With health and wellness now a major driver in the beverage industry, sweeteners continue to be in demand, not only to provide reduced-calorie options, but also to meet consumers’ health and lifestyle needs. A worldwide weight reduction effort is currently stimulating the US$3.5 billion global artificial sweeteners market, which is growing at an annual compound growth rate of 3.7 percent, according to Global Industry Analysts. At the same time,
growing interest in low glycemic index in European markets as well as a demand for natural ingredients throughout the globe is further fueling opportunities for sweeteners.

Among the five most common artificial sugar substitutes—acesulfame potassium (Ace-K), aspartame, neotame, saccharin and sucralose—aspartame remains the sweetener market leader and has, for decades, been a popular choice for zero-calorie carbonated soft drinks. According to leading aspartame marketer Ajinomoto Food Ingredients LLC, USA, aspartame is the only high-intensity sweetener that can be used 100 percent in a carbonated beverage system while delivering a sugar-like taste. Aspartame is 200 times sweeter than sugar, and can reduce up to 99 percent of the calories in most products, according to Ajinomoto. It also can intensify and extend certain flavors, especially fruit flavors.

However, as product developers are increasingly challenged with finding sweetener solutions that mimic the taste and mouthfeel of sugar, there is an increased trend of blending sweeteners. Each sweetener has its own specific properties, such as sweetness intensity, as well as the onset and linger of the sweetness, and the task for beverage formulators is to find a combination of sweeteners that best matches sugar’s properties.

“If you imagine the onset and linger of sugar in the shape of a bell curve, all high-potency sweeteners exhibit a different bell curve. If shifted to the left, they have a quicker onset but they don’t linger as long. Or, if it’s shifted to the right, they have a delayed onset, but they may have a longer linger. The idea behind sweetener blending is to take all those curves and bring them together to more mirror the sugar curve,” says Kevin Bauer, senior VP of global sales at NutraSweet Co.

The combination of aspartame and Ace-K, for instance, is used in Coke Zero, which markets itself as tasting like regular Coca-Cola, and a blend of Splenda-brand sucralose and Ace-K is used in Diet Coke with Splenda and Pepsi One to broaden the diet CSD offerings for consumers. Even non-CSD products like Pepsi’s new Tava beverage contains a blend of aspartame and Ace-K to achieve it’s zero-calorie positioning.

Neotame also is an ideal sweetener to use in blends, according to Bauer, due to its high potency and clean, sweet taste.
“With a caloric sweetener, like sugar or HFCS, you could use a 20 to 30 percent substitution from neotame, and still have 70 percent of the sweetness from a caloric sweetener, so you would still maintain the same taste, but would lower the calorie intake considerably,” he says. “That holds true for other high-potency sweeteners as well. Neotame blends well with aspartame, Ace-K and sucralose.” NutraSweet markets neotame, which is derived from amino acids and has a sweetness level ranging from 7,000 to 13,000 times sweeter than sugar.

Splenda sucralose, marketed by Tate & Lyle, is an increasingly popular sweetener due to its versatility and a sweetness profile that’s similar to sugar. Tate & Lyle has an expertise in sweetness optimization, a process to help beverage manufacturers replace a proportion of HFCS or sugar with Splenda sucralose to retain the flavor and sweetness profile of the original full-sugar product. According to Jordi Ferre, VP of sales and marketing at Tate & Lyle, sweetener optimization is an increasing trend in categories such as juices and sports drinks while it is gradually being adopted in the carbonated soft drink category.

“Sweetener optimization balances the sweetener and the calorie level, so you have the right amount of sweetener and a great-tasting product. So there’s no compromise in taste, and less calories,” Ferre says.

Sweeteners that have a low glycemic index are gaining ground, especially in Europe, while the trend has been slow to catch on in the US, according to Greg Horn and Shanyn Seiler, Wild Flavors’ senior directors of innovation and technology. These sweeteners generally provide a slow, sustained energy supply, such as Beneo Palatinit’s Palatinose carbohydrate sweetener, trehalose, tagatose and isomaltulose. Obtained from sucrose by enzymatic conversion, isomaltulose is used in energy drinks, like Slap Green Tea Energy, and the functional beverage Nova, which utilizes the sweetener’s ability to provide sustained energy.

Sweetener options also have expanded to include sugar alcohols, natural alternatives like agave nectar and even fruit sweeteners like Wild’s Fruit Up. Erythritol is a polyol and bulk sweetener that can help reduce calories while avoiding the processing and shelf-life issues associated with high-potency sweeteners.

According to Pam Stauffer, global marketing and communications manager, Cargill Health & Nutrition, Cargill’s Zerose erythritol brand is 70 times sweeter than sugar and works well with natural intense sweeteners as well as artificial sweeteners to round out the sweetness profile, making it more sugar-like. Zerose also is available in USDA organic grade and is the only all-natural, zero calorie bulk sweetener for use in natural beverages.

“Zerose erythritol has enabled many natural food and beverage producers to expand their offerings to health conscious consumers,” Stauffer notes.

In the past few years there has been a significant shift toward natural sweeteners that do not add calories. Wild’s Seiler notes that two such sweeteners, stevia and luo han guo, are moving into the mainstream. Stevia is a plant-based, non-caloric sweetener that’s been used in Japan for several decades, although it is currently approved only as a dietary supplement in the US and Canada. Earlier this year, Cargill launched Truvia, a natural sweetener made from rebiana, part of the stevia leaf. Whole Earth Sweetener Co. and PepsiCo partnered to develop stevia-based PureVia, currently used in Pepsi’s SoBe Life beverage in Latin American markets.

“Consumers have been waiting a long time for a zero-calorie, all-natural sweetener that doesn’t sacrifice authentic great taste,” says David DeCecco, PepsiCo spokesman. “PureVia is a potential game-changer among zero-calorie sweeteners because it’s natural. One of the challenges is helping people understand that PureVia is ‘not your father’s stevia.’”

DeCecco says PureVia is unique as it’s made of a specific derivative of stevia, rebaudioside A, or reb-A, which is the purest part of the stevia leaf.

From Beverage World October 15, 2008