Last updated on November 18th, 2015 at 04:18 pm
Sugar is now the top item consumers are trying to avoid in their diets and is neck-and-neck with calories as the top item they look for on nutrition facts labels, according to The NPD Group, a national research and information company.
In a report released this week, NPD concluded more sugar-free, unsweetened or reduced-sugar products are being consumed, and major foodservice distributors have increased case shipments of sugar substitutes to restaurants and foodservice outlets by double digits over last year.
In 2014, for the first time, sugar narrowly edged out fats for the No. 1 spot on the list. About 65 percent of adults want to cut down on or avoid sugar completely in their diets compared to 63 percent who want to do the same with fat.
When asked what they usually look for on nutrition facts labels, calories and sugars are checked by 42 percent of adults. Sodium is noted by 37 percent of adults and fat by 34 percent, according to NPD.
The growth in consumption of sugar-free products also is evident in the increase of case shipments of sugar substitutes from major broadline foodservice distributors to restaurants and foodservice outlets. Case shipments of bulk sugar substitutes to foodservice outlets increased by 22 percent in the year ending August 2015 compared to a year ago, reports NPD’s SupplyTrack, a monthly tracking service that tracks every product shipped from major broadline distributors to their foodservice operators. Case shipments of Stevia, a sweetener and sugar substitute extracted from the leaves of the plant species Stevia rebaudiana, to foodservice outlets increased by 11 percent, more than any other type of sugar substitute.
