New sweetener to hit market hungry for alternatives

By Sarah Hills
6/24/2008
www.foodnavigator-usa.com

An ingredients company has developed a new natural sweetener that it claims tastes like cane sugar and is expected to rival products such as stevia.

Natur Research Ingredients has announced plans for Cweet (3000x) Natural Intense Sweetener, which it says is 3,000 times sweeter by weight than sucrose, to be available by 2010.

However, in the US, this will depend on approval for GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status which the company is preparing to submit to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Cweet is derived from brazzein, a sweet fruit found in West Africa. It is similar to sucrose and is expected to have widespread use in products including chewing gum, sports drinks and candy, according to Loren Miles, CEO of Natur Research Ingredients, which is based in Los Angeles.

He said: "We think that the market is hungry for sweetener alternatives - that is the consistent message we have been receiving from food and beverage manufacturers globally.
"Our natural intense sweetener will give the food and beverage manufacturer an alternative to the other sweeteners out there, such as sucralose, aspartame, HFCS (high fructose corn syrup), stevia and Ace-K.

"In the artificial high intense sweetener category you have a lot of aspartame blended with Ace-K in order to achieve a sucrose-like blend. We are pretty confident that will not be necessary with our ingredient.

"We feel they have the potential of being worldwide and a very serious player in the high intense sweetener category."

Natur Research Ingredients, a privately held concern, obtained the exclusive worldwide license in 2007 from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) to manufacture and distribute Cweet Natural Intense Sweetener.

The new product follows on from Cweet (1,000x), launched in November, which is 1,000 times sweeter than cane sugar by weight. This is currently going through the GRAS process. It is expected to be commercially available in 2009 and samples are being sent out to food and beverage manufacturer to test the product.

Cweet 3000 is expected to be more desirable in beverage applications than Cweet 1000.
Natur Research is currently in discussions with global food and beverage brands for the exclusive rights to use Cweet within their product category for the first 2-years from availability.

It is also exploring strategic partnerships with global food raw material manufacturers and distributors to establish a supportive infrastructure for supply and demand for Cweet worldwide.

Stevia

Stevia is also a natural sweetener but under current US regulations it cannot be sold as a sweetener, although it has approval on the US market as a dietary supplement.

This month Arizona-based Wisdom Natural Brands announced it had
self-affirmed its version of stevia - Sweet Leaf - as being GRAS and the ingredient would be available in a soda or food product by the year's end.

In the meantime it would be available at retail level as a table-top sweetener that would be labeled as such and not a dietary supplement.

Coca-Cola and Cargill also recently published science backing their ingredient Truvia, which is derived from stevia. They have yet to bring it to market but a launch looks imminent.
Natur Research said its GRAS strategy was for both self-affirmed and full GRAS status.

Sweetener market

A recent report by Freedonia revealed that the US sweetener market alone is poised to increase 4 percent per year at present, to reach over $1bn in 2010.

Low-calorie sweeteners are used to meet consumers' desire for sweet treats whilst delivering less calories. This strategy has become especially important given the food industry's efforts to help curb the current obesity crisis and the market is also increasingly seeking 'natural' foods.

Natur Research Ingredients said market trends show that mass food and beverage manufacturers are seeking to reduce or replace sugar and HFCS usage. It claims that Cweet (3000x) will address the global market demand for a natural intense sweetener with a sucrose-like taste profile, while reducing caloric, glycemic loads and remaining cost effective.

Miles added: "We think it is most important that it has a sucrose-like profile because regardless of any health benefit, if it doesn't, you are going to have a hard time selling it to the consumer."

Its sister company Natur Research Foods already manufactures and distributes low intensity all-natural sweeteners for both the commercial and consumer sectors.

Soft drink makers all seeking natural sweeteners

Mon Jun 23, 2008 8:34pm BST

NEW YORK, June 23 (Reuters) - The top three U.S. soft-drink makers, Coca-Cola Co (KO.N: Quote, Profile, Research), PepsiCo Inc (PEP.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc (DPS.N: Quote, Profile, Research), are all working to develop a natural low-calorie sweetener aimed at health-conscious consumers.

