food

Zero-Cal Stevia Poised To Change Sweeteners Market

SweetnersWhen Coca-Cola and PepsiCo both jump on a "new" ingredient, you know a market's about to change. That's the case with stevia, the powerful sweetener derived from a plant native to Latin America and cultivated in that region, China and Japan.

Since 1995, the FDA has allowed stevia to be marketed only as a "dietary supplement" in the U.S., but the agency is expected to soon green-light the sweetener's use as an additive in food and beverages in response to marketers' approval submissions.

Coke and Pepsi are salivating over the U.S. potential for stevia-sweetened products because stevia has natural origins, zero calories, zero carbs and a zero glycemic index rating--attributes expected to be a big draw among Americans increasingly concerned about rising rates of diabetes and obesity and ingesting chemically produced ingredients.

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In fact, both companies have stevia products in the pipeline. In May, Coke and Cargill announced a partnership to sell a stevia derivative under the brand name Truvia. Truvia tabletop sweetener became available through Truvia's Web site and in select New York D'Agostino supermarkets in July, and will be "broadly available" in food retailers this fall, according to the site. Furthermore, Coca-Cola may launch a beverage containing Truvia in at least a few U.S. markets before year's end, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Meanwhile, in July, PepsiCo and Whole Earth Sweetener Company announced a stevia sweetener branded PureVia, which is also being rolled out in tabletop sweetener form (marketed by Whole Earth) in food stores across the U.S. this fall. And the companies are already unleashing their global beverage/food strategy, beginning with the introduction of PureVia-sweetened SoBe Life fruit-blend drinks in Latin America.

In the PepsiCo/Whole Earth announcement, PepsiCo SVP Lou Imbrogno declared stevia "a potential game-changer among zero-calorie sweeteners."

In truth, however, stevia is far from new. It has been approved and has been in use as both a stand-alone sweetener and a food/beverage additive for decades in countries such as Brazil, South Korea and Japan. By some estimates, it now accounts for 40% to 50% of the sweetener market in Japan, where it is used in many products, including Diet Coke, Wrigley's sugar-free gum and Beatrice Foods yogurts.

Furthermore, stevia first became available in the U.S. back in the '80's, through companies such as Stevita Co. and Wisdom Natural Brands, whose SweetLeaf is currently the leading stevia brand, according to a new Packaged Facts study, "Trends in the U.S. Market for Sugar, Sugar Substitutes and Sweeteners."

Wisdom, which made a major move by launching SweetLeaf Sweetener in May, is seeking to differentiate itself in part by stressing that it's an entirely natural product because it uses a water extraction process, whereas Cargill uses methanol or ethanol, points out Packaged Facts. (Whole Earth/PepsiCo, however, are touting PureVia's "freshwater brewing" extraction method.)

Wisdom is also the first stevia-based product to achieve Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status from the FDA, according to its Web site. GRAS is the agency's designation for substances determined to be safe in foods by competent scientific research. The FDA currently is simultaneously reviewing GRAS notifications (submissions of independent research proving safety) from both Whole Earth/PepsiCo and Cargill/C-C, since both PureVia and Truvia are based on a purified stevia component called Rebaudioside-A (Reb A). The companies both filed in May, and the FDA has 180 days to respond--the hoped-for outcome being a "no objection" letter from the agency.

Stevia's widespread acceptance by U.S. consumers will of course also depend on its taste versus other sweeteners. Earlier formulations are said to have left a licorice-like aftertaste, but the newer offerings claim to have licked this problem.

A marketer that has had the required research done can decide to rely on its "self-affirmed" GRAS status to begin marketing, according to a Whole Earth spokesperson. However, this could be somewhat risky, since the FDA could decide to question, or even in the worst case pull a product from the market prior to its GRAS confirmation.

Packaged Facts estimates that sugar substitutes/artificial sweeteners accounted for $1.2 billion (of which $498 million was in retail sales) of $9.7 billion in total 2007 U.S. retail, food service and industrial sales of sugar and other natural, refined and artificial sweeteners. Retail sales of all sweeteners, natural and artificial, totaled $3.1 billion.

Splenda (sucralose), is by far the leader in the artificial sweetener/sugar substitute market, with 61% of retail sales in food, drug and mass-market stores excluding Wal-Mart and natural products supermarkets, reports PF. Sweet'N Low, the leading saccharin brand, slightly outpaces Equal, the leading aspartame brand, at retail.

Over time, stevia sweeteners could grow to account for as much as 20% of the overall sweetener market, Stevita Co. founder Oscar Rodes recently predicted to U.S. News & World Report.

Little wonder, then, that in addition to Coke and Pepsi, NutraSweet is said to be developing a stevia product and Corn Products International (in partnership with a Japanese company) is readying one called Enliten, according to Packaged Facts. The FDA banned stevia imports into the U.S. in 1991, after some animal studies (whose methodology was widely questioned) indicated a potential for contributing to cancer and reproductive complications. That controversial move, which stevia marketers maintained was a sop to artificial-sweetener producers, was changed to the "dietary supplement" approval after the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act amended the FDA's regulation criteria.

After reviewing the available research in 2006, the World Health Organization concluded there was no evidence that the sweet compounds in stevia leaves (steviol glycosides) produce carcinogenic activity or other harmful effects. In fact, the agency reported some evidence that the substances might be helpful in treating hypertension and type-2 diabetes, although it said that further study is needed on this. WHO's approval of stevia as a food additive helped open the way for marketers to seek regulatory approval of additive status in the U.S. and the European Union.

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