Boosting beverages: Sugar reduction, natural ingredients and health benefits dominate drinks market

04 Sep 2024 --- The recent growth in the beverage market reflects consumers’ increasing focus on health and wellness, along with a rising preference for premium products, according to industry experts. Meanwhile, holistic solutions with an enhanced nutrition profile, low-sugar offerings made with natural sources, and health-forward innovation are currently dominating the beverage arena. 

We speak to several leading key players in the beverages space for the latest consumer trends and innovation.

Cutting sugar content

The demand for healthier beverages, including low-sugar, plant-based, and functional drinks (e.g., kombucha, energy drinks with added vitamins), is driving growth and creating significant opportunities for companies,” Douglas Lim, head of North America Business at Samyang, tells Food Ingredients First.

“According to the Innova database, from 2019 to 2023, sugar reduction claims saw the fastest growth, with ‘sugar-free’ growing by 9% and ‘no added sugar’ by 4%, particularly in soft drinks and sports nutrition products.” 

“Moreover, the rapid expansion of subcategories like flavored alcoholic beverages, chilled desserts, and energy drinks is particularly striking. As consumers become more willing to spend on premium and craft beverages, niche brands that offer unique flavors and high-quality products are experiencing strong growth.”

Adams Berzins, senior manager of Sugar Reduction at Ingredion, says that the increased focus on sugar content in nutrition labels is significantly influencing consumer purchasing decisions. According to Ingredion’s proprietary ATLAS research, about half of consumers say they are less likely to buy a product based on the amount of added sugars.

Stevia’s global acceptance has risen by 15% from 2020 to 2023, making it a top choice for sugar replacement in high-intensity, natural sweeteners.“Stevia sweeteners are popular plant-based, zero-calorie sweeteners that meet demands for sustainability, taste and the health and wellness journey. Its global acceptance has risen by 15% from 2020 to 2023, making it a top choice for sugar replacement in high-intensity, natural sweeteners. Approximately 75% of consumers consider stevia the most acceptable option across nutritional/meal replacement beverages, alternative dairy beverages and sports energy drinks.”

Overcoming formulation challenges

Berzins flags Ingredion’s Purecircle’s Clean Taste Beverage portfolio, which offers innovative solutions for a wide range of beverages. These solutions enhance flavors in coffee, carbonated soft drinks and tea while delivering great-tasting sweetness in meal replacement drinks without added sugar, he says.

“The recently launched Purecircle Clean Taste Solubility Solution (CTSS) helps manufacturers overcome formulation challenges by removing sugar, artificial sweeteners and additives, particularly in applications where stevia solubility was previously an issue. This versatile ingredient is especially impactful for beverage, fruit prep and syrup formulations.” 

According to Berzins, Purecircle by Ingredion’s Clean Taste Solutions provide “excellent sweet taste quality across a range of sugar replacement levels.”

“Combined with our Taste Modulation technologies, we can help beverage manufacturers round out the less desirable taste attributes that come along with adaptogens or mushrooms or plant-based plant-based protein. The use of taste modulation tools can also provide shorter labels because they provide many of these benefits while aligning with the ‘natural flavor’ designation on a product’s ingredient statement.”

Meanwhile, Micah Greenhill, senior marketing director, Beverages, ADM, points out that consumers want to see functional attributes in the majority of their beverage purchases. This, in turn, blurs the lines across categories, especially in the energy drink and performance or sports beverage spaces. 

“Common ingredients to elevate the nutritional value of beverages include electrolytes, vitamins and minerals, protein and biotics. These ingredients deliver the claims (hydration, energy, focus, and mood, stress, digestive and immune health support) shoppers leading an active and healthy lifestyle seek.”

ADM specifically finds that ingredients derived from plant-based sources align with modern consumers’ demands and the overall expectation for clean labels. This includes botanical extracts containing key vitamins and minerals such as vitamin C, magnesium, l-carnitine, B vitamins and natural sources of nitrates and caffeine. 

Micah Greenhill, senior marketing director, beverages, at ADM.“Plant proteins like soy and pea are also being used to fortify waters, energy drinks and shakes and support high protein content claims,” says Greenhill. 

“The importance of sugar reduction must also not be overlooked in consumers’ search for beverages that align with their wellness goals. To meet sensory and clean label targets in low- or no-sugar beverages, we leverage our extensive sweetening solutions portfolio and our Replace Rebalance Rebuild method, which replaces sweetness, rebalances flavor and rebuilds functionality.” 

“Our SweetRight Stevia Edge-M, which delivers increased solubility, improved sweetening and reduced bitterness compared to Rebaudioside (Reb) M, is an exceptional solution for reduced-sugar beverage formulations. ADM/Matsutani LLC’s Fibersol, a soluble prebiotic dietary fiber, not only provides added fiber and support for the gut, but it also assists in sugar reduction, building back integrity through structural and binding qualities that can be lost when reducing or removing sugar in formulations,” he comments.

