Reporter | Liu Yujing
Edit | Zan Huifang
Sugar-free beverages are a category that has become more and more popular in the beverage industry in recent years, and a report disclosed by market research agency Ipsos in 2019 shows that 76% of consumers aged 24-40 will pay attention to health-related information such as sugar-free and additive-free when buying food and beverages. Under this trend, major brands have also launched packaged beverages including sugar-free soda, sugar-free tea, sugar-free coffee, etc., among which Yuanqi Forest is a new beverage brand that started with "0 sugar and 0 calories" selling point.
However, there has been a lot of controversy surrounding the selling point of "0 sugar and 0 calories" in yuanqi forest, and the focus of the controversy is whether it is really sugar-free.
Recently, a master of epidemiology from the University of Munich questioned the milk tea products of yuanqi forest in the promotion of weight, saying that the product label reads "0 sucrose and low fat", and the propaganda is "milk tea control is not afraid of fat", but the ingredient list on the back of the product shows that although milk tea does not add sucrose, it actually adds crystalline fructose.
Crystalline fructose is a refined sugar like sucrose, which is sweeter than glucose and sucrose, and like other refined sugars, has many negative metabolic effects on the body, such as increasing the risk of gout, discouraging blood sugar control, leading to weight gain, and potential health problems.
This means that although Yuanqi Forest Milk Tea does not add sucrose, it does add another refined sugar that is also not beneficial to health.
Interface News query "Yuanqi Forest Jasmine Milk Green" ingredient list found that in the ingredient list, the crystalline fructose content is second only to water and full milk powder, in addition to the ingredient list there is a natural sugar substitute steviol glycoside, located after the crystalline fructose.
The various ingredients in the ingredient list are marked in descending order according to the amount added to the food, that is to say, in addition to the lactose present in the milk powder itself, the main sweet source of Yuanqi Forest Milk Tea has two kinds: fructose with higher content and stevia with lower content, of which fructose does not meet the advertised "drink not fat".
In response, Yuanqi Forest said that the brand had noticed the existing problems in October last year and began to modify the product label, adding "this product is sweet from lactose, crystalline fructose and 0 carbohydrate (erythritol, steviol)" in the product label. Through this incident, the brand will re-upgrade the label as soon as three months to ensure that there is no more misunderstanding among users; in addition, Yuanqi Forest is also actively looking for alternatives to crystalline fructose and upgrading the formula of milk tea.
In fact, there has always been a debate about the various refined sugars and sugar substitutes and the health behind them.
At present, the more common food and beverage sugar substitutes on the market are erythritol and steviol glycosides used in Yuanqi Forest, both of which are naturally extracted, compared with the sucrose added by conventional sugary drinks, the advantage is zero calorie, will not cause blood sugar or insulin levels to rise, will not directly lead to tooth decay, the disadvantage is that a large amount of intake may lead to gastrointestinal discomfort. Therefore, in the promotion of many sugar-free drinks that use sugar substitutes, most of them will be labeled as "drinking is not fat".
However, although it is true that sugar substitutes do not participate in human metabolism and are healthier sweeteners for diabetic and obese patients, it does not mean that sugar substitutes are harmless and do not cause obesity at all. Some nutritionists and doctors have found in the study that if the intake of sugar substitutes, the human brain receives the sweet signal, and finds that the blood sugar has not risen, which will increase the craving for real sugar, but may consume more sugary foods. It can be seen that sugar-free food and beverages are indeed inappropriate to declare that they are "not fat to drink".
In order to further standardize food and beverage labeling, in July last year, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Food Labeling (Draft for Solicitation of Comments) to solicit public opinions. Article 30 shows that food producers are encouraged to label low oil, low salt, low sugar or sugar-free on food labels; while Article 32 clearly states that for substances that do not contain or are not used in food, they must not be marked with "no additives", "zero additives", "no inclusions" or similar words that emphasize that they do not contain or are not used.