The new Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs) recommend Americans eat less sugar compared to similar guidelines released in 2010. Specifically, the DGAs recommend consumers eat less than 10 percent of daily calories from added sugars. However, added sugars account on average for more than 13 percent of calories per day in the U.S. population, according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). In May 2016, FDA unveiled new requirements for the Nutrition Facts label of packaged foods, including the reporting of a product’s added sugar content. This new attention to added sugar intake on packaging—as well as consumer demand for sweeteners that are natural, sustainable and healthful—provides brands the opportunity to increase use of alternative sweeteners when developing or reformulating products.

Check out this infographic to find out more about natural sweeteners, such as stevia and stevia blends, monk fruit, honey, syrups, sugar alcohols and prebiotic fibers, being used in food and beverage development.

For more information on the sweeteners market, visit:

Looking for more insight into the functional role of sweeteners in confectionery formulations? Join us for the Selecting Appropriate Sweeteners for the Confectionery Space panel discussion on Friday, Oct. 7, at SupplySide West 2016.