According to a Euromonitor International report, sugar has become one of the most vilified ingredients within food.
Daily sugar consumption is particularly high in the US, UK and Germany, which are three of the top 10 global spenders on packaged food.
On average, these countries consume 73.3 g/day of sugar from packaged food – nearly double the global average.
The largest contributors to daily sugar consumption vary across these countries.
Within soft drinks, using natural sugars or sweeteners such as stevia has been met with an ambivalent response, as in the case with Coca-Cola’s Sprite brand, which has seen a significant decline in sales since it reformulated its recipe.
The problem of relying on sugary products in a period where sugar is a public enemy will prove tricky for manufacturers to resolve.
Reducing sugar proportions within products will be more difficult than simply reducing the size of the product, as in the case of calorie consumption.