How we’re making less sugar a sweeter deal

Imagine enjoying your favorite yogurt, soft drink, or snack with the full delicious taste you love - but with less sugar. Sound like a dream? No, it’s science in action.

At dsm-firmenich, we’re making this dream a reality. We create innovative food solutions that are healthier for people and the planet, without compromising taste.

Less sugar, big impact

Here's the bittersweet reality: sugar is delicious, but too much is causing us harm.

A few decades ago, sugar was seen as the perfect ingredient - tasty, versatile, and low-cost. Consumers loved it (who wouldn’t?), and before long, it was everywhere. Sweet or savory, sugar made everything better. A pretty sweet deal, right? Well, not exactly.

Reducing sugar is more than making healthy choices – it’s a global priority. Today, with nearly three billion people overweight or obese, cutting sugar is key to tackling major global health concerns like obesity and diabetes. The environmental cost is just as steep – cultivating sugar is resource-intensive, contributing to deforestation, biodiversity loss, and pollution. Less sugar means lower water and land use, a reduced carbon footprint, and a more sustainable future.

And it also helps manufacturers to navigate sugar taxes and shifting consumer expectations, so reducing sugar can work in their favor - and flavor.

But here’s the challenge: sugar is more than sweetness and the path to low sugar formulas is fraught with technical challenges that can compromise flavor, texture, and overall deliciousness of the products we love so much. That’s where our innovative sugar reduction solutions come in.

Sweet, tasty & healthy? We’ve got you!

Our TasteGEM® family of flavors elevate the taste of low-sugar food and beverage products. Using advanced technologies, including our breakthrough receptor-based technologies, these flavors are designed to work across a wide range of products and market needs, to improve flavor and mask any unwanted tastes.

Our TastePRINT® sweetening range is designed to fix the glitches that arise when reducing sugar. As one of the world’s largest plant-based sweetener suppliers, we create solutions that overcome the imperfections of alternative sweeteners, helping brands craft vibrant tasting, zero-calorie recipes.

And ModulaSENSE® taste optimization flavors give food producers the control to fine-tune any remaining gaps in taste, such as adjusting when the sweetness hits and how long it lasts, improving the texture and feel of the product in your mouth, or masking aftertastes like bitterness, creating a more balanced taste.

But how are they applied? Well, it depends.

Every product is unique, just like its application. All this is possible thanks to the expertise and experience within our company: from our unrivaled blend of science and creativity, our breakthrough technologies and unmatched ingredient palette, from our sustainability focus and customer support to the teams that bring it all together to shape a responsible, low-sugar future.

How do we hit the sweet spot?

Think of it like putting together a puzzle: when it comes to sugar reduction, every piece matters, and the magic lies in how all the pieces come together.

Our R&D teams work in unison to explore how sweetness is perceived at a biological level and how our taste receptors interact with various ingredients.

We combine our deep consumer and market understanding with our sensory, quality, applications, and regulatory expertise to develop solutions that tick all the boxes and make every choice a better one.

Take our team in North America, for example. In March 2024, they were tasked with creating an innovative, high-protein, zero-added-sugar yogurt range in both spoonable and drinkable formats – without compromising on taste or texture.

To solve this, our teams experimented with multiple sweetening ingredients and taste innovations to amplify premium taste and flavor, eliminating off-notes, and boosting natural sweetness with Maxilact® lactase. The result? A smooth, delicious, and nutritious yogurt that proves sugar reduction doesn’t have to come at the expense of taste.

The future of food is healthier, tastier, and smarter

“Our commitment to innovation and sustainability is reflected in our extensive pipeline of patents and ongoing research. By planning for a future world of over 2 billion additional people, we aim to provide solutions that are not only effective but also scalable and accessible globally” says Dr. Dattatreya Banavara, Sr. Director Innovation Global Sugar Reduction

Advances in taste modulation, better integration with existing product formulations, and growing consumer awareness will shape the industry. And at dsm-firmenich, we’re committed to staying ahead of the curve, helping consumers make better health decisions, while remaining just as tasty as ever.

Because bringing progress to life shouldn’t come at the cost of flavor. And with the right science, it doesn’t have to.

Want to learn more about sugar reduction? Click here.