Young people favor sugar substitutes, can health and deliciousness really have both?
Opening the cold drinks cabinet of the convenience store, one hand hesitated between "Fei Zhai Happy Water" and "Sugar-Free Soda Water".
After comparing the calorie meter on the back of the package, the hand finally took away the drink labeled "Sugar Free".
This summer, "sugar-free", "sugar substitute", and "0 calories" have become keywords that affect young people when they buy food. Various products such as beverages, yogurt, snacks, etc. have appeared on the market as signature brands, bringing consumers There are more choices than ever before.
Under the influence of the popularization of scientific concepts, many people have realized the dangers of excessive consumption of sugar, such as obesity and aging. Sugar-free products accurately capture the mentality of young people who want to be healthy and not willing to be delicious.
The demand of young people to "get both fish and bear's paw" in this session has driven the prosperity of the sugar-free market.
But is sugar really a scourge?
Are sugar substitute products really healthy?
Will long-term consumption of sugar substitute products cause side effects?
Everything under "sugar fear" can replace saccharification
Zhang Tingfei is a post-90s girl who cares about her figure and believes in science. She often reads the public health account.
She saw many articles about the dangers of sugar. The numbers of sugar content in some common foods "scare" her. A bottle of Coke actually contains more than a dozen cubes of sugar, and some don’t taste good. There is a lot of sugar in drinks that are too sweet.
After that, she had an instinctive resistance when she saw "Sugar", but how could there be no milk tea when she was with the little sisters?
She found that the milk tea shop she used to drink had introduced options such as "0-sugar low-calorie stevia" and "three-point sweet" to adjust the type and quantity of sugar, which won her heart.
"I can't drink boiled water, but my body doesn't allow me to drink sweet drinks anymore." For the boy Fan Ming, the "standard" when playing games is a bottle of sweet ice soda or tea drinks, which is also found in many Internet cafes. The top-selling beverage.
Later, he gained 30 jin, and his physical examination also found high uric acid.
Fan Ming can't give up the irritation of carbonated soda that hits his throat, so he has been looking for alternatives. The explosion of various sugar-free sodas on the market just meets his needs.
He said: "The taste is certainly not as good as the sugary one, but it is acceptable."
Sugar-free does not mean that it is not sweet, but uses various sugar substitutes as sweeteners to satisfy the taste.
According to my country's "General Principles of Nutrition Labeling of Prepackaged Foods", foods with less than 0.5g/100g (solid) or 100mL (liquid) sugar content can be labeled as "sugar-free food".
Take beverages as an example. If you want to fully pursue health, white water is the right choice, but if you can't give up the temptation of sweetness, sweetened sugar-free beverages have become the second choice for young people.
In the past, there were only a few types of sugar-free beverages. Among them, a tea beverage with no added sugar was bought because of its bitter taste.
Since last year, various types of sugar-free beverages have emerged in an endless stream. The "Three Musketeers" under the Coca-Cola Company, Coke, Sprite, and Fanta have all launched sugar-free products. The old brand Master Kong has launched sugar-free cold brewed green tea. The main product is sugar-free and quickly gained a place in the market.
The reporter has done incomplete statistics in a convenience store. There are nearly 10 choices of sugar-free beverages to choose from, including sparkling water, tea, milk tea, yogurt, etc. These products are marked with "0 card" and "no card" in prominent positions. "Sugar" and other words attract people's attention.
What sugar substitutes are used in these products?
The ingredient list gives the answer: Sugar-free Coca-Cola uses aspartame, Yuanqi Forest uses erythritol, and Xixiaocha uses erythritol and sucralose.
Accurate insights demand rapid development
Chaina, who likes to exercise, discovered a lot of people’s demand for sugar-free products in the fitness circle a few years ago. “We often say that weight loss requires keeping your mouth open and opening your legs. It’s more important to keep your mouth open. They are both opposites and fusions. A group wants some low-carb, low-sugar and delicious products." Pure whole wheat bread is available on the market, but the comment is often "I know it is healthy, but I can't eat it, sorry".
Later, Chaina’s father unfortunately suffered from cancer, and her family also had 40 years of diabetes, which prompted her to start a healthy hand-made bakery Fit Foodie, which uses flaxseed flour and coconut flour as raw materials for baking, making the bread taste and healthy. , It sells well online.