"We all have scientists working right now to blend new combinations of these new top-secret (that we all know about) sweeteners that are out there", said Randy Gier, executive vice president of marketing for Dr Pepper Snapple on Monday. "It's just a matter of time until you see a major breakthrough."

Coca-Cola Co (KO.N: Quote, Profile, Research) has been working with agribusiness and commodity trading group Cargill Inc [CARG.UL] on a sweetener called Truvia, which is made from a South American herb called stevia. Cargill, which will market the product as a tabletop sweetener, said in May that it will be on the market this year.

Speaking on Monday at a conference hosted by beverage industry newsletter Beverage Digest, Coke's North American chief marketing officer, Katie Bayne, declined to say which drinks would use the new sweetener, or whether it was more appropriate for carbonated drinks like Diet Coke or still drinks like diet iced teas or juices.

PepsiCo is also working on a similar product from the same plant, which is native to Paraguay. Spokesman Dave DeCecco said the company had a supply and would be ready to market it when U.S. health regulators approve it.

Drinks containing this sweetener would likely be marketed to health-food stores and grocers, such as Whole Foods Market Inc (WFMI.O: Quote, Profile, Research), which prefer items without artificial sweeteners. (Reporting by Martinne Geller; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

Stevia plant providing range of new, natural sugar alternatives

* June 10, 2008
* Daniel Palmer
* Source: Cargill
* Source: SweetLeaf Sweetener

The efforts of one man 25 years ago to bring a native plant from Paraguay to the United States is on the verge of changing the way America eats. Available online and in US grocery store aisles for the first time is an all-natural, zero-calorie, zero-carb, zero-glycemic index alternative to sugar.

“No pun intended, but for me, this day is sweet victory,” said Jim May, CEO and founder of Wisdom Natural Brands, the makers of SweetLeaf Sweetener. May was, according to Wisdom Natural Brands, the pioneer who realized the potential of the Stevia plant when visiting Paraguay.

A number of companies have been working with the stevia plant to create new sweeteners and Mr May is excited to get this version to the market before most of the competition. “We have been working behind the scenes for months to get SweetLeaf Sweetener to market before any of our competitors, and now that we see they won’t have product available until much later, we definitely have a competitive advantage,” May indicated.

Long used in the United States as a dietary supplement and nutritional additive, Stevia is a naturally sweet plant, native to Paraguay, that is 30 times sweeter than sugar. The pure glycosides that are extracted from the Stevia leaves are up to 400 times sweeter than sugar.

To date, more than 1,000 scientific studies and abstracts prove SweetLeaf Sweetener a safe and healthy alternative to sugar and man-made artificial sweeteners. “Despite the claims of other sweeteners, this is truly the first and only all natural, calorie-free, completely safe alternative to sugar,” May argued.

Coca-Cola and Cargill have, however, also reportedly created a zero-calorie sweetener using the stevia plant.

Research published in the peer-reviewed scientific Journal Food and Chemical Toxicology establishes the safety of rebiana (common name for high-purity Rebaudioside A from stevia) for general use to sweeten foods and beverages, according to experts at Cargill and The Coca-Cola Company.

Cargill consider rebiana to be the first consistent, high-purity sweetener composed of rebaudioside A, the best-tasting part of the stevia leaf.

Cargill, in partnership with The Coca-Cola Company, has developed rebiana over a number of years as a natural, zero-calorie ingredient, which will be marketed by Cargill under the brand name ‘TRUVIA’.

“These newly published data complement the body of existing scientific research on steviol glycosides, the sweet components of the stevia leaf,” said Leslie Curry, regulatory and scientific affairs director, Cargill Food and Ingredient Systems. “The rebiana research program affirmed positive safety data from earlier studies on purified steviol glycosides and addressed unresolved questions resulting from studies with crude stevia extracts.”

Zanna McFerson, business director for Cargill Health and Nutrition, believes the sweetener will prove popular as consumers demand healthier food alternatives. “TRUVIA natural sweetener was developed to meet the strong consumer demand for a natural, zero calorie way to sweeten foods and beverages,” she said. “Rebiana provides a new great tasting alternative that meets that demand. The results of this research program pave the way to bring this long sought after sweetener to U.S. consumers.”

