Cutting sugar from the diet is usually on the short list of things to do when adopting a healthier approach to eating. But for American consumers in particular, ignoring the lure of their sweet tooth is not easy. According to Packaged Facts, Rockville, MD, Americans are the world’s biggest consumer group when it comes to sweeteners, and the U.S. sweetener market is the largest and most diverse in the world. Though there are dozens of sweetener choices to choose from, plant-based sweeteners—in particular, stevia—are quickly growing as the sugar alternatives of choice because they offer the advantage of being natural products containing fewer calories than sugar.

In “Sugar, Sugar Substitute, and Sweetener Trends in the U.S., 3rd Edition,” Packaged Facts researchers found stevia to be benefitting from a perfect storm of momentum caused by media attention, the potential of new markets, and its FDA Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) status. Also helpful has been support by major corporations such as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, which the researchers credited with having helped change the entire stevia market dynamic since the end of 2008.

“Companies were ready to jump into the market with a wave of kitchen and tabletop stevia formulations and stevia-sweetened products the moment the FDA gave it GRAS status in December 2008, and have since formed partnerships and entered into mergers and acquisitions as part of strategies to exploit this market,” said David Sprinkle, publisher of Packaged Facts. “This enthusiastic rollout of stevia-based products continues unabated.”

Kraft has been one of the most recent big name brands to jump on the stevia bandwagon. The company’s Crystal Light Pure Fitness, which claims to be “the first nationally available low-calorie fitness beverage” made using the all-natural sweetener, contains Truvia, a calorie-free sweetener derived from the stevia plant introduced by food producer Cargill, Minneapolis, MN. 
 
Boasting just 15 calories per serving, Crystal Light Pure Fitness contains electrolytes to aid hydration and is said to contain no artificial sweeteners, flavors or preservatives. Each packet of the dry powder transforms a 16.9-oz. bottle or cup of water into either a Lemon Lime, Strawberry Kiwi or Grape flavored beverage.
 
In December, Gilbert, AZ-based Wisdom Natural Brands expanded the reach of its popular SweetLeaf brand stevia with the addition of SugarLeaf, a sweetener made by bonding SweetLeaf stevia with raw cane sugar. SugarLeaf is said to offer the sweet taste of sugar with two-thirds fewer calories and carbs. Positioned to appeal to the “demands of increasingly health-conscious consumers who want to reduce sugar in their foods and beverages without sacrificing taste or texture,” SugarLeaf is three times as sweet as sugar but offers the same bulking and browning qualities of sugar, making it an ideal sugar substitute for baking and cooking. The erythritol, maltodextrin and sugar alcohol-free product is sold in one-pound bags.
 
Expanding Reach

Packaged Facts estimated the global retail and wholesale stevia markets were worth about $20 million combined in 2008. Though the researchers admitted current estimates varied wildly, they valued the 2011 combined market worth to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $800 million to $2 billion. They calculated that between 2004 and 2008, more than 2000 stevia-sweetened products were introduced worldwide. In 2010, 76 stevia-sweetened product lines were introduced to the U.S. market alone. Most of the new products introduced combined stevia with one or more other sweeteners.

In November 2011, stevia’s global reach was expanded following a long-anticipated approval for use in foods and beverages by the European Union (EU), prompting the creation of a flurry of partnerships between stevia suppliers and European food manufacturers. Packaged Facts said it expected the EU approval to act as an important catalyst for the global stevia market, triggering approvals across Africa and the Middle East, with global approval widely expected by the end of 2012, prompting sales of products containing stevia to skyrocket.