Pulse Report: Sugar and Sweeteners from a Consumer Perspective

This latest Pulse Report presents timely insights on the complex role sugar and sweeteners play in American culture and diet.

For generations of consumers, sugar has been an integral part of personal and social occasions centering on indulgence, celebration and reward. Today, as confirmed in this report, consumer sentiment is adamant that while sugars and sweeteners (both nutritive and non-nutritive) still play a central cultural role in personal and public life, at the same time they are a cause of significant worry as to their overall potential impact on the health of both adults and children.

Report Overview:

Sugar and Sweeteners from a Consumer Perspective documents consumer perceptions about sugar and examines in-depth the connections consumers make between sugar and juice, occasions for avoidance and use (including with children), and the dynamics of shopping for sweetened products. With over 65 figures and tables, the report goes beyond examining sugar and also provides insights on perceived safety and health risks of 15 nutritive and non-nutritive sweeteners, as well as consumer preferences for adding or removing a variety of sugars and sweeteners from a range of food and beverage categories.

Sample findings include:

• While consumer concerns about sugar extend beyond refined white sugar and into a broad range of nutritive and non-nutritive sweeteners, including high fructose corn syrup, saccharin and aspartame, 55% of consumers currently admit to avoiding sugar: Among consumer wellness segments, core consumers, who by definition are more highly involved with wellness lifestyles and behaviors, were much more likely to say they avoid sugar, with 74% reporting they do versus 44% of periphery consumers.
• Consumers are concerned about what they deem to be "hidden sugars" in products: the feeling of being "duped" or "deceived" by a manufacturer upon the discovery of sugar as an ingredient, and the idea that sugar may be used to boost the quality of a normally inferior product.
• Consumers were far more likely to want to use "no sugar or sweeteners" as a first choice for a variety of non-indulgence products (such as baby food, peanut butter and cereal); while with regard to indulgence foods, particularly baked goods, consumers "protected" products by opting instead to sweeten with sugar, Sucralose and brown sugar (in that order).

By combining the latest ethnographic and quantitative research methods, this report's findings provide key insights for manufacturers and retailers on how consumers are coping with what they view to be the double-edged world of sugar and sweeteners: On one hand, this world centers on the notion that sweetened products are central to a variety of cultural occasions, while on the other, sweetened products are a cause of worry in terms of consequences to overall health.