There’s nothing quite like an ice cream cone on a hot summer day; the combination of cold, creamy and sweet makes for a perfect treat. Sugar and other sweeteners, whether caloric or calorie-free, play an important role in many dairy products, including yogurt, flavored milk, ice cream and all types of frozen desserts. Added sweeteners, particularly sugar and other nutritive (caloric) sweeteners, have been receiving negative attention lately, but what does this mean for dairy products?
Public Health Recommendations
Many in the public health community feel that calories from added sugars are at least partially to blame for increased rates of obesity in the United States. The
2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans identified added sugars as one of the nutrients that Americans, both adults and children, consume too much of. Many of the consumer education messages based on the 2010 Dietary Guidelines and
MyPlate emphasize choosing foods and beverages that are low in added sugars.
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (formerly the American Dietetics Association) recently released a
position paper on the use of nutritive and non-nutritive sweeteners, stating “consumers can safely enjoy a range of nutritive and nonnutritive sweeteners when consumed within an eating plan that is guided by current federal nutrition recommendations….” The Academy indicated that there are a number of safe and suitable sweeteners that can be used in foods, as long as they are used at levels determined to be safe by the Food and Drug Administration and as part of an overall healthy diet.
Sweeteners in Dairy
Ice cream and non-standard dairy products may use any safe and suitable sweetener that has been approved for use in dairy foods. The standards for milk, yogurt and creams require nutritive carbohydrate sweeteners, such as sugar or high fructose corn syrup, but may use non-nutritive sweeteners if the product qualifies for a nutrient content claim, such as “reduced sugar” or “no sugar added.” Changes could be coming; the
proposed yogurt standard would allow for any safe and suitable sweetener, and
IDFA filed a petition in 2009 to allow for any safe and suitable sweetener in standardized milk. However, these changes have not been adopted, so any use of non-nutritive sweeteners in yogurt or milk should only be in products that make a nutrient content claim.
FDA is also considering consumer research that would test a possible new declaration of added sugars in the Nutrition Facts panel on foods and beverages.
IDFA submitted comments to this notice, expressing concerns about the applicability of the results of the research. Since there is no way of testing foods for added sugars levels, there would be no way to enforce a labeling requirement. With no possible enforcement, there is no practical use of the outcome of consumer research.
For now, dairy products can use a variety of sweeteners, although a nutrient content claim may be needed for some products. Depending on the product, such as school milk or light yogurt, one type of sweetener or one specific sweetener may be preferred by consumers. A variety of products may require a variety of sweeteners.
