A possible link between artificial sweeteners and weight gain, diabetes and heart disease casts further doubt on the long-term health benefits of sweeteners including aspartame, sucralose and stevioside.
Cargill cannot prove a cause-and-effect relationship between eating sugar-free candy sweetened with at least 90% erythritol and a reduced risk of dental caries, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has said.
Health taxes that add 20% to the price of products are likely to be effective, but policymakers need to be transparent about where revenues end up, according to new research.
DSM is seeking approval to sell fermented stevia in Europe. We caught up with the director of its stevia platform to discuss how it could be labelled, consumer acceptance and when it expects EFSA to give the green light.
Following Kerry Group's $220 million (€193m) investment into research and development (R&D) last year, what's next for ingredient innovation at the Irish company? We caught up with the firm's Chief Innovation Officer.
The Estonian Parliament are to introduce a levy to limit the consumption of sugar-sweetened soft drinks to try to rein in rising cases of obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke.
Strict rules banning adverts for high in fat, salt and sugar products in all children’s media come into effect tomorrow (Saturday 1 July), after numerous health campaigners called for tougher regulations.
Europe’s small countries have committed to tackling spiralling childhood obesity rates by signing a statement designed to address the issue via a combination of diet and exercise.
Campaigners in France have demanded that Coca Cola European Partners stops marketing its Capri-Sun drink to children, as pressure grows on EU food and drink companies to ditch the use of cartoon characters on products “loaded with sugar, salt or fat”.
Standard approaches to children’s weight management are small, short-term fixes, according to two Cochrane reviews, with calls to introduce new anti-obesity approaches or interventions.
At an extraordinary session of Estonia’s government, the Riigikogu, last week, 15 new Acts were passed, including a sugar tax that includes dairy beverages.
Overweight and obese children tend to drink more sugar-sweetened drinks than those of normal weight, making a “compelling case” for taxing the beverages, according to researchers in Ireland.
Children born to women who drank at least one artificially sweetened beverage per day during pregnancy, were more likely to be overweight or obese in later life, a study claims.
A breakfast cereal made from French popped quinoa with a one-word ingredient list (quinoa - and that's it) is finding success as consumers use it for croutons and salad toppings thanks to the lack of sugar. "We're targetting intelligent...
Enhancing the position of healthy products and relying on consumers to make “good decisions” won’t be enough to tackle rising levels of obesity, researchers in Scotland have claimed.
Fruit and vegetable subsidies can literally save lives, according to researchers at the University of Liverpool, who analysed how different food policy models may reduce deaths caused by cardiovascular disease in the US.
European countries are failing to integrate sustainability into policies to promote healthy nutrition, according to the European Public Health Association (EUPHA).
Urban cities are emerging as frontrunners in driving food policy forward, according to a report, taking on a governmental role in finding innovative ways to address today’s global food system challenges.
Using traditional plant breeding techniques, PureCircle has developed a stevia plant with 20 times more sweet-tasting steviol glycosides than standard stevia, it says.
Today’s health conscious consumers put great emphasis on natural and low calorie: opening up more and more opportunities for stevia, particularly in beverages. But giving consumers confidence will be key to driving stevia's continued growth, according...
Ireland is to become the first country to implement a voluntary code of practice on marketing, product placement and sponsorship of high fat, salt and sugar foods (HFSS) to children and adults.
As Bulgaria's prime minister slams dual quality foods as 'apartheid', a draft law by Hungary would see warning labels on foods with a different ingredient composition outside the country, but experts say it's on shaky legal ground.
A low-sugar diet may affect the speed at which certain cancer cells spread after a study finds some types rely more on sugar as an energy source than others do.
It's time to move beyond the single nutrient model that looks only at individual fat, sugar or protein content, say scientists. Foods are eaten whole and so their effect on health must also be considered in a more holistic manner.
Europe is struggling to get to grips with rising obesity levels because politicians are distracted by single policies and industry lacks the level playing field that regulation can create, says Richard Dobbs, author of the McKinsey report.
Consumers in Sweden are eating healthier compared to five years ago as a survey finds an overall decrease in sugar and salt intake whilst consumption of healthy fats and vitamin D have increased.
A ‘new culture,’ in which food sustainability and the Mediterranean lifestyle form the pillars to this change, is required to safeguard the health of populations and land resources.
Combining sweetness with fibre, is the aim of Taiyo’s new varieties of Sunfiber, an all-natural range of soluble dietary fibres which can also be used as a sweetener.
Overweight or obese people are more likely to experience oral complications such as periodontitis, as the consequence of carrying extra weight appears to alter the inflammatory process.
A diet plentiful in nuts, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and low in salty, red, processed meats and sugary soft drinks may lower the incidence of gout, a BMJ study has concluded.
Pressure group Action on Sugar is urging the UK government to expand a sugar tax on soft drinks to chocolate and sweet confectionery – a move seen as “punitive” and "discriminatory” by industry bodies.
Despite significant headwinds generated by the escalating war on sugar and increasing consumer preferences for healthy products, the confectionery industry is holding its own with sales climbing 1.2% in the last year to reach a whopping $25 billion, according...
Hungary is the worst “nanny-state” in the EU when it comes to laws relating to food and drink, but new research suggests most countries have so far shunned regulation aimed at controlling consumption.
The body's regulation of blood sugar levels is aided by skeletal muscles, a study has identified, in a mechanism that appears to identify its ability to ‘taste’ or ‘sense’ glucose in the body.
Being overweight and following a high-fat diet appears to reprogram virus-fighting immune cells into disease-promotors in a discovery that sheds light as to why the liver produces an excess of glucose in diabetics.
A spate of recent reports have accused a top member of Scotland’s food standards agency of bias after revealing her financial ties to a major chocolate firm - is the junk food industry meddling with objective scientific research?
By Kathy Groves, Head of Microscopy, Leatherhead Food Research
Soluble dietary fibers, dextrins and added vanilla can help manufacturers cut sugar beyond reducing portion size, writes Leatherhead Food Research’s head of microscopy.
