Sugar reduction & stevia solutions for clean label sweetness
Sugar reduction strategies that help you satisfy today’s consumers
At a glance
Ingredion’s sugar reduction solutions help brands:
- Reduce or eliminate added sugar, increase label appeal and design for consumer preference, not parity
- Rebuild critical functionality, including bulk, browning and viscosity, while preserving the sensory experiences consumers expect
- Optimize performance across key categories, including beverages, bakery, dairy and sports nutrition
- Achieve regulatory and labeling goals while aligning with consumer expectations
- Accelerate speed to market through expert, insight-driven formulation support
Solve sweetness challenges with a broad portfolio of stevia sweeteners, rare sugars, polyols and flavor modulators.
Why sugar reduction matters
Sugar is widely recognized as a leading contributor to public health concerns, driving increased scrutiny from consumers, governments and regulatory bodies. Today’s consumers are actively making purchasing decisions to limit their sugar intake, while governments and health organizations are accelerating reformulation efforts through taxation, front‑of‑pack labeling and other regulatory initiatives designed to help people make more informed, health‑related choices.
Sugar’s role extends well beyond simply providing sweetness; it contributes to texture, enables browning reactions in baked goods, ensures viscosity and mouthfeel in liquids and imparts both bulk and stability across food matrices. Eliminating or reducing sugar without properly replacing these functions often results in products that fail to meet quality expectations.
The central challenge for food and beverage brands is developing solutions that reduce or eliminate added sugars while preserving those properties that consumers recognize and enjoy. Ingredion addresses this with an integrated suite of sweetener and functional build‑back solutions. Our portfolio combines high‑purity, clean‑tasting stevia sweeteners, flavor modulators and functional build-back ingredients such as allulose, polyols, fibers and starches. These ingredients and approaches are designed for ease of use in formulation and production, helping restore lost functionality, optimize flavor and support clean label, sustainable products aligned with health‑conscious consumer preferences.
The challenge: How do you reduce sugar while maintaining the sensory experience your customers expect?
The Ingredion solution: A comprehensive portfolio of sweeteners and functional build-back systems designed to help you meet your formulation and labeling goals
Featured ingredients for sugar reduction and cost optimization
PURECIRCLE™ stevia solutions
Stevia is a cornerstone of clean label sweetness. PureCircle™ by Ingredion’s portfolio offers:
- Natural origin, plant-based sweeteners for environmentally conscious consumers
- No added calories with clean sweet taste
- Customized PURECIRCLE™ Clean Taste Solutions tailored to meet the needs of specific applications (beverage, bakery, dairy, etc.)
- Clean label appeal with non-GMO, sustainably sourced ingredients that enable indulgent better-for-you products across food and beverage applications
- The latest sugar reduction innovations — including proprietary stevia solutions, sweet proteins and flavors with modifying properties — to overcome any sweetness challenge
Functional build-back Ingredients and customized formulation solutions
Sugar does more than sweeten — it impacts structure, browning and mouthfeel. Ingredion’s functional build-back systems:
- Restore bulk, viscosity and texture using rare sugars, polyols, fibers, starches and hydrocolloids
- Maintain indulgent eating experiences in reduced-sugar baked goods and dairy
- Reduce risk and help brands avoid costly trial-and-error reformulation by leveraging proven solutions
- Offer support in a wide range of applications, including cookies, cakes, ice creams and sports nutrition products
Guide: A fresh look at sweetness
What if sugar reduction wasn't about matching full sugar, but designing for what consumers want today? In this guide, see how changing sweetness preferences are creating new opportunities for innovation, differentiation and growth, and explore how Ingredion can help you build the best version of your product.
ASTRAEA® allulose
A rare sugar that mimics sucrose in taste and function:
- Sugar-like sweetness with fewer calories to support better-for-you formulations
- Functional bulk and mouthfeel replacement to maintain texture in baked goods and confectionery
- Ideal for beverages, bakery and dairy — especially where sugar reduction must not come at the expense of structure
- Reduce reliance on traditional sugar while leveraging allulose’s functional properties to simplify formulation
Opportunities for your brand
By adopting sugar reduction solutions, food and beverage brands can:
- Reduce recipe costs by up to 30% in high-sugar formulations
- Protect margins by replacing volatile sugar commodities with stable alternatives
- Accelerate speed – to market with ready-to-use systems that minimize development time
- Enhance sustainability credentials — an increasingly important purchase driver for consumers
“Consumer sweetness preference has evolved. We leverage data-driven insights to craft the ideal sweet taste consumers love.”
Adams Berzins
Senior Manager, Sugar Reduction
Sugar reduction by category
Sugar reduction strategies can be tailored to meet the distinct needs of each food and beverage category. Consequently, each solution empowers brands to address category-specific formulation challenges, improve product quality and meet evolving consumer preferences for healthier, more sustainable foods.
Beverages
For beverages such as ready-to-drink juices, teas and flavored waters, stevia and specialty syrups can replicate the sweetness and mouthfeel provided by traditional sugar, thereby enabling brands to offer clean label, low- and no-sugar options without sacrificing sensory appeal.
Sports nutrition
Reducing sugar in protein-based RTD and RTM beverages requires advanced solutions to balance nutrition, taste and functionality. Ingredion's solutions combine high-purity stevia, allulose and functional fibers to help lower sugar and calories while maintaining the mouthfeel expected in nutritional beverages.
