The 'Sugar Swap' Slammed to the Top of Social Media: Some Honest Words After Digging Through 1,000 Beverage Ingredient Lists

Recently, #BringBackWhiteSugar# surged to the top of social media. It started when consumers discovered that in the ingredient lists of a large number of beverages, condiments and other foods, white granulated sugar had been replaced with high-fructose corn syrup, and some experts said high-fructose corn syrup is unhealthy. As a result, the comment sections were almost unanimously of the view that food companies have no conscience.

Because I deal with ingredient lists every day, I want to help everyone dig into one question: how common is this kind of sugar swap in beverages sold on the market?

So, based on data in Foodmate's 'Food and Beverage New Product Database', I downloaded and sorted out the ingredient lists of foods sold on the market collected over the past year, of which 1,000 were beverage categories (excluding packaged drinking water, because no sugar of any kind can be added to it). Next, I'll use it to explain the facts about sugar swapping clearly, and then talk with friends in R&D and production about the points to watch when swapping sugar.

01.

First, let's be clear about the two sugars

White granulated sugar is the crystalline form of sucrose, made from sugarcane or sugar beet.

High-fructose corn syrup is a liquid sugar produced by hydrolyzing corn starch; its main components are glucose and fructose, and it comes in several specifications of 42, 55 and 90 according to fructose proportion.

Both are added sugars. There is no dispute about that classification.

So why do companies swap? Public reports have done the math: the wholesale price of high-fructose corn syrup is about half that of white granulated sugar, and at equal sweetness it is more than 2,000 yuan cheaper per tonne.

In terms of processing, liquid sugar does not need to be dissolved first — it can be fed directly, it flows well, and its sweetness is clean.

So swapping sugar is a calculation that works out. But companies doing their math well does not mean consumers should quietly accept it; what they want is the right to know, and they do not want to be kept in the dark.

02.

The real structure of 1,000 beverages

Take a look at this chart

From the chart we can draw three conclusions:

First, those that truly 'swap out white granulated sugar' account for only 8.2%. Even counting in all those that use both sugars together, the penetration rate of high-fructose corn syrup is only 27.5%. The trending topic gives the impression of a 'wholesale substitution', but my data does not support that judgment.

Second, using both is the mainstream practice. 19.3% of products contain both sugars. High-fructose corn syrup supplements sweetness and flowability, white granulated sugar preserves flavour — this is a routine blending technique in the industry, not something shameful.

Third, the most surprising figure is 48.4%. Nearly half of beverages contain neither of these two sugars at all, and 30.1% do not even carry the words for any added sugar, covering categories such as tea beverages and fruit and vegetable juice beverages. Consumers' anger is still stuck at 'sugar swapped for sugar', but the market has in fact long moved toward the 'sugar reduction' trend.

As a piece of circumstantial evidence for cross-reference: a certain social media platform surveyed 133 beverages in a large chain supermarket in September, of which 67 contained high-fructose corn syrup and 51 used both sugars. That sample was small and concentrated on carbonated drinks, juices and tea, so the proportion was high. My 1,000-item data set is larger and more mixed, and high-fructose corn syrup accounts for 27.5%.

Only by looking at the two data sets together is it fair: sugar swapping is indeed happening, but it is concentrated in a few categories such as carbonated drinks, not a large-scale swap across the whole industry.

03.

Which sugar is healthier?

The logic of the three camps of experts in public reports is roughly as follows:

One camp holds that the two have different metabolic pathways. Fructose is free and is metabolized by the liver, and the peak in blood uric acid is higher.

Another camp holds that both are added sugars, with no inherent difference in quality.

Still other researchers point out that comparing the two sugars directly on 'which harms metabolism more' lacks comparability in the experimental conditions themselves.

This article cannot draw a conclusion and cannot tell everyone which is healthier, because what nutritional science is still arguing about is not for me and a single ingredient-list article to settle.

But amid all the arguing, there is one sentence everyone agrees on, and it is the most practical for ordinary people: rather than agonizing over which sugar is healthier, controlling the total amount is more to the point.

The 'Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents' recommends that added sugar should not exceed 50 grams per day, and is best kept within 25 grams. A 500-millilitre bottle of sugary drink often takes up most of a day's allowance.

That is what I wanted to say about this trending topic: the problem of 'wholesale substitution' does not exist; the 'right to know' that consumers are fighting for also deserves companies' attention; and moreover, rather than arguing over right and wrong, it is better to control sugar yourself.

In the next part, I'll talk again with friends who do technical work.

04.

If you really are going to swap sugar, what work do R&D and production have to do?

Trending topics will pass, but if your company really is going to 'swap sugar', the formula will certainly have to change. Whether switching from white granulated sugar to high-fructose corn syrup, or switching back after public opinion, you need to pay attention to five things.

The first is raw materials. Suppliers, specification sheets and incoming inspection items all have to change accordingly. Liquid sugar and crystalline sugar are two entirely different acceptance logics: for high-fructose corn syrup you look at dry matter concentration, fructose proportion, colour and microorganisms; for white granulated sugar you look at sucrose content, particle size and colour value.

The second is processing. It sounds like just changing a sugar, but it is actually much more complicated.

Sweetness conversion has to be redone. Fructose is sweeter at low temperatures; the same formula sold refrigerated and sold at room temperature has a different sweetness.

Fructose is a reducing sugar, with higher browning activity than sucrose, so the colour of baked goods and tea beverages will be darker.

Viscosity has changed, so the parameters for homogenization, filtration and filling speed all have to be re-confirmed.

The third is labelling

Ingredient list ordering. GB 7718 requires ordering by decreasing amount added; once the amount added changes, whether white granulated sugar or high-fructose corn syrup comes first may have to be reordered. That column is exactly the point of dispute in the comparison image in the trending topic.

Nutrition facts panel. Sugar content and carbohydrates have to be recalculated; the calories of the two sugars are close but not equal, and the conversion coefficients differ

The fourth is cost. Don't just stare at the sugar price difference. The transport, storage and loss of liquid sugar do not belong to the same system as bagged white granulated sugar; whether it saves money needs a full account, and not doing the account is false saving.

The fifth is compliance. Changes must have records — who raised the change request, who reviewed it, who approved it, who notified production, who synchronized the label and cost — all must be clearly recorded in the log.

You can turn the above five things into one table and tick them off before and after the sugar swap, similar to the one below.

Data scope note: The beverage data in this article come from ingredient lists of products sold on the market surveyed and collected by this company (the beverage portion, 1,000 items (excluding packaged drinking water)), and the statistical scope is the proportion of products in which that ingredient appears in the ingredient list text, with each product counted only once; 'neither sugar, but containing other sugars' means the ingredient list contains the words sucrose, glucose, maltose, sugar alcohols, sucralose, etc.; 'nor other added sugars' means it contains none of white granulated sugar, high-fructose corn syrup and the above sweetener sources. The statistics are based on ingredient list text matching and do not guarantee complete consistency with actual ingredients fed. Expert views are quoted from public reports such as CCTV.com and Red Star News.