Sugar replacement startups are using biotechnology to develop products that help food companies reduce calories while maintaining sweetness.
Food companies face a never-ending battle to find the sweet spot between healthfulness and tastiness.
Sugar reduction is a major priority in this effort: the Consumer Good Forum found last year that 102 leading global food companies (representing $1.8T in aggregate sales) viewed sugar as the No. 1 ingredient they hoped to remove.
However, the quest for the perfect low-calorie substitute for sugar is still ongoing. In seeking out replacements, food brands must consider factors such as cost, GMO ingredient usage, flavor profile, and chemical composition.
Below, we highlight 5 high-momentum startups creating new sugar substitutes.
These startups use a variety of technologies — editing sugar molecules themselves, adapting molecules from other plants, blocking bitter flavors — to achieve the same goal: making foods taste sweeter without adding calories.
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