Growing interest in gut health

However, Greenhill highlights the gut microbiome as the area with the most growth potential.

“A growing body of research is connecting prebiotics, probiotics and postbiotics to various aspects of well-being, including digestive health and cognitive, skin and muscle health. There is a tremendous opportunity for beverage makers to take advantage of biotics to build tailored offerings.”

“We’re also at the forefront of microbiome research and solutions, paving the way for new product development by adding biotics to drink formulations. Many beverages have harsh processing environments, such as high heat and water content, which can make it difficult for certain microbiome solutions to survive. Our heat-treated postbiotic versions of our Bifidobacterium longum CECT7347 (ES1) and BPL1 (Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis CECT8145), along with our spore-forming probiotic, DE111 (Bacillus subtilis), can withstand these formulation conditions, leading to exciting functional beverage innovation.”

Soy and pea are being used to fortify waters, energy drinks and shakes for high protein content claims.“Our BPL1 probiotic and postbiotic target factors relevant to aspects of metabolic health; DE111 may support digestive health and may help support healthy immune function; and our recently published clinical trial demonstrates that ES1 may support overall gut and digestive health.”

Functional fiber in beverages

Lim agrees that the beverage market is trending toward sugar reduction with diversifying functional claims. With growing consumer interest in gut health, ingredients that promote gut and digestive health, such as fiber, are gaining attention. 

He notes Samyang’s Fiberest Resistant Dextrin, a low-calorie ingredient with 2 kcal/g and over 90% dietary fiber, is suitable for dietary fiber enhancement claims. 

“As a prebiotic that nourishes beneficial gut bacteria, Fiberest increases short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and lowers pH levels, helping to maintain a healthy gut environment and inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria. Additionally, Fiberest can enhance product quality and stability while supporting clean label claims.”

“Ingredients like Fiberest provide an effective solution for manufacturing sugar-reduced beverages. For example, in beverages, replacing sugar with High-Intensity Sweeteners (HIS) may result in a decrease in body texture and an aftertaste of HIS. Fiberest can improve the body texture while masking the aftertaste.”

“It is also crucial that sweeteners used for sugar reduction do not cause any digestive problems. Clinical studies have shown that allulose is less likely to cause digestive issues compared to sugar alcohols like erythritol, making Nexweet Allulose a good option to use with fiber ingredients.”

What’s coming next?

Ingredion’s Berzins believes that modeling and utilizing artificial intelligence models is accelerating the way in which industry can understand the interactions of many sweet-tasting compounds and potentially lead to the discovery of new ones. 

“Ingredion executed a global consumer study to better understand consumer preferences and paired that with trained sensory panel evaluation to correlate the impact of different sweeteners on liking and acceptability. These models are building on decades of sweetener understanding to find faster pathways to ingredient development but also faster ways to consumer product development for our customers.”

“Brands can exist and be successful in this digital age almost entirely independent of brick and mortar stores and supply chains, opening up the opportunities to deliver high satisfaction to a specific and loyal base of customers in a way that hasn’t been possible or profitable in the past. This will require working smarter and faster to deliver tailor-made solutions that aren’t just about sweetness or texture but a combined solution for rapid scale-up and an elevated drinking experience,” he notes. 

Douglas Lim, head of North America Business at Samyang.As the line between functional beverages and foods continues to blur, Samyang expects consumers to increasingly seek drinks that help them proactively manage their health. While taste remains a key factor, there’s growing interest in products that offer high nutritional value by limiting traditional sugars like sucrose and HFCS, as well as fats. 

“Many consumers are particularly focused on gut health, recognizing its importance not just for digestion but also for weight management, blood sugar control, and overall immunity. This has led to a rise in beverages with claims like fiber-fortified and clean label, making fiber a key consideration for consumers.”

Low-sugar alcohol

Samyang is also seeing rapid growth in the alcoholic beverage category, especially in Japan, where consumers are starting to enjoy alcoholic drinks as indulgent beverages, not just for their alcohol content. 

“A great example is Asahi’s recent launch of a low-sugar alcoholic beverage that also promotes beauty benefits. As sugar reduction becomes a fundamental aspect of healthy food and beverage products, getting the taste right in emerging categories like alcoholic beverages is crucial. Therefore, the real challenge and competitive edge for the industry will be achieving the optimal level of sweetness tailored to each specific category,” shares Lim.

Further, Greenhill flags that the beverage space is ripe for continued growth and innovation, especially as consumers continue to prioritize their health and well-being and look for convenient, delicious, functional offerings. 

“While there is a blurring of categories, there is also a divergence in consumers’ wellness goals. Unique needs, such as dietary preferences like ketogenic and vegan, as well as people seeking specific performance support or assistance in mood and relaxation, will lead to the development of new solutions, ingredient blends and research in botanical extracts, plant-based ingredients, biotics and more,” he says. 

By Gaynor Selby