The Natural: Sugar Sweetens More Sodas

In tiny Dublin, Texas, what’s old is new again … again.

Just 100 miles from Waco – where the popular drink Dr Pepper was invented – is Dublin, home to the oldest Dr Pepper bottling plant in the world. And while the little Dublin franchise is one of beverage giant Dr Pepper Snapple Group’s smallest (just a 44-mile radius around Dublin), it’s consistently ranked near the top in per capita sales.

In fact, Dallas’ upscale Central Market grocery store can’t keep up with demand … even at $8 a six-pack.

The reason: cane sugar is increasingly becoming the consumer’s sweetener of choice over high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

It’s the latest trend for soft drink manufacturers – using all-natural cane sugar to sweeten their soft drink offerings instead of processed HFCS. Even the big boys – Coca-Cola and Pepsi – are getting in on the act. And that’s mighty good news for sugar producers like Imperial Sugar Company in Sugar Land, Texas.

“Two issues are driving this trend,” says Paul Whitaker, Imperial Sugar’s vice president of sales. “One, carbonated soft drinks with sugar just taste better. Second, people want more all-natural products with a minimum of processing and no additives. We see this as a trend with legs.”

The soft drink industry we know today began in 1885, when Charles Aderton invented Dr. Pepper (the period behind “Dr.” was dropped in the 1950s). Just one year later, Dr. John Pemberton invented Coca-Cola in Atlanta, Ga., and the race was on.

A dizzying array of new tastes and flavors, virtually all of them sweetened with cane sugar (the only bulk sweetener then available), were instant hits with thirsty soda fountain customers.

Today’s industry, consisting of nearly 3,000 companies with a combined annual revenue of more than $70 billion, began the switch to HFCS in the 1980s. Cost was the major factor: HFCS is liquid, easy to transport and cheaper to make than sugar.

HFCS is made by milling corn to produce corn starch. It’s processed to yield corn syrup, which is almost entirely glucose. The addition of enzymes changes the glucose into fructose. HFCS is ubiquitous in processed foods and beverages, yogurt, cookies, salad dressing – and even tomato soup.

Critics of HFCS point out a correlation between increased usage of HFCS and obesity rates in the United States over several decades. Some allege that HFCS is perhaps more detrimental to health than sugar; others claim that the low cost of HFCS encourages over-consumption of sugar.

First Lady Michelle Obama recently added to the criticism by saying she will not serve food made with high-fructose corn syrup to her two young daughters.

But the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a not-for-profit health advocacy group in Washington, D.C., said suggestions that high-fructose corn syrup is more harmful nutritionally than sugar is “one of those urban myths that sounds right, but is basically wrong,” according to its Web site.

While the debate is sure to continue, consumers already are voting with their pocketbooks, choosing energy and sports drinks formulated with “good-for-you” ingredients, one of which is cane sugar.

And the trend is helping revive flat sales in carbonated soft drinks, too. Certain Costco stores now carry sugar-sweetened Coca-Cola made in Mexico. Hansen’s Natural Soda, Boylen’s “Natural” line and the entire Jones Soda output are all sweetened with cane sugar. Industry giant PepsiCo is test-marketing Pepsi Throwback and Mountain Dew Throwback, both made with cane sugar.

Pittsburgh-based supermarket chain Giant Eagle manufactures its own line of sodas (root beer, cola, cream soda, orange, and grape) with labels advertising the products as having “No high fructose corn syrup.”

And Whitaker notes that San Antonio-based Valero Energy Corporation, which operates more than 4,700 retail and wholesale branded outlets throughout the U.S., has signed an agreement with Imperial Sugar to provide sugar for several of its private-label sodas, called “Flavor 2 Go.”

The trend is spreading to other areas of the food industry as well. A March 21, 2009 New York Times article reported that some food companies and restaurants were using sugar in their products as a selling point to attract customers who prefer not to consume HFCS.

As one example, the article cited Jason’s Deli, a chain of delis with 200 restaurants in 27 states. The chain had replaced HFCS with sugar in everything except a few soft drinks. Daniel Helfman, a spokesman for the deli chain, was quoted as saying, “Part of this is a huge rebellion against HFCS … but part of it is taste.”

“Consumers are demonstrating their willingness to pay more for something they perceive to be healthier and better,” says Whitaker, adding with a smile, “so the renaissance of the natural goodness of sugar is a trend that we’re in favor of.”