LONDON — Calorie and sugar reduction are becoming an increasingly large focus area for beverage product developers as more consumers are paying more attention to their health and wellness.
The findings come from the recently published “The Sugar Challenge Report 2024” by data and insights company GlobalData, in which the company explores the rise in demand for low calorie and reduced sugar beverages and examines the outlook for the category.
“Consumers are becoming increasingly mindful of the ingredients in their food and drinks as they continue to adopt healthier lifestyles and reduce their sugar intake,” GlobalData said. “This growing preference for healthier options is reshaping the market and driving changes in regional sales trends. Low/no calorie product innovation is rapidly becoming a core focus for the non-alcoholic beverages industry.”
Over the 12-month period ended in May 2024, GlobalData identified sugar reduction claims (no sugar/low sugar/no added sugar) as the most popular benefit among non-alcoholic beverage launches. Approximately 35% of claims across 467 launches related to sugar reduction, along with low and no calorie (12%), high vitamins (9%), high protein (6%) and high fiber (4%). Additionally, 286 global patent applications and grants were published in the 52-week period ended in June 2024 that were identified with 'sugar reduction’, according to GlobalData Patent Analytics.
Low calorie formulations have continued to gain market share within the soft drink market, gaining 2.6 percentage points in sales volume share between 2014 and 2023, according to GlobalData. The market researcher projects the share to increase an additional 0.4 percentage points by 2028. Low calorie volume share within carbonated beverages is expected to reach 16% in 2028, up from 13%.
“Globally, low calorie drinks are gaining in popularity across all major soft drinks categories, most notably in carbonates and energy drinks,” the company said. “These typically higher sugar-laden categories have focused on low/no sugar innovation in recent years boosting low-calorie sales volume shares.”
GlobalData said growth segments for low calorie beverages include certain European countries, such as France and Spain, where low calorie drinks are overperforming despite a limited number of options and in low maturity, high potential regions such as the Middle East and Africa and parts of Asia.
A challenge in expanding consumer adoption for reduced sugar beverages will center around formulating sweeteners and sugar alternatives. Consumers remain hesitant regarding artificial ingredients due to health and safety concerns. GlobalData found 78% of global consumers said natural ingredients were either an essential element or nice to have when deciding between products, emphasizing the importance of clean label formulations.
“Finding sugar reduction solutions that offer an ideal balance between great taste and healthier ingredients is key to new product development in this space,” said Ashleigh Warnock, beverages managing consultant and analyst at GlobalData. “The ‘sweet spot’ for sweetener development is a product that matches the unique properties of sugar, a sweetener that can work in soft drinks and food recipes, is ‘perceived as natural,’ is ‘cheaper than sugar’ and is significantly lower in calories than the sugar being replaced.”
