In the United States, specifically, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020-2025 call for consumers to “limit foods and beverages higher in added sugars” to less than 10% of daily calories. Research shows the top sources of added sugars in the US diet include sugar-sweetened beverages, desserts and sweet snacks, sweetened coffee and tea, and candy.

Food and beverage brands get two more tools for their sugar reduction toolkits as Conagen announced the successful scale-up production of two new high-intensity sweeteners, thaumatin I and thaumatin II. The development will expand commercial partner Sweegen’s robust sugar reduction solutions of zero-sugar natural sweeteners.

As pressure to deliver products with reduced sugar mounts, Cargill continues to sweeten its stevia product offerings with widespread commercial availability of its advanced EverSweet™ + ClearFlo™ technology. The new sweetener system brings together the company’s premier stevia sweetener with a natural flavor, a combination that provides wide-ranging benefits that include flavor modification, improved solubility and stability in formulations, and faster dissolution.

Clinical psychologist and author Anne Wilson Schaef is known for the quote, “Good health is not something we can buy. However, it can be an extremely valuable savings account.” Today, consumers are filling their “savings accounts” through various functional foods and beverages, while still prioritizing taste.