"All Natural" and "No Artificial" Claims Undermining Confidence in Sweeteners

Sweeteners have been under a lot of fire in recent years. Whether it's "processed" sugar, artificial sweeteners, or high fructose corn syrup, the current popularity in "natural" or "no artificial" product claims is hurting the market for sugar substitutes.

The problem has escalated to the point that the corn industry has asked the FDA if they could switch the name of their product from high fructose corn syrup to "corn sugar," even though no studies have been able to prove that high fructose corn syrup is a so-called unhealthy product.

In fact, quite the contrary; recent studies have found that HFCS reacts in the body exactly like standard table sugar.

The sugar industry has responded by offering more "natural" sugars like turbinados and demerara, or with marketing designed to focus on the "natural" nature of standard sugar itself.

Unfortunately food manufacturers are only "shooting themselves in the foot," according to Hans Heezen, the chairman of the International Sweetener Association. Food industry news reports reveal that by reformulating popular products to remove artificial sweeteners, food manufacturers are heightening an unfounded fear of such products.

It's a Catch 22 - you can focus on "natural" marketing and thereby cash-in on a new and growing food trend, but you're likely going to see higher food costs and lower sales of products featuring other sweeteners.

Heezen went on to argue that artificial sweeteners like sucralose and aspartame are also a valuable weapon in the fight against obesity.

Standard sugar tastes good but it isn't calorie free, and "natural" isn't always "healthy," a fact that many consumers have forgotten in the current craze for all natural products.