High-intensity sweeteners are used as sugar alternatives due to their sweetness with zero calories than sugar. China is the large sweetener-producing country in the world and is facing the overcapacity of high intensity sweeteners (HIS). High intensity sweeteners (HIS) are aspartame, sucralose, saccharin, etc. Chinese consumption and demand for HIS is very large and will increase in the future with the growing population and government’s intention to introduce policies for sugar tax. It was observed that the overcapacity of HIS industry in China may reduce due to the reduced sugar consumption by levying sugar taxes.
High-intensity sweeteners (HIS) are a diverse set of compounds which shares an important feature of sweetness much sweeter than sucrose (table sugar). HIS is noncaloric and noncariogenic and most of the HIS consists of acesulfame K, aspartame, cyclamate, saccharin, and sucralose. These are artificial sweeteners made up of chemical synthesis. There is a lot of demand for matured HIS such as cyclamate, saccharin, and aspartame but consumption of acesulfame K, sucralose, and stevia extract is growing in China.
Stevia is one of the fastest-growing new substitutes of sugar which consists of artificial chemical sweeteners along with naturally derived non-caloric sweeteners. New regulations are approved for various sweeteners across the globe that has led to a promising growth in this market. There are two main segments in natural artificial sweeteners are known as nutritive and non-nutritive. Nutritive sweeteners include sugar and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS); non-nutritive sweeteners include zero-calorie High Intensity Sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose, and stevia.
China’s aspartame industry is developing rapidly with the growing needs of the Chinese population. Aspartame is the only HIS under the category of non-nutritive sweetener. The non-nutritive sweetener can be categorised into saccharin, sucralose, acesulfame potassium, neotame, advantame, steviol extract, cyclamate and monk fruit extracts.
High-intensity sweeteners (HIS) are used to enhance the flavour of foods majorly sweets. These are mainly used as sugar alternative due to their unique property of sweetness which is more than sugar and also contributes very negligible calories when added to food and beverages. High-intensity sweeteners (HIS) is commonly used in desserts, soft drinks, confectionery, dairy products, chewing gums and hot chocolate drinks and others. The major advantage of high-intensity sweetener is that it is suitable for consumption for diabetic patients and does not raise blood sugar levels in the human body.
Awareness in consumers’ health is combined with increasing number of people suffering from weight related problems such as diabetes and obesity. Therefore, there is more demand for high-intensity sweetener. Major factors affecting the high-intensity sweetener in China are rising demand for low calorie sweetener and growing number of obese population. The sugar tax policies made in China are sure to reduce the overcapacity of China’s high intensity sweeteners (HIS). High-intensity sweeteners (HIS) are used in food and beverages, personal care products and pharmaceuticals. The natural high intensity sweeteners are stevia, xylitol, mannitol, erythritol, sorbitol used in the food and beverage industries.
Majority of the consumers are trying to cut or eliminate sugars from their diets to keep up with their health. A lot of sugar which is known as the most ubiquitous hedonic substance is involved in the making of sweets, ice-creams, package foods, and ready to eat foods. This necessity has led to urgency quest in the recent decade to find low-calorie sweeteners as substitutes. From the past 10,000 years sugar is being used as a fixture in food and also a succession of sweeteners such as saccharin, aspartame and sucralose are used over the decades. Each of the sweetener possesses it own sweetness and minimal calories which tastes just like the original sugar. These sweeteners enjoy popularity without disappointing consumers with their strange aftertastes or sometimes without affecting the consumers’ health. It is unreasonable to assume that natural sugar substitutes are better than artificial sugar substitutes because calorie-free natural sweeteners are not cleared of all of the risks to human health. These products generally mess with gut bacteria, causing metabolic dysfunction like glucose intolerance, and leading consumers’ to over-eat their products. The growing population in China demands for more quantities of artificial sweeteners and such products to satisfy the growing demands. The five year population growth in China is depicted in the below graph.
Despite facing many obstacles to find an answer to artificial sweetener, many companies continue to their research on artificial sweeteners. Few scientists believe that fixing sugar is a better option than replacing it with artificial ones. Many food and beverage manufacturers in China have followed their path to cut down on sugars in their products. Cyclamate is highly consumed artificial sweetener because cyclamate is only 30 times as sweet as table sugar. Saccharin is 300 times sweeter than sugar. Use of saccharin as a sugar replacement in foods and beverages, as it sweetness masks the bitter taste of other ingredients in personal care products such as toothpaste, mouthwash and pharmaceuticals.
According to the research report “PRODUCTION OF HIGH INTENSITY SWEETENER IN CHINA 2014-2016”, China ranks second globally in the consumption of sucralose which is a sweetener 600 times as sweet as sucrose and has an appealing sugarlike taste. Also, the consumption of stevia extract has increased in China. The stevia plant is the main source of stevia extract which is cultivated in bulk in China and the extracted stevia is used as a sweetener. High-intensity sweeteners are available in plenty in China and the country is the world’s largest production source of HIS. Almost all the food producers in China are impacted by the new regulations along with consumers’ awareness in the lifestyle diseases such as obesity and diabetes. China is expecting an above average growth in saccharin consumption in the coming years. Acesulfame K/ aspartame and acesulfame K/sucralose are expectd to grow enoromously in China in the coming years due to their very appealing sucroselike taste.
Topics Covered in The report
- Global Sugar and sweeteners market research
- China Sugar and Sweetener industry analysis
- China Sugar and Sweetener market size
- Sugar and sweetener production in China
- China Artificial sweeteners market research
- China Sugar and Sweetener industry demand trends
- China Sugar and Sweetener industry future outlook
- China Sugar and Sweetener industry import and Export
- China Sugar and Sweetener market future
- China Sugar and Sweetener market Trends,
- China Sugar and Sweetener market Share,
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