Consumers giving organic sweeteners “natural halo”

Advertising products such as carbonated drinks as ‘sugar free’ no longer carries the marketing appeal it used to.

That’s according to Tan Heng Hong, the Associate Principal of Food & Drink at Mintel, the global marketing research and intelligence agency.

Writing in the latest edition of Supermarket News, Tan Heng Hong has pointed to a shift in consumer attitudes that shows ‘sugar-free’ is not always seen as a product benefit, and doesn’t have the same lure it used to on the shelves. This, the expert explained, is partly due to the scepticism now attached to artificial sweeteners.

But one category of sweetener that is gaining traction, according to the article, is products with sugars from natural sources, such as pure Canadian maple syrup.

Tan Heng Hong said:

“What’s changing… is how sweetness is delivered. Added sugars from natural sources, such as fruit juice and honey, benefit from a ‘natural halo’, with consumers associating them with cleaner taste and simpler formulations than artificial sweeteners.”

The news comes as a Mumbai-based nutritionist, Niti Desai, warns that India has a sugar problem. Desai, who is also the Vice President of the Association of Diabetes Educators, told the Signal Brief podcast that Indians are routinely passing the World Health Organisation recommended limit of 25g or less of white sugar per day. Desai pointed to studies that Indians’ intake tends to be in the 45g to 55g range.

Research has shown that maple syrup results in a lower increase in blood sugar levels than white sugar, brown-rice syrup or corn syrup.