Cargill believe, in contrast to Wisdom Natural Brands, that rebiana will be the first available sweetener for foods and beverages that has been purified from the stevia plant.

As to which company was first to release a zero-calorie sweetener it is hard to judge, but one thing is sure, the new, natural sweeteners threaten to have a major impact on the food industry in the decades ahead.

The sweeteners are anticipated to be used for a variety of purposes, such as in baking and beverages.

Sweet Success for Stevia…finally

2008-06-06 - Functional Ingredients magazine
By Kimberly Lord Stewart

After decades of controversy, two sweeteners, derived from the stevia plant, may finally get their day in the consumer marketplace as something more than a dietary supplement. On May 15, Cargill introduced TRUVIA™, a branded sweetener made from rebiana for use in foods and beverages. Within two weeks of the Cargill announcement, Arizona based Wisdom Natural Brands, shipped Sweet Leaf® sweetener, made from steviol glycosides, to grocers across the country. Industry experts say with these two announcements, the race is on to gain consumer acceptance and brand awareness.

The first test will be restaurants and coffee shops. “It will be a race to who can own the tabletop market,” says Kantha Shelke, Ph.D., industry consultant from Corvus Blue. Shelke believes that consumers will form their first impression of rebiana or stevia when they try it from the little packets the coffee bar or restaurant table. It is a low-risk approach, she says. “If it a pleasant experience, the taste will linger in consumer’s food memories and thus relieve any doubts.” One of the drawbacks to previously tested stevia dietary-supplement brands is an aftertaste reminiscent of licorice. Rebiana and steviol glycosides contain no such aftertaste, according to both company reports.

In as early as Feb. 1986, FDA issued import alerts for stevia, branding it as an ingredient that should be detained if labeled as anything other than a dietary supplement. Many saw the controversy as a political quarrel with the end goal of quashing competition with the emerging artificial sweetener market.

For now, TRUVIA and Sweet Leaf change all that. Why the attitude adjustment? Even though the simultaneous release of Sweet Leaf and TRUVIA could easily be compared to a David and Goliath corporate competition – both companies used the same sling shot – a route called “self-determination of GRAS status.” This allows for the safety of the product to be decided by the views of experts, as long as there are significant published, peer-reviewed studies, available in the public domain. Wisdom Natural Brands and Cargill both hired teams of stevia experts (with FDA experience) to garner enough scientific support for each of their respective ingredients.

For Jim May, CEO of Wisdom Natural Brands, who introduced stevia to the US marketplace from Paraguay in 1982, achieving self-determination GRAS status was a hallmark moment. After decades of defending the safety of stevia, May had enough proof in March of 2008 to move stevia up on the food chain, thus allowing it to be sold on the sugar shelf, rather than relegated to the dietary-supplement aisle. “No pun intended, but for me, this day is sweet victory,” May said.

For Cargill, the TRUVIA announcement was no less sweet. In partnership with Coca-Cola, Cargill spent years evaluating the ingredient for safety and perfecting ways to extract, what they consider, the best tasting component of the stevia plant, called rebaudioside A. Research, funded by Cargill, and published electronically on May 16, 2008, in the peer-reviewed scientific journal, Food and Chemical Toxicology, demonstrated the safety of rebiana for use in sweetened food and beverages.

“It is important to note that TRUVIA is rebiana, not stevia,” says Steve Snyder, VP Global Business Director, High Intensity Sweeteners, Cargill Health & Nutrition. “Both stevia and rebiana come from the leaves of the stevia plant. Stevia is a sweetener that exists in the marketplace today as a dietary supplement. It is not a high-purity ingredient and its composition can vary widely – impacting quality and taste. Rebiana is a high-purity, fully-characterized extract that is consistently produced to a food-grade specification by Cargill.” See the sidebar below for more on the difference between stevia, rebiana and steviol glycosides.

Industry experts believe both forms of the no-calorie sweetener open new doors for the tabletop and beverage market, especially for consumers seeking an alternative to artificial sweeteners. Cargill plans to introduce a tabletop sweetener by end of year, though Coca-Cola has not announced the exact release date of its new TRUVIA-based beverages, citing competitive reasons. Wisdom Natural Brands began shipping their new Sweet Leaf sweetener to stores on June 2. They currently serve 99% of all natural product stores and thousands of grocery stores with their Stevia Plus brand.

