‘Zero-sugar’ craze sweeps food and beverage industry - koreatimes

Gettyimagesbank

By Lee Gyu-lee

As people increasingly seek pleasurable yet healthier dietary options, sugar substitutes have become the new key trend in the food and beverage industry. This shift has given rise to the term "healthy pleasure," with the industry responding by introducing a variety of zero-sugar products ranging from soft drinks and alcoholic beverages to desserts.

For Son Hyeong-ji, a 25-year-old graduate school student, sugar substitute products are the perfect replacements for the sweets she enjoys.

"As someone who enjoys sweets a lot, I'm conscious of my sugar intake. So whenever I have options between a product with regular sugar and alternative sugar, I always go for the latter. Also, when I'm on a diet I can definitely feel the difference in my body fat when I consume food and drinks that contain a lot of sugar and those with lower or no sugar levels because I'm the type of person who is affected drastically by the things I consume," she said.

"I would use allulose instead of regular sugar even when I'm making meals or snacks … I also like to drink (alcoholic beverages), so when I go for zero-sugar alcohol, it makes me feel less guilty."

The size of the domestic beverage market has been steadily growing at an average rate of over 5 percent every year since 2018, reaching 10.32 trillion won ($7.49 million) in 2022, which is a 7.6 percent increase from the previous year, according to the Food Information Statistics System of the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (aT),

Among these, the zero-sugar carbonated beverage market size grew from 92.4 billion won in 2020 to 368.3 billion won in 2022, nearly quadrupling over just two years.

Lotte Chilsung released a zero-sugar version of the creamy soft drink, Milkis. Courtesy of Lotte Chilsung

The local convenience store chain GS25, run by GS Retail, revealed that zero-sugar beverages accounted for over 52 percent of total carbonated beverage sales from January to April of this year.

In response to recent consumer preferences, there has been a proliferation of products incorporating substitutes to lower sugar content and reduce calories.

The drink manufacturer, Lotte Chilsung, which entered the sugar substitute market by launching a zero-sugar and zero-calorie version of its flagship product, Chilsung Cider, in 2021, has been releasing a series of zero-sugar versions of its beverages, including the energy drink, Hot6ix, and creamy soft drink, Milkis. Last month, the company introduced its latest zero-sugar product, Mountain Dew Zero Sugar Blue.

According to the company, sales of its zero-sugar carbonated drink has been drastically growing from 89 billion won in 2021 to 188.5 billion in 2022 and 273 billion in 2023.

"With the rise of the healthy pleasure trend, we launched our new product, 'Mountain Dew Zero Sugar Blue,' to offer a variety of options for consumers seeking zero-calorie soft drinks," the company said. "We plan to continue expanding our portfolio of zero-calorie beverages to meet the diverse needs of consumers in the future."

Nongshim, which launched Welch's Zero in 2022, recently rolled out Welch's Zero Cherry Strawberry and the sports drink, Dayplus, while Paldo introduced a sugar substitute version of its long-beloved traditional Korean rice drink product, Sikhye, this April.

Sugar substitute carbonated drinks are displayed at a supermarket in this file photo from July 4, 2023. Yonhap

Zero-sugar drinks boom

Zero-sugar alcoholic beverages, employing artificial sweeteners, have been booming among health-conscious alcohol consumers. Lotte Chilsung introduced the first zero-sugar branded soju, Saero, in 2022, which sold 50 million bottles in just four months after its release and 100 million after seven months.

Last year, out of the company's 20.7 percent share of the total soju market in the country, Saero accounted for 8 percent.

Another leading drink company, HiteJinro, joined the trend after releasing a zero-sugar version of its main soju product, Jinro, last year, launching a newly branded artificially sweetened soju, Jinro Gold, earlier this year.

Alternatively, sweetened desserts, ice cream, condiments, and various food items are also being introduced to appeal to consumers with low-calorie and healthier consumption marketing strategies.

The confectionery company Lotte Wellfood introduced a dessert line called ZERO, which utilizes the artificial sweetener maltitol instead of sugar. This line includes chocolate bars, cookies, jelly, and ice cream.

It also recently introduced a zero-calorie version of two ice pop products, substituting sugar with allulose. Allulose contains significantly fewer calories than sugar — only 40 calories per 100 grams, which is just one-tenth the caloric content of sugar. Under food hygiene laws, products containing less than 40 calories per 100 grams qualify to be labeled as zero-calorie.

Dongwon F&B released a series of sugar substitute condiments, like oyster sauce and salad dressings, using allulose. Last month, it launched sugar-free canned products, including canned peach and corn, which substitute sugar with another type of artificial sweetener called sucralose.

A photo of zero-sugar yangnyeom (spicy-sweet sauce) chicken / Courtesy of Chicken Plus

Fried chicken chain, Chicken Plus, even introduced a zero-sugar "yangnyeom" or spicy-sweet sauce chicken earlier this year, reducing 23 percent of calories compared to the regular menu.

"This menu came after 10 months of research and development," the company said, adding it uses allulose as a substitute. "Not just with the sauce, but we've also eliminated sugar from all basic ingredients such as chicken. As a result, it has about 23 percent lower calories with 0 percent total sugar content.

However, despite the growing trend of zero-sugar branded products, there have been controversies on whether they contribute to healthier consumption.

Last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a new guideline on non-sugar sweeteners (NSS) and cautioned against their use for weight loss and reducing the risk of noncommunicable diseases.

"Replacing free sugars with NSS does not help with weight control in the long term. People need to consider other ways to reduce free sugar intake, such as consuming food with naturally occurring sugars, like fruit, or unsweetened food and beverages," Francesco Branca, WHO Director for Nutrition and Food Safety, said.

"NSS are not essential dietary factors and have no nutritional value. People should reduce the sweetness of the diet altogether, starting early in life, to improve their health."

From left, zero-sugar soju brands, Saero, Jinro and Sunyang / Courtesy of Lotte Chilsung, HiteJinro and Sunyang

Also in 2023, the WHO and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) shared the assessment that classified NSS aspartame as possibly being carcinogenic.

Contrary to expectations, zero-sugar soju was found to have only a slight difference in calorie content compared to regular sugar soju, according to research conducted by the Korea Consumer Agency in May.

Among five different brands of soju that offered both regular and sugar substitute versions, the calorie difference between the two ranged only from 2 to 15 calories, even though 68.6 percent of 2,000 survey participants believe that zero-sugar soju would have significantly fewer calories.

"Based on the results, we recommended improvements in 'zero' labeling to the businesses we used in this research. And we also plan to discuss adjusting measures related to marketing such labels with relevant government offices," the agency said, highlighting the importance of keeping consumers accurately informed about the calorie content and health implications of zero-sugar products.

Adblock test (Why?)