Bakery
Learn how to reduce sugar and rebuild texture in granola and breakfast bars and maintain indulgence in reduced-sugar cookies.
Confectionery
By leveraging rare sugars such as allulose, functional build-back tools, high-purity stevia sweeteners and taste modulation technologies, brands can significantly reduce sugar while preserving the sweetness, texture and indulgence consumers expect from confectionery products. These solutions can also help optimize formulation costs and create a competitive advantage.
Let’s make your goals a reality
As experts in taste, texture and sensory science, Ingredion can help you make your brands healthier while still delivering the same eating experience your consumers love.
Additional sugar reduction resources
See our sugar reduction and functional build-back solutions in action. Ingredion experts can quickly help you choose a formula that best fits your specific applications.
Sugar reduction case studies and expertise
Explore our article on eliminating or reducing sugar in cookies and sweet biscuits without leaving any gaps for taste or functional performance.
Reduced-sugar flavored water
See how we use the SIMPLISTICA™ BV 0358 ingredient system to reduce sugar in flavored water while maintaining texture and flavor.
Webinar: Sustainable Clean Sweetness
Learn how stevia innovations are leading to lower environmental impacts.
Sweetener life cycle assessment e-book
Looking to reduce sugar sustainably? Download Ingredion’s e-book to review key take-aways from our industry-first Sweetener Life Cycle Assessment.
Webinar: Achieve sustainable sugar reduction
Ingredion’s application knowledge and comprehensive portfolio can help you create great-tasting products without all the sugar and advance your brand’s sustainability goals.
Explore consumer perceptions of allulose
Can this emerging rare sugar hit the sweet spot with your consumers? Download our report to learn about consumers' willingness to trial allulose — and their increased acceptance after they are made aware of what allulose is.
Consumers craving less sugar
Discover how several consumer preferences are driving the demand for lower sugar food and beverage products which support the pursuit of a healthy lifestyle. Learn about how innovations in sugar reductions ingredients are leading to more sustainable clean sweet taste.
Frequently asked questions
1. Why is sugar reduction such a challenge in food and beverage formulation?
Sugar affects more than sweetness. It contributes to texture, color, bulk, browning and shelf stability. Removing it without compensating for these functions can negatively impact taste and consumer acceptance. Ingredion’s ingredient solutions solve these multidimensional challenges.
2. What types of sugar reduction ingredients does Ingredion offer?
Ingredion’s portfolio includes:
- Stevia sweeteners from PureCircle™ for clean, plant-based sweetness
- ASTRAEA® allulose, a rare sugar that mimics sucrose in taste and function, with fewer calories
- Flavors with modifying properties (FMPs) that improve cost efficiencies and support flavor balancing
- Functional build-back solutions that replace sugar’s bulk, functionalities and mouthfeel
3. What is functional build-back?
Functional build-back refers to replacing the physical and sensory roles of sugar, such as viscosity, structure and mouthfeel using specialty ingredients like fibers, starches, hydrocolloids or polyols. It ensures that reduced-sugar foods still feel indulgent and satisfying.
4. How can I decide which ingredient to use for sugar reduction?
Consider:
- Degree of reduction (partial vs. total)
- Desired label claims (“no added sugar,” “reduced sugar,” “plant-based”)
- Functional goals (sweetness, mouthfeel, stability)
- Application type (beverage, bakery, dairy, confectionery, etc.)
Our experts can recommend the optimal system based on your formulation needs.
5. What is allulose, and is it safe?
Allulose is a naturally occurring rare sugar found in small amounts in foods like figs and raisins. It tastes and functions like sugar but contributes almost no calories. It carries Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is recognized as safe globally, with increasing consumer acceptance.
6. How do flavors with modifying properties (FMPs) help with sugar reduction?
FMPs enhance sweetness perception, offer total cost-in-use saving opportunities, mask undesired flavor notes and restore flavor balance in any type of formulation, including reduced-sugar products. Because they’re labeled as “natural flavors,” they maintain clean label appeal while improving sensory performance.
7. Can sugar reduction ingredients be used across all applications?
Yes. Ingredion’s portfolio supports sugar reduction solutions designed for the specific performance requirements of each application:
- Beverages: Maintain sweetness, mouthfeel and stability
- Bakery: Preserve structure and indulgence
- Dairy: Retain creaminess and mouthfeel
- Sports nutrition: Balance sweetness and performance needs
8. How do stevia and sugar reduction support clean label and sustainability goals?
Compared to sugar, stevia can reduce land, water and energy use, helping brands create lower-sugar products with a smaller environmental footprint. PureCircle™ by Ingredion's stevia portfolio offers plant-based, non-GMO sweetness produced through sustainable methods, including leaf extraction and bioconversion, giving food and beverage manufacturers flexibility across performance and cost needs.
9. How does Ingredion support formulators beyond ingredients?
Ingredion provides more than ingredients — we offer end-to-end support throughout the product development journey. Our global network of sugar reduction experts helps customers identify the right solution by combining consumer insights, formulation optimization and sensory science. From understanding consumer preferences to carefully calibrating taste, functionality and cost, we work alongside formulators to create solutions that perform effectively in both development and production.