How Health Consciousness is Shaping the Future of Artificial Sweeteners
Artificial sweetener is a type of chemically produced, synthetic non-caloric sweetener, that provides a strong sweetening flavor, and lower or no calories. This type of sweetener is majorly found in various types of food and beverage products, like soft drinks, sugar-free candies, dairy products, and low-calorie snacks. Artificial sweeteners offer multiple benefits as compared to natural sugar when consumed in limited quantities. There are various types of artificial sweeteners available and allowed across the globe, which include aspartame, advantame, cyclamate, sucralose, and neotame.
Artificial sugars help in diabetes management, as these types of sugars don’t raise the blood sugar level, as of its lower or no calories, and they also help in weight loss and diet management. The artificial sweetener does not contain any calories or carbohydrates, which benefits the management of diabetes. Similarly, the use of artificial sugars or sweeteners also prevents tooth decay. The absence of fermentable carbohydrates from the artificial sweeteners results in fewer harmful bacteria formation in the mouth, and prevents the enamel breakdown.
Apart from the advantages, artificial sweeteners also include multiple disadvantages, like they can alter the sense of taste. Additionally, the long-term use of artificial sweeteners can also lead to glucose intolerance by the body, altering the gut microbiome. The consumption of artificial sugar can also cause bloating of the body, and can also lead to diarrhea.
Use Case:
The artificial sweeteners are most commonly used across the food and beverage industry. Artificial sweeteners also play a major role in the global pharmaceutical sector. In the food and beverage industry, saccharin, aspartame, and acesulfame potassium are among the most common artificial sweeteners used in various types of foods, jams, soft drinks, dairy products, puddings, and candies.
Saccharin is considered the oldest non-nutritive form of artificial sweeteners. Similarly, aspartame is a dipeptide methyl easter and is commonly used as a tabletop sweetener. In the pharmaceutical sector, aspartame is commonly used as an excipient in the formulation of liquid pharmaceutical products. Aspartame is mainly used to improve the taste of unpleasant drugs. Similarly, sucralose is also used in the formulation of various types of drugs, as an excipient.
Artificial sweeteners play an important role in the global health-conscious food products market, as they offer multiple health advantages compared to the natural form of sugar or sweetener. Some of the key drivers that are estimated to increase the usage of artificial sweeteners in the globe are as follows:
- Increasing Global Diabetes Cases.
One of the key factors that is estimated to boost the global demand for artificial sweeteners across the world is the increasing global cases of diabetes. The global cases of diabetes grew significantly, majorly with the rise of the unhealthier lifestyle of the population. With the rise of diabetes cases around the world, the demand for artificial sweeteners is expected to grow significantly, as the consumption of these sweeteners does not increase blood sugar levels.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the US government in its National Diabetes Statistics Report, published in May 2024, stated that the prevalence of diabetes in the nation’s population increased significantly. The agency stated that, nearly 38.4 million, which is about 11.6% of the nation’s total population have diabetes, out of which about 29.7 million are diagnosed, and about 8.7 million people are undiagnosed. Similarly, about 97.6 million of the nation’s population aged 18 or above have prediabetes, which is about 38% of the total adult population. Nearly 48.8% of the population of the nation above the age of 65 years, or about 27.2 million people have prediabetes.
Similarly, the International Diabetes Federation, in its report stated that globally, the Western Pacific region occupies the top position in the total cases of diabetes. The Western Pacific region accounted for about 205,640 thousand people with diabetes, followed by China, which accounted for about 140.869 thousand, and South-East Asia accounting for 90.204 thousand people with diabetes.
Figure 1: People With Diabetes, by Region, in Thousand, 2021
Source: International Diabetes Federation
Key Developments
- In November 2022, Tate & Lyle PLC (Tate & Lyle) launched ERYTESSE Erythritol, which expands the company’s sweeteners portfolio. The new sweetener has about 70% sweetness of sucrose and offers zero calories. The company stated that its new sweetener can be used across a wide range of product categories, like beverages, dairy, bakery, and confectionaries.
In conclusion, artificial sweeteners are sure to offer key applications in the global health-conscious market, as these types of sweeteners help consumers with multiple usages, like weight management, diabetes control, and improving dental health. Artificial sweeteners are also used in various types of pharmaceutical products, mainly to improve the taste of the drugs.