The value of the alternative sweetener market is $915 million and continues to grow, according to Freedonia Group, a global research firm. Earlier this year the company said stevia (and agave) held the most hope for a widely accepted alternative sweetener. The reasons are many. First, according to recent research by the Department of Diabetes and Endocrinology, National University in Paraguay, steviol glycosides have no ill effects on blood sugar or blood pressure in patients with type I or type II diabetes. Secondly, there is little argument about stevia being deemed a natural ingredient, which is an ongoing debate between the sucralose and sugar industry. And, since it is a non-GMO product, widespread acceptance in Asian and European markets is another plus. According to the Stevia Association in Paraguay, the product has applications in:

· Beverages (low-calorie or no-sugar drinks) and milk drinks

· Candy, ice cream, yogurt, jams

· Canned and jarred fruits

· Sweet and sour foods, sauces, pickles

· Gums and candies

· Table sweeteners

· Toothpaste

Kimberly Lord Stewart

[sidebar] Rebiana Refresher

· Stevia typically refers to a crude preparation (powder or liquid) made from the leaves of the stevia plant. Such preparations contain a mixture of many components, not just those that give a sweet taste to the leaf. Because the exact composition of the mixture is unknown, studies that have used “stevia” are often difficult to interpret.

· Steviol glycosides are the sweet components of the stevia leaf. There are various kinds of steviol glycosides, but the two most abundant types are stevioside and rebaudioside A.

· Stevioside is the most abundant steviol glycoside in the stevia leaf, and the most studied.

· Rebaudioside A is the best-tasting steviol glycoside. It is broken down by the body into the same basic parts as stevioside.

· Rebiana is a 97-percent pure extract of rebaudioside A. It is the first high-purity, well-characterized form of rebaudioside A.

· Steviol is the substance produced when the body breaks down steviol glycosides in the colon.

Source: Cargill, Overview of the Rebiana Research Program, May 2008

No-Calorie Natural Sweetener on the Way

Truvia, Made From Stevia, Expected to Debut This Year; Other Stevia Products Step Up

By Miranda Hitti
WebMD Health News

Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

June 5, 2008 -- Splenda. NutraSweet. Sweet'N Low. Equal. Those no-calorie sweeteners may soon have new competition made from stevia, a shrub native to South America.

Stevia isn't new. It's been used for centuries as a sweetener in South America and is used Japan.

But in the U.S., stevia may only be sold as a dietary supplement -- not as a sweetener or a food additive -- due to the FDA's safety concerns. But that may be about to change.

Truvia, a new stevia product developed by Cargill and Coca-Cola, isn't settling for supplement status. It's set to debut later this year as a tabletop sweetener and ingredient in certain Coca-Cola products.

Truvia will have competition. Pepsi has its own stevia product in the works, and stevia supplements may look to move into the mainstream. All that buzz could spice up the competition for your sweet tooth.

But are the safety issues settled for good?

Naturally Calorie-Free

There's no shortage of no-calorie sweeteners on the market. The FDA has approved five artificial ones:

• Aspartame: Brand names include NutraSweet and Equal.
• Sucralose: Brand name is Splenda.
• Saccharin: Brand names include Sweet'N Low, Sweet Twin, and Necta Sweet.
• Acesulfame-K: Brand names include Sunett and Sweet One.
• Neotame: Approved for use as an ingredient in a wide variety of foods including baked goods, soft drinks, chewing gum, jams, and syrups.

Truvia differs from those products because it's natural, and it differs from current stevia products because it's backed by extensive safety studies, notes Ann Tucker, Cargill's communications director.

Those studies, published in the advance online edition of Food and Chemical Toxicology, show no signs of the possible health issues -- such as blood pressure, blood sugar, and reproductive effects -- that have been noted in some, but not all stevia studies done mainly on animals.

In the Cargill and Coca-Cola funded studies, Truvia didn't affect blood pressure in healthy people or blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes. Further tests in rats show no effects on reproduction, fertility, or other health problems.

When Will Truvia Debut?

