDDBA has reported that there is noted growth in diabetes-related trends in dairy. The group, citing data from Circana Integrated Fresh Market Advantage, noted that formulating with alternative sweetening ingredients has shown staggering growth. Based on attributes stated on packaging and reflective as last as August 2023, products containing monkfruit rose 1,185% over the past four years and are up 5% so far this year.

Dairy products containing erythritol are up 757% in the same time period and 150% so far this year. Stevia-containing dairy is up 90%since 2019 and 38% this year. Overall, dairy products with labels claiming them free from artificial sweeteners rose 39% in that time and 17% for the year.

Allulose, an FDA-approved naturally occurring sweetener found in figs, raisins, jackfruit, maple syrup, and molasses and derived commercially from wheat, corn, and beets is rapidly making inroads into dairy. An epi-isomer of fructose, allulose functions in most formulations as a single drop-in replacer for caloric sugars, needing no maskers or bulkers and having a flavor profile similar to fructose but with 1/20^th-1/10^th of the calories. Use of allulose in yogurt alone has risen almost 150% in the past year according to the aforementioned Nielsen IQ survey.

Sugar-lowering Strategies

Through work and research by the IDDBA, is clear that formulation approaches in general do not require a “one size fits all” for today’s consumer. How and why consumers choose sugar-sweetened, naturally sweetened, or artificially sweetened products are based on what they view are the healthiest solutions for themselves and their family. They are neither “all in” on sugar, nor natural or artificial sweeteners; they instead are drawn more to a combination of sugar-reduction strategies.

From a product innovation perspective, this is an imperative consideration for product developers, as it opens the door to more creative sugar-reduction strategies. An article “Sugar Reduction in Dairy Food,” published in October, 2020 in the food science and technology journal Foods broke down the common sweeteners and their advantages for use in dairy product formulation. The study used flavored milk in its comparisons.

Erythritol is commonly used as a bulker in combination with other, high-intensity sweeteners. It does not promote tooth decay and helps stabilize products against microbial flourishment. With only around 1kcal/g, it can significantly reduce caloric sweeteners, but it is a polyol and although better tolerated than other polyols, in large amounts can cause g.i. distress.

Stevia is one of the most popular sugar replacers today. In its rebaudioside-M form, it has little of the off flavors other rebaudiosides have, but its sweetness is prominent and it is often used in tandem with erythritol or even caloric sweeteners. It has both a long delay and a long linger, but dairy products can mitigate some of these effects. Stevia is favored as a partial sugar reducer in chocolate milk and other chocolate dairy products. Monkfruit has properties similar to stevia, and does not have a significant aftertaste. It, too, is helpful in reducing sugar in chocolate milk and similar dairy beverages.

Allulose is among the newest replacers of nutritive sweeteners on the market and has thus far shown the most promise for use in dairy products. While often presented as having 70% of sucrose’s sweetness, it has a longer onset to full sweetness and is also said to enhance flavors of fruits, chocolate, and vanilla. This is especially helpful for makers of chocolate dairy products, which often rely on higher amounts of sugar to balance the bitterness from cocoa. As previously noted, it delivers only 0.2-0.4kcals/g compared to 4.0kcals/g for sucrose, glucose, and fructose.

Allulose has demonstrated an ability to act as a 1:1 replacement for sucrose in dairy products, especially full-fat dairy as it takes advantage of fats capacity as a flavor carrier. It is especially suitable for ice cream, yogurts, drinkable yogurts, coffee creamers and coffee+dairy drinks, puddings, and sweetened cheese confections. With zero aftertaste, no effect on insulin, high satiety, no g.i. effects, and no promotion of tooth decay, it will likely become increasingly popular in dairy desserts and other dairy foods and beverages.

Lowering Techniques

The Foods study included other methods of sugar reduction, not all of them mechanical. Lactose hydrolysis is a method used only in milk, specifically to create lactose-free milk and milk-based products. By breaking up the disaccharide milk sugar lactose into its monosaccharide glucose and galactose components, the result is still 4kcal/g sugars, but their sweetness is actually enhanced, allowing for a possible slight reduction in total sugars.

Ultra- and nanofiltration have become popular methods of removing lactose from milk while leaving behind the proteins and fats that give milk flavor and health benefits. It also removes other impurities and significantly lowers the mineral content. Calcium can be reintroduced, but other minerals that might interact with the flavor will be absent. The result is said to be a cleaner—and, to some consumers, sweeter—end product.

Finally, simply gradually lowering the amount of sugar in products has been shown to be a proven method for some formulations, with consumers accepting reductions done over time of as much as 25-30%. This method can have high risk, however, in that altering the flavor profile of a favored product by too great a degree can drive away consumers. Still, the method has proven popular for slightly lowering calories from sugar.

Understanding consumer behavior and trends is vital when developing new products. Today’s savvy consumer, the ever-changing marketplace, and rapid speed of technology and innovation make it a must, however, especially when reducing familiar sweetness in comfort foods such as dairy.

Whitney Atkins is a vice-president of the International Dairy Deli Bakery Association (IDDBA), headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, where she lives with her teenage son. She has worked for concerns as diverse as The Kroger Co. and the municipal government of the city of San Antonio. Atkins also facilitates courses for Cornell University and volunteers as a consultant for a faith-based community grocery project which is work that feeds her soul. She can be reached at watkins@iddba.org.

A Good Fake

The disaccharide sweetener trehalose is an artificially made sweetener constructed from two molecules of glucose. Discovered in the 1830s in fungi, and found in sunflower seeds and algae, it became available as a GRAS sweetener for food and beverage products in the early 2000s. It is gaining use as an option in frozen dairy products, such as ice cream, because it lowers the freezing point of foods, and is highly stable to heat and acidic environments. These qualities make it suitable for pasteurized dairy and fermented dairy products. It is less soluble in formulations compared to sucrose unless heated to above 175°F, but it also has demonstrated some possible health and food safety abilities, although more research is needed. As a reducer, it only cuts out 10% of the calories of sucrose, fructose, or glucose, but it also has flavor enhancement and natural antioxidant capacity.

No Substitute Required

While alternative sweeteners have been the traditional turn-to solutions to lower sugar, other means are gaining popularity. One new method involves using natural processes to alter the nutritive sweeteners in products. Better Juice, Ltd. is an Israeli company that developed technology that safely and naturally converts a portion of the sugars in fruit juices into healthful fibers with no impact on flavor and only a slight change in texture. Although the system has yet to be used on dairy beverages, technology such as this could be used in conjunction with existing tech, such as lactose hydrolysis, which uses natural enzymes to convert the milk sugar into its glucose and galactose constituents.