Prepared Foods is giving readers even more food and beverage content across six key topics, which we’re calling POWER TRENDS.

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.

The new varieties include two new Marvel inspired SKUs: tangy Lemon-Lime & Orange variety pack featuring Spider-Man and Ghost-Spider, and a sweet Strawberry-Mango Pop featuring Avengers characters.

The new Flavored Creamers include all-organic ingredients, and that means real dairy from cows that are raised without antibiotics, toxic pesticides, or added hormones.

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.

Originating from a portfolio of better-for-you frozen treats, new Halo Top Fruit Sorbets contain 260 calories per pint, and are vegan certified, gluten-free desserts that burst with flavor while having at least 50% less sugar than other fruit sorbets in the frozen aisle.

According to a recent Numerator Survey of Yerba Mate shoppers, 80% are concerned or very concerned with sugar content in their drinks and 69% of the current category leader's shoppers wish there were more unsweetened options available.

Prepared Foods’ David Feder interviews sweetener scientist and research chef Alexa Bosshardt, MS, RDN on the hot trending near-zero-calorie sweetener allulose. Could this natural sugar be the “Holy Grail” of 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.

GATSBY chocolate expanded its line of permissibly indulgent chocolate products with its brand-new Peanut Butter Cups and an additional flavor of its innovative chocolate bars, Sea Salt Extra Dark. GATSBY chocolate contains all the decadence of premium chocolate but with significantly less calories and sugar.