Everything old is new again, or at least that’s what it’s sounding like for food processors wanting to formulate with natural sweeteners. …
Of course, regular white sugar – refined from sugar beets or sugar cane – also is a natural sweetener. It has a reputation as being bad for health and has virtually no nutrients, but its familiarity with consumers is unbeaten and it has distinct functional benefits.
“Sugar is a versatile and irreplaceable functional ingredient in food,” says Courtney Gaine, president and CEO of the Sugar Assn. “It’s the gold standard for taste and is a familiar ingredient that has been used for generations—often for reasons that have little to do with its sweet flavor. These functional properties range from balancing acidity, browning or adding bulk to preventing spoilage through its moisture retention properties.”
January 10, 2026
The health secretary’s new dietary guidelines tell parents to cut the added sugar until their kids turn 11. “Misleading rhetoric “declaring war” on and creating unsubstantiated fear about a real ingredient like real sugar will not improve children’s health,” said Courtney Gaine, the association’s president and CEO, in a statement. “Real sugar — which comes […]
December 4, 2025
"Aimee Soller with the Sugar Association was elected president of the Home Baking Association at the advocacy group’s annual meeting and milling industry veterans Robert Harper and Mike Leddige were elected vice presidents for 2026.”
December 2, 2025
“The American Sugarbeet Growers Association will hold its annual meeting Jan. 26-28 in Indian Wells, California. The agenda is full of topics important to the sugar industry and agriculture at large. Among the planned speakers are the following: Dr. Courtney Gaine, Ph.D., president and CEO of The Sugar Association, on “Dynamics in the U.S. Sugar […]
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