"Is it a go? Yes, it's a go," Cargill spokeswoman Ann Tucker says of Truvia. But she can't say exactly when Truvia will be available.

"That's the gazillion-dollar question," says Tucker, adding that Truvia will get a "rigorous review" by the scientific community before it hits the market.

The FDA says it will review Truvia's case to be considered "generally recognized as safe," which would pave the way for it to become the first stevia product allowed as a food additive in the U.S.

Perspective of a Watchdog Group

"No company was able to demonstrate its safety to FDA," David Schardt, senior nutritionist at the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), tells WebMD. "Now maybe Cargill has done that. Maybe."

The CSPI hasn't been sweet on stevia because of possible safety issues.

"For good reason, FDA and a lot of other industrialized countries have not allowed it to be used as a food additive until these safety questions have been resolved. That's what Cargill thinks they've done ... at least with the extract that they're selling," says Schardt.

"We've always told consumers you're not going to drop dead if you use it [stevia] to sweeten your tea," says Schardt. "But there is concern about using it as a food additive, putting it into a lot of products that are sold to millions of people."

The CSPI's verdict on Truvia isn't in yet. But Schardt is cautiously optimistic. "We hope that the stevia extract does prove to be safe."

Sweetness in Moderation

Nutritionist Elaine Magee, MPH, RD -- WebMD's "Recipe Doctor" and the author of Food Synergy -- has blogged about her "wait and see" view of stevia.

"No matter what the alternative sweetener, including stevia, I would recommend moderation," Magee writes in an email. "I think that it tricks our body to taste sweetness and to not get the carbohydrates absorbed in the bloodstream that the body then expects. For some people I suspect this can bring on cravings or overeating later, perhaps."

That probably doesn't happen with "smaller amounts (like one diet soda a day)," writes Magee. "But there are people who have many diet sodas a day. This then also displaces more healthful beverages like green tea, water, or nonfat or low-fat milk."

That theory hasn't been proven. But it has come up in past research on diet sodas and weight gain. That research wasn't related to stevia.

Stevia Competition Heats Up

Pepsi plans to put its own highly purified, zero-calorie, all-natural stevia sweetener -- which doesn't have a name yet -- in various new products after it's approved by the FDA, PepsiCo spokesman David DeCecco tells WebMD in an email.

Meanwhile, a Seattle company called Zevia is already marketing Zevia, a carbonated dietary supplement containing stevia. The company touts its product as "the world's only all natural sugar-free alternative to diet soda." But Zevia hasn't bucked the "dietary supplement" label.

Zevia President and CEO Derek Newman tells WebMD in an email that the company has perfected the stevia taste with Zevia.

"I would be shocked if Cargill's product is nearly as good," he writes.

In a statement emailed by Tucker, Zanna McFerson, business director for Cargill Health and Nutrition, says, "There are many stevia blends available as dietary supplements today. We cannot comment on all the variations and only know that we consistently offer a safe, pure, and consistent product."

Truvia's research may not apply to other stevia products, notes Schardt.

"If you believe Cargill, the research establishing its safety is on a particular extract, a pure extract [Truvia], and that it doesn't necessarily apply to something else that's not quite the same. So that's an issue that I guess FDA is going to have to address," says Schardt.

Gilbert firm set to announce stevia distribution deal

June 3, 2008 - 8:45PM
Tony Natale, Tribune
www.eastvalleytribune.com

Jim May is about to begin the sweetest deal of his entrepreneurial life. The 72-year-old Valley businessman is keen on a sweet herb called stevia and will soon distribute the sweetener to more than 14,000 health food stores and thousands of supermarkets across the nation.

He plans to hold a news conference Thursday in New York City to announce the deal.

May, founder of Wisdom Natural Brands in Gilbert, is beating some of the world’s biggest corporations to the punch, including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and several leading drug companies that are expected to market the sweetener later this year.

“I feel like David beating Goliath,” May said.

Stevia, a plant used by Guarani Indians in South America centuries ago to make tea and medicines, is one of the most popular sweeteners in Japan and is part of a growing market in China.

But it was banned for use specifically as a sweetener in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration in 1991. In 1995, the FDA changed its decision and said it could be imported but labeled only as a “dietary supplement,” not a “sweetener.”

