Consumers and industry have embraced the mid-calorie concept in drinks and are starting to look at its relevance in other product categories, according to stevia supplier PureCircle.
Mars plans to expand capacity at its Veghel plant over the next 10 years to produce miniature versions of its brands as Western Europeans limit their calorie intake.
Some people may perceive sweet tastes as weaker than others – perhaps leading them to add more sugar or sweetener to gain the same level of sweetness, new research suggests.
Manufacturers must do more to help consumers halve their overall energy intake from free-sugars to less than 5%, commentators on Twitter have urged after the release of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition's report on carbohydrates today.
The UK government’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) has ditched a 10% upper limit on sugar intake instead recommending that less than 5% of daily energy should come from free sugars.
Ongoing consumer concern about sugar consumption means some consumers are turning away from sweet tastes altogether, according to market research organisation Mintel.
US researchers have created a ‘healthy beverage index’ – a scoring system designed to measure the quality of beverage intake and help prompt healthy drink choices.
The British Medical Association (BMA) is calling for a soft drink tax in the UK, but an industry body says targeting a single category is ‘misguided and unlikely to prove effective.’
Lack of media differentiation between different study designs has helped warp public perception of low- and no-calorie sweeteners, according to registered dietitian and diabetes educator Hope Warshaw.
Industry bodies around the globe have slammed a US study which attributes 184,000 deaths a year to sugary drinks, saying its authors fail to show cause and effect or prove a direct link with beverages.
Increases in the food energy supply in many countries of the world, leading to a higher availability of cheap energy-dense foods, is more than enough to explain a concurrent increase in body weight and obesity epidemic, say researchers.
Consumption of sugary drinks may lead to an estimated 184,000 adult deaths each year worldwide, according to research, which warns of an urgent need for strong global prevention programs.
A 20% duty on sugary drinks in England could result in 2,400 fewer cases of type 2 diabetes and 1,700 fewer cases of stroke and coronary heart disease, according to a study from Food Active.
A diet rich in fat and sugar could cause changes in the make up of our gut bacteria, which in turn lead to losses of cognitive functions, suggest researchers.
Almost two-thirds of global consumers are concerned about sugar intake – but the choice between low-sugar and sugar-free depends on the food or drink category, according to a new report from DSM.
More than half of consumers (56%) have not changed their eating habits despite media coverage of high sugar content in many foods and drinks, according to a market research report.
Giving people money to encourage healthier lifestyles only works in the longer term when designed to stop negative behaviour rather than promote positive choices, suggests research from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
Consumers' affinity with beloved junk food brands can be strong – but trying to weaken it may be counter-productive by reducing preferences for healthy foods, say scientists.
Fruit flies have a set of neurones that fire only when they encounter real sugar – triggering the release of a hormone that is not released when they eat a non-calorific sweetener. And researchers suggest that humans possess the same ‘molecular machinery’.
The end of EU sugar beet quotas could worsen the obesity crisis and damage the livelihoods of sugar cane growers and producers – and as an ex-colonial power Britain has a moral responsibility to act, says a report by the Food Research Collaboration.
Coca-Cola Enterprises is positioning itself as ‘part of the solution to obesity,’ as it pledges to reduce calories by 10% per litre across its beverage portfolio in the next five years.
A proprietary carrier particle can reduce sugar content and calories by more than 50% – without a loss in sweetness or a rise in costs, says Israeli company DouxMatok.
Consumption of a sugar-sweetened drink on a daily basis may be associated with an increased risk of developing non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), say researchers.
The UK's National Health Service (NHS) CEO says failing to reformulate products to reduce added sugars would be like slow food poisoning of the nation.
The Swedish National Food Agency (NFA) has begun an investigation into levels of nutrients and potentially undesirable substances present in common foods on the Swedish market.
Sugar binders in oat bars can be removed completely if certain process adjustments are made to leverage beta-glucan as the binding agent, says the bakery science manager at Campden BRI.
Special edition: Innovations in better-for-you confectionery
When compared to the same amount of glucose, consuming fructose could cause ‘significant’ weight gain, physical inactivity, and body fat deposition, say researchers.
The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) has urged the European commissioner for health and food safety to practice caution when making ‘adjustments’ to health claim and botanical rules.
Many fruit snacks aimed at children contain more sugar than confectionery – but could be misconstrued as ‘healthy’ because of their association with real fruit, according to pressure group Action on Sugar.
While swapping out calorific sugars for a zero-calorie sweetener may seem like a common sense public health policy, some recent reports have suggested that the reverse may be true. We take a look at the evidence and arguments for both sides of the story.
Research suggests boys eat more fast food and are more susceptible to junk food marketing than girls, prompting renewed calls for limits on advertising to children.
Educating secondary school students about low-calorie foods and drinks may have little effect on their vending machine purchases, according to a study from The Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO).
Drinking water or unsweetened tea or coffee in place of one sugary drink per day could slash the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by up to a quarter, say researchers.
Chewing gum may have been responsible for the death of a 19-year old girl – but there is little evidence to suggest artificial sweeteners were at fault, a UK inquest found yesterday.
Yes we can: By making healthy food choices Convenient, Attractive and Normal companies and policy-makers can foster healthy eating habits in all contexts, say researchers.
The German confectionery industry has slammed plans for a 19% tax proposal on sugar aimed at reducing obesity - but the social democrat party denies that such a 'sin tax' is on the cards.
Front-of-pack labelling can be useful but health policy-makers are naïve if they think that this alone will result in healthier food choices, say researchers - environment, motivation and psychology must be actively influenced too.
Sugar-sweetened drinks may reduce stress levels and therefore be harder to reduce than aspartame say scientists - but campaigners are still calling on industry to reduce both.
An analysis of the G8 nations has highlighted striking differences in calories and other macronutrients purchased from packaged food in these countries with Mediterranean and Japanese diets being the healthiest, according to Euromonitor.
The combined use of TV brand placements with advertising could increase the effect on children's brand awareness and behaviour towards junk food, a new study has said.
