Market Inventory of Natural Sweeteners in the First Half of 2023 (1)

Human beings have been eating sugar for over ten thousand years. The intake of sugar not only provides energy for the human body, but also stimulates the secretion of dopamine in the brain to produce a sense of pleasure, which is the "foundation" of delicious food.

However, with the gradual satisfaction of material needs and the continuous refinement of the food industry, the health issues such as skin aging, obesity, tooth decay, and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases brought about by high sugar diets continue to attract social attention. Under this trend, the sugar substitute industry, as a "substitute" for sugar, continues to develop and grow. Now, it has been "eaten" into a huge global market of nearly 6 billion US dollars.

Among the diverse sugar substitutes, artificial sweeteners have gone through six generations of development, but there are still safety controversies. Although natural sweeteners have a relatively small market share, their potential is enormous.

1、 Market expansion, still dominated by artificially synthesized sweeteners

In 1879, American scientists invented saccharin sodium, and the concept of "alternative sugar" emerged.

In the past decade, the proportion of natural sweeteners added to the food market has increased by nearly 20%, but the overall sweetener market is still dominated by artificial sweeteners.

The core industry that carries the growth of the sweetener industry is sugar free beverages. Previously, the incident of "aspartame being classified as a possible carcinogen to humans (i.e. 2B carcinogen)" not only caused global consumers to pay high attention to the sweetener market once again, but also led to a surge in natural sweeteners. Among them, erythritol, steviol glycoside, momordica grosvenorii glycoside and D-alotose, which will be approved in China, are the most concerned.

2、 Erythritol: "Top Flow" Crisis

Erythritol, a four carbon sugar alcohol, is widely present in nature in fungal mushrooms, fruits and vegetables, animal eyeballs, and plasma.

As the "top stream" in the field of sweeteners, the price and demand of erythritol have been consistently rising due to its taste advantage. However, even before a large number of products entered mass production, erythritol had already made an unstoppable move on the "inner roll" path.

As early as the beginning of this year, erythritol frequently made headlines due to being named by the journal Nature Medicine. The article states that a three-year follow-up of the health status of over 4000 people revealed a risk association between erythritol and cardiovascular disease.

However, many subsequent popular science articles have called for a rational view of this event. In the sample data used in this experiment, requiring participants to consume nearly 30g of erythritol within 2 minutes is equivalent to drinking 5 bottles of 300ml sugar free beverages in a short period of time, far exceeding the normal drinking standards. The "moderate" consumption of sugar substitutes is the top priority.

In May, the World Health Organization released a report titled "Guidelines for Non Sugar Sweeteners (NSS)", calling for the correct consumption of "nutritional sweeteners" such as sugar substitutes and erythritol to be taken lightly. However, it still recommends not using non sugar sweeteners to control weight or reduce the risk of non communicable diseases.

3、 D-Allulose: Huge Enterprise Potential

D-Allulose is an epimer corresponding to the carbon at the third position of D-fructose, found in foods such as sugarcane molasses, fruits and raisins, figs, kiwifruit, and brown sugar.

D-Allulose has a sweetness of 70% of sucrose, but its calorie content is only 0.3% of the same mass of sucrose. Due to its similar sweetness curve to sucrose, it is known as the "most promising alternative to sucrose".

As of the first half of this year, allulose has been approved as food by more than 10 countries and regions, including the United States, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Singapore, South Korea, and Japan. In relevant applications, in addition to being used for food additives, D-Allulose also exhibits multiple functions such as regulating blood sugar, antioxidant, and neuroprotective properties.

Among them, D-Allulose can inhibit the intestinal tract α- The activity of glycosidase reduces the absorption of sugar by the small intestine, inhibits fat accumulation, increases insulin sensitivity, and lowers blood sugar.

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