However, May challenged the FDA decision and won the right to distribute stevia as a sweetener.

His product, called SweetLeaf Sweetener, unlike most food supplements, contains no calories or carbohydrates and does not raise blood sugar levels, making it safer, for example, for diabetes patients.

Sweeteners on today’s market, including Equal and Splenda, are made from chemicals, May said.

May learned about stevia from a friend and physician who had served in the Peace Corps in Paraguay.

“My friend and I were sitting at his home in Mesa and he asked me to taste a dried leaf and, frankly, I was apprehensive,” May recalled. “I said, ‘No, thanks.’ But he convinced me, and I finally relented. It was the sweetest thing I had ever tasted.”

At that moment, May said he was convinced the herb could be used to produce a sweetener and could become a profitable venture. He gave his friend virtually all of his savings and asked him to return to Paraguay and begin shipping the leaves to him.

“My wife, Carol, nearly fainted when she learned I had risked all of our life’s savings, but I had this gut feeling,” May said.

His company was started in their garage at their home in Phoenix. Through the years his company expanded and in 2005 moved to a 30,000-square-foot office and warehouse in Gilbert.

The company, which distributes a variety of health foods, has 30 employees. It owns a manufacturing and distribution plant in Chicago and has annual revenue of more than $12 million, May said.

The SweetLeaf Sweetener, also called SweetLeaf SteviaPlus, will be sold in boxes containing either 50 or 100 packets of stevia. Each packet replaces 2 teaspoons of sugar.

May said the market for stevia not only will result in economic gains for his firm, but also will have another effect.

Stevia “is the perfect crop for Third World countries,” said May. “It can only be grown in hot, humid climates where a lot of marijuana and cocaine plants are now being raised for the illegal drug markets. These countries now will have a choice to grow a plant that is healthy — and profitable.”


Founder and CEO of Wisdom Natural Brands Jim May, holds one of the tiny leaves of the stevia plant which are used to produce his SweetLeaf Sweetener product. The Gilbert company is in the process of launching nationwide sales of the natural sweetener.

Stevia One Step Closer To Food & Beverage Market (KO, PEP)

Jon C. Ogg
June 3, 2008
www.247wallst.com

If you have been a "diet" or zero calorie soft drink beverage drinker or have used artificial sweeteners on foods, there has always been the issue of "what are you putting into your body?". Most sugar-substitute sweeteners on the market have a myriad of chemicals or are derived from sugar. Finally this is about to change, and the change will be official.

Last year there was a report on CNBC citing the WSJ that Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) had teamed up with Cargill to develop and market a new calorie-free natural sweetener in an attempt to appeal to a growing band of health-conscious consumers. The problem is that this from the Stevia plant, and it is not approved as a "food additive" in the U.S. nor in Europe.

The most recognized brand for Stevia is SweetLeaf(R), under parent Wisdom Natural Brands(R) based in Gilbert, Arizona. Until now this had to be sold as a "dietary supplement" and could not be marketed as a sweetener because Stevia is not approved as a food additive in the U.S. nor in Europe. SweetLeaf(R) Sweetener(TM) has recently achieved GRAS status (generally recognized as safe) via outside independent review.

The regulatory and production challenges that hindered Coca-Cola's & Cargill's "rebania" product may soon be about to change. Stevia comes from an all natural plant root and has been used as an "artificial sugar-free and calorie-free sweetener" for years by many. Cargill's website links you to its own Truvia(tm), and Cargill made their announcement in mid-May calling it a sweetener.

This nod might not do anything for the production challenges and current supply limitations that may exist. But this a great start. Coca-Cola has many patents that may cover this, but you can be assured that Pepsico (NYSE: PEP) and other food and beverage makers may take an interest if they haven't already.

It's always touchy writing about a product you use or a product you like, because the objectivity becomes skewed. But this is something that is written about with some cheer. The truth is that some people love the flavor or sweetness of Stevia, and many don't. This won't lead to a category-killer product that kills all traditional soft drinks nor will it kill all diet drinks and other sugar substitutes or sweeteners in foods. But it will lead to a new category of sugar-substitute drinks and foods that have previously not been allowed on the market.