Despite a drive to reduce sugar content, there’s a limited understanding of how willing people are to adapt to a less sweet diet. We might know it’s bad for us - and we might be keen to reduce our intake - but that doesn’t mean we’ll drink anything as a result.
While the beverage industry has done a lot of work in reducing sugar content, it still struggles with the concept of reducing the fundamental sweetness level. Can it be done?
Sugar: as addictive as cocaine?
We love sugar. How much we love it shouldn’t be underestimated. Many researchers have been fascinated by this subject - some even proposing sugar might even be as addictive as cocaine.
But why do we like sugar so much?
The liking for sweetness is innate and universal. It’s probably an evolutionary trait: helping humans identify energy-rich foods.
After this point, however, it becomes a lot more personalized. Age, ethnicity and genetics can all play a part – but they can’t be changed.
But what about individual preferences and what we’ve been brought up to be used to – and can this be changed?
PepsiCo’s researchers have been addressing the question. Teaming up with Biofortis Research, they’ve looked at how sweetness preferences could be changed.
The researchers’ hypothesis was simple: increased exposure to sweet-tasting foods and drinks could train our palates to crave sweetness – leading to a preference for sweet tastes and ultimately upping the risk of obesity and other health problems.
Conversely, if people are exposed to less sweetness, would they adapt and reduce their sugar intake?
The science
The researchers conducted two parallel, double-blind, randomized controlled trials in the US and Mexico to investigate whether different methods of reducing sweetness could change sweetness preferences.
Both studies were conducted in healthy adults who were regular consumers of soda (either full-sugar or low calorie) aged 25-55 years old. Regular smokers and diabetics were excluded.
Researchers put subjects into three groups. The first group kept consuming the same orange-flavored carbonated soft drink over six months: at 13g sugar/100ml (or 13°Brix).
The second group had the sweetness of their beverages reduced over time: from 13°Brix in month 1 to 9°Brix in month 3, and finally to 7°Brix in months 4-6.
And the third group went ‘cold turkey’ – participants immediately had the sweetness of their beverages reduced straight to 7°Brix.
Consumers were then asked to rate their ‘liking’ of different CSDs at various sweetness levels.
What happened?
The results have just been published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Among American consumers of sugar-sweetened soda, reducing sweetness in drinks – either gradually or immediately – resulted in a reduced preference for sweetness.
But this wasn’t replicated in those who were used to low-calorie soft drinks, nor any consumers in Mexico.
One of the factors might have been that low-calorie soda drinks were already used to the slightly different ‘chemical’ taste in low-calorie drinks.
And the difference between results in the US and Mexico is ‘not entirely surprising’ – Mexico being known for its high SSB consumption and regional differences are to be expected when it comes to sweetness preferences.
However, participants from both sweetness reduction groups in all cohorts were more willing to purchase reduced sweetness drinks compared to the control group, underscoring the potential for consumers to accept less sweet beverages – regardless of how they got there.
“Overall, our findings highlight the potential for both sweetness reductions methods to beneficially influence consumer behavior, though further research is needed to optimize strategies for adapting to less sweet beverages across diverse populations,” notes
Out in the market
Tackling the sweetness question head on is Michelle Obama’s PLEZi: a drink that is on a mission to fundamentally adjust kids' palates to less sweet beverages overall (‘The US has a massive sugar problem, but also a massive sweetness problem,’ as co-chair Sam Kass puts it).
The premise of the company’s mission is simple: kids are consuming far too much added sugar. US children consume around 66g of sugar a day; whereas the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no more than 25g (6 teaspoons) of added sugar per day for children two years and older.
In changing kids' expectations, Plezi hopes that can make a real, long-term mass change - it if can shape kids' palates to expect less sugar when they’re young, that should carry on throughout their lives.
“In beverages specifically, there are a lot of no- and low-calorie drinks, but many tend to rely on being incredibly sweet as their core strategy, and that is shaping kids’ palates,” said Kass.
“We’re aiming to help raise a healthier generation and drive change throughout the food and beverage industry to do better by our kids.
“What we are aiming to do is not only bring down the sugar, but also bring down the sweetness and focus on great flavor so that we can compete. We hope to help reduce kids’ desire for overly sweet drinks and ultimately move kids away from soda and other sugary drinks.”
PLEZi FiZZ (the company’s drink aimed at older children and teens) contains 70% less sugar than the average leading soft drink (coming in at 8g per 8.4oz compares to 28g).
It has no added sugar: but does use stevia as a natural sweetener (Kass acknowledges the taste challenges with stevia, but is confident in the taste of the resulting product).
The drink also contains 2g fiber and nutrients such as potassium and vitamin C.
The catch?
Any drink trying out a less sweet profile takes something of a risk: because it still needs to taste great if it is to be competitive in today’s market.
But that might not be as hard as it sounds. Plezi, after all, wants to stop children developing such sweet tastes in the first place.
And assuming that adults want super-sweet drinks is a mistake - as brands are increasingly finding.
Drinks with fermented profiles – such as kefir and kombucha – are growing in popularity. Spicy notes are coming in from Latin American cuisines. Ginger and chili are other trending profiles.
And as consumers move away from the super-sweet, they’re instead opening up to sour, savory or more complex flavor profiles. Enter innovations such as kombucha or beverages with sour or chili notes. And botanicals are another flavor profile which look beyond sweet: herbal, floral or even bitter. Flavors such as matcha are other profiles that don’t hinge on being sweet.
But it’s not just about flavor. Another key challenge is the role sugar plays outside of being sweet.
Sugar plays a significant role in the texture and mouthfeel, helping add body to the drink.
When sugar is reduced or removed from beverages, the texture and mouthfeel can change. That’s a more intricate and complicated question - but one that can potentially be addressed by gelling agents and gums like pectin, guar, or xanthan.
However, diet drinks have already gone a long way towards addressing these challenges - showing there are solutions out there.
Beverage innovators need to open their minds - and taste buds - to a whole new flavor world.