Later, her customer groups became more and more diverse: students who wanted to lose weight, parents who did not want their children to eat too much sugar, diabetics, and pregnant women who needed sugar control. "There are many girls who think that anti-sugar can slow down aging, although they are not sure about the two. The relationship between the people, but this is enough to attract women to buy."
On the other hand, Chaina believes that the improvement of sugar technology in recent years has promoted product enrichment.
Xylitol is the first impression sugar substitute for many people. In recent years, a variety of sugar substitutes such as erythritol, a natural sweet substance, have appeared on the market. The taste has greatly improved, which has also promoted many people. Choose sugar substitute products.
Another popular brand, Yuanqi Forest, has attracted attention because of its zero-fat, zero-sugar, and zero-card products, and is known as a spoiler in the beverage industry.
According to data from Ali, on Tmall June 18 in 2019, Yuanqi Forest sold a total of 2.26 million bottles of beverages, taking the first place in the water and beverage category; on "Double Eleven" in 2019, Yuanqi Forest was in sales across the entire network Ranked second, defeating foreign brand beverages such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi; in 2019, the sales of Yuanqi Forest exceeded 700 million yuan.
As a local beverage brand that has only been in business for 4 years, the relevant person in charge of Yuanqi Forest told reporters that they had done market research before starting the business. The research found that: First, the number of obese people in China is increasing, and obesity will cause a great burden on the body. , Affecting health; second, the "Healthy China" special action on reasonable diet also specifically proposed, "encourage consumers to reduce sucrose intake. Advocate food producers and operators to use natural sweeteners and sweeteners permitted by food safety standards to replace sucrose ".
During research and development, they will often ask several questions repeatedly, "Will you finish drinking one bottle at a time", "Will you buy it yourself", and "Will you keep drinking it yourself".
At the same time, Yuanqi Forest quantifies these problems and surveys into specific data through market, channel, sales and other aspects of research, and adjusts business operations based on these data.
Yuanqi Forest believes that its core competitiveness lies in its precise insight into user needs and the quality strength and innovation ability to meet user needs.
Unlike traditional beverage companies, Internet companies attach importance to data collection and analysis, and adjust and develop with changes in data. Each product of Yuanqi Forest has undergone hundreds of blind taste tests from R&D to production.
Consumption of sugar-free products is still necessary
The sales of sugar-free products are booming, but there are still people who worry about whether long-term use of sugar substitutes is good for health?
The person in charge of Yuanqi Forest explained the reason for choosing "erythritol" as the sugar substitute: erythritol is a natural sweet substance produced by yeast fermentation of corn starch raw material. After entering the human body, it does not participate in human blood sugar metabolism and does not produce it. Heat.
The person in charge introduced that the State Administration for Market Regulation and the Chinese Society of Food Science and Technology have compiled and released the "Food Safety Risk Analysis" Compilation (2014-2018), and it is safe to use sweeteners reasonably in accordance with the standards.
"There is no price to be satisfied without any desire." said Fan Zhihong, an associate professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Safety, College of Food Science, China Agricultural University.
In the past, many people became dependent on and liked sweetness. Now the health consciousness of young people has increased. They are in a state of conflict between rationality and instinct. Therefore, sugar substitute products are very popular.
However, the health effects of long-term consumption of sugar substitutes need to be reminded.
For example, aspartame is a dipeptide sweetener. Some studies have suggested that it may interfere with amino acid metabolism and affect the balance of neurotransmitters. For example, it affects the level of catecholamines in the brain and makes the nervous system overexcited. Conducive to the anti-anxiety and anti-depressive function of the human body.
She stated in an article on her public account that, in terms of mechanism, sweeteners can make people feel sweet, but they cannot cause a corresponding increase in blood sugar. This is a "deception" of the human metabolic system. , It is easy to cause disorder of metabolic regulation mechanism.
"Don't indulge your preference for sweet food and beverages just because there is no real sugar in it." Fan Zhihong suggested that excessive indulgence in sweetness itself is an unhealthy eating behavior. Accept the taste of natural foods, mainly from fruits. It is a reasonable way to obtain sweetness from natural foods such as dried fruits.
China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily reporter Chen Lu Source: China Youth Daily