Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has put the spotlight back on sugar with a call for a tax on sugary drinks – but industry has accused him of simplifying a complex problem.
Return to school can be an abundant time for food and drink makers, but stakeholder actions are rupturing market safeholds as health concerns rise, says Euromonitor analyst Lauren Bandy in this guest article.
SIG Combibloc & Nestlé Mexico expand ‘Coffee Mate’ range
Beverage portion sizes are decreasing due to consumer concerns about sugar and calorie intake and plant-based alternatives to dairy products are finding a ready market with consumers, according to SIG Combibloc.
When it comes to cutting levels of obesity-related heart disease and death, it’s time to stop counting calories, and start to make simple changes that improve the nutritional value of diets, argue public health experts.
Mounting scientific evidence and a shift in public opinion could mean fructose is set to follow the same black-listed fate as trans fats, argues an analyst.
A high energy intake from total fat, saturated fat and monounsaturated fat in middle and older age increases the risk of malnutrition ten years later, say Swedish researchers.
The Swedish Food Authority (NFA) will look at what 3,000 children eat and drink over two days as part of a study into the diets of the country's youth.
New data on beverage intakes for 187 countries has revealed significant differences in current consumption levels and historic trends for sugar-sweetened beverages, fruit juices and milk, say researchers.
Modern ‘Western diets’ can lead to poor immune functioning and increased risk of inflammatory conditions, allergy, and auto-immunity, researchers warn.
Symbolic information on a food label can change the perception of a product – even when consumers are aware that this perception is false, write researchers.
Stop talking about food taxes like they are some sort of panacea that will alter consumer behaviours overnight, and magically eliminate obesity and diabetes. They won’t.
Experts from both sides of the sugar tax debate have set out their arguments in a ‘head to head’ article in the British Medical Journal (BMJ). Where do you stand on the sugar tax issue?
There are no major differences in nutritional content between private labels, national brands and hard discount goods – although private labels come out top for nutrition labelling, according to a French government study.
Sugary drinks may cause type 2 diabetes regardless of obesity – and artificially-sweetened drinks or fruit juice are not necessarily healthier alternatives, according to new research.
Consumers and industry have embraced the mid-calorie concept in drinks and are starting to look at its relevance in other product categories, according to stevia supplier PureCircle.
Mars plans to expand capacity at its Veghel plant over the next 10 years to produce miniature versions of its brands as Western Europeans limit their calorie intake.
Some people may perceive sweet tastes as weaker than others – perhaps leading them to add more sugar or sweetener to gain the same level of sweetness, new research suggests.
Manufacturers must do more to help consumers halve their overall energy intake from free-sugars to less than 5%, commentators on Twitter have urged after the release of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition's report on carbohydrates today.
The UK government’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) has ditched a 10% upper limit on sugar intake instead recommending that less than 5% of daily energy should come from free sugars.
Ongoing consumer concern about sugar consumption means some consumers are turning away from sweet tastes altogether, according to market research organisation Mintel.
US researchers have created a ‘healthy beverage index’ – a scoring system designed to measure the quality of beverage intake and help prompt healthy drink choices.
The British Medical Association (BMA) is calling for a soft drink tax in the UK, but an industry body says targeting a single category is ‘misguided and unlikely to prove effective.’
Lack of media differentiation between different study designs has helped warp public perception of low- and no-calorie sweeteners, according to registered dietitian and diabetes educator Hope Warshaw.
Industry bodies around the globe have slammed a US study which attributes 184,000 deaths a year to sugary drinks, saying its authors fail to show cause and effect or prove a direct link with beverages.
Increases in the food energy supply in many countries of the world, leading to a higher availability of cheap energy-dense foods, is more than enough to explain a concurrent increase in body weight and obesity epidemic, say researchers.
Consumption of sugary drinks may lead to an estimated 184,000 adult deaths each year worldwide, according to research, which warns of an urgent need for strong global prevention programs.
A 20% duty on sugary drinks in England could result in 2,400 fewer cases of type 2 diabetes and 1,700 fewer cases of stroke and coronary heart disease, according to a study from Food Active.
A diet rich in fat and sugar could cause changes in the make up of our gut bacteria, which in turn lead to losses of cognitive functions, suggest researchers.
Almost two-thirds of global consumers are concerned about sugar intake – but the choice between low-sugar and sugar-free depends on the food or drink category, according to a new report from DSM.
More than half of consumers (56%) have not changed their eating habits despite media coverage of high sugar content in many foods and drinks, according to a market research report.
Giving people money to encourage healthier lifestyles only works in the longer term when designed to stop negative behaviour rather than promote positive choices, suggests research from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
Consumers' affinity with beloved junk food brands can be strong – but trying to weaken it may be counter-productive by reducing preferences for healthy foods, say scientists.
Fruit flies have a set of neurones that fire only when they encounter real sugar – triggering the release of a hormone that is not released when they eat a non-calorific sweetener. And researchers suggest that humans possess the same ‘molecular machinery’.
The end of EU sugar beet quotas could worsen the obesity crisis and damage the livelihoods of sugar cane growers and producers – and as an ex-colonial power Britain has a moral responsibility to act, says a report by the Food Research Collaboration.
Coca-Cola Enterprises is positioning itself as ‘part of the solution to obesity,’ as it pledges to reduce calories by 10% per litre across its beverage portfolio in the next five years.
A proprietary carrier particle can reduce sugar content and calories by more than 50% – without a loss in sweetness or a rise in costs, says Israeli company DouxMatok.
Consumption of a sugar-sweetened drink on a daily basis may be associated with an increased risk of developing non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), say researchers.
The UK's National Health Service (NHS) CEO says failing to reformulate products to reduce added sugars would be like slow food poisoning of the nation.
The Swedish National Food Agency (NFA) has begun an investigation into levels of nutrients and potentially undesirable substances present in common foods on the Swedish market.
Sugar binders in oat bars can be removed completely if certain process adjustments are made to leverage beta-glucan as the binding agent, says the bakery science manager at Campden BRI.
