Click to read the original text for details 01Introduction - Behind the Hype of Sugar Substitutes In the past, "sugar" was generally associated with white sugar and candy in consumers' minds, and was not often mentioned in daily life. However, in recent years, terms like "sugar," "sucrose," and "sugar substitutes" have suddenly filled consumers' ears. Beyond taste, food and beverage brands have increasingly adopted health as another key R&D direction and marketing selling point, and most healthy foods are related to sugar reduction, with sugar substitutes being the most important implementation method. However, the proportion of sugar in our daily food is far higher than we imagine. Our observation of supermarket shelves revealed: this observation intensified our curiosity about sugar, why is sugar so prevalent in our daily lives? When did this start? What are the downsides? Now that sugar substitutes are increasingly common, what do consumers really care about? Among the top 10 best-selling beverages on Taobao in 2021, 7 had the keywords "low sugar/no sugar." On Douyin, among sugar substitute products, the search results and sales for "0 sucrose," "0 sugar," and "zero-calorie sugar" were the highest, followed by "xylitol," "sugar substitutes," and "erythritol." Consumers are not very familiar with terms like "erythritol" that appear frequently in the media. On Douyin and Xiaohongshu, the high-frequency keywords for sugar substitute content are "weight loss/fat reduction," with little awareness of the real harms of sugar. "Sugar-free" is actually the most important point for consumers, followed by "0 calories," "0 heat," and "0 sugar." What consumers care most about regarding sugar is calories, not other health issues. Don't give me sugar, don't give me calories, but I want sweetness and good taste. Why do humans need sugar so much? Why is sweetness so important to humans? How did today's developed sugar industry form over the long course of history? How much blood and tears did humanity pay for it? How much unnecessary sugar do we consume? What are the harms of sugar? How does sugar make us addicted? Humans have coexisted with "sweetness" for thousands of years, benefiting from it but also paying a heavy price. What does the future hold? 02****The Original Meaning of Sweetness Taste (sour, sweet, bitter, salty, umami) is generated when taste receptor cells in the taste buds come into contact with food. Its essence is a quick classification of what substances are contained in the food entering the mouth. This is a protective mechanism evolved in early humans who relied on nature for food, helping the body ingest beneficial components and avoid harmful ones. Substances produce taste, taste stimulates the brain, and the brain issues commands to decide whether to stop eating or eat more, thereby ensuring the body's healthy survival. Humans like sweet foods because we have evolved mechanisms to consume sugars and convert them into energy. After digestion and absorption, food becomes glucose in the blood (i.e., blood sugar) to provide energy to the body, especially the brain, which can only use glucose. Humans crave energy, and natural sweetness comes from easily digestible and absorbable sugars; sweetness often means a high-density energy source. Our ancestors lived in harsh environments for a long time, and sugar was a rare resource. Therefore, the brain rewarded us with sweetness to make us crave this taste. It allowed us to obtain energy, store fat, and survive. Guided by sweetness, we cherish sweet substances when we have them and seek them when we don't. They are like airdrop crates in the early human survival game, rewards from heaven and gifts from nature. Those who loved sweets were more likely to survive when energy was scarce, and genes recorded this preference. Sugars that provide energy after digestion and absorption, commonly known as carbohydrates, are divided into monosaccharides, disaccharides, and polysaccharides. When the body uses these substances for energy, disaccharides can be hydrolyzed into two monosaccharides, and polysaccharides into multiple monosaccharides. The simpler the structure of the sugar, the more efficient it is as an energy source for humans. Lactose in breast milk, fructose in fruits, glucose and maltose in honey, and sucrose in sugarcane are all monosaccharides or disaccharides. The brain gives great rewards for the intake of such simple sugars, linking them to sweetness in the taste system. Starch, a polysaccharide, does not taste sweet to us. Sweetness is the brain's command: find them and eat them. It wasn't until much later in human development that we began to cultivate and consume grains and processed rice and flour products on a large scale, i.e., polysaccharides. The pursuit of sweetness helped humans survive times of food scarcity. 03****The History of Sugar In prehistoric times, we accidentally obtained fructose and glucose from fresh fruits, honey, and plants. Later, we extracted maltose from wheat, commonly known as malt sugar. Maltose is considered the first sugar manufactured by humans. But the former required luck, and the latter wasted a lot of grain. Later, humans discovered that the best way to obtain sweetness on a large scale was to cultivate sugarcane. Sugarcane is rich in sucrose and easy to refine. Sucrose is several times sweeter than maltose and can be made into white sugar, brown sugar, soft sugar, rock sugar, yellow sugar, red sugar, black sugar, sugar cubes, powdered sugar, liquid syrup, etc. It can be considered a "great work" of humanity. The most common "sugar" in our daily lives is "white sugar," also simply called "white sugar," which is a crystal containing more than 95% sucrose. White sugar is the most widely used sugar in daily life, accounting for about 90% of total sugar consumption. It is a common household and catering seasoning and the most commonly used sweetener in the food industry. It can be said that the history of sucrose development has shaped today's sugar industry. Sugarcane cultivation is suitable for tropical regions and originated in New Guinea or Indonesia. After its introduction to India, methods for refining sucrose and molasses appeared. Today's "sugar" was first called "Sarkara" in Sanskrit, referring to large pieces of brown sugar, and was translated as "煞割令" when it entered China during the Tang Dynasty. China originally could only extract sugarcane syrup. It wasn't until Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty sent envoys to learn from India that China gained the technology to refine brown sugar. Later, during the Ming Dynasty, China upgraded the method of purifying brown sugar and produced world-leading white sugar. India then began importing sugar from China, calling it "cini," meaning "Chinese." Regardless of race or region, sweetness has always driven humans to seek the purest, most storable, and transportable sugar. On the other side of the Eurasian continent, the craving for sugar was also occurring. From the 8th to the 13th centuries, Arabs and colonizers brought sugarcane to the eastern Mediterranean, North Africa, and the Iberian Peninsula, i.e., "sugarcane came with the Quran." But Europe had no suitable places to grow sugarcane and long relied on sugar imported from the East. Even if only a small group of nobles could enjoy it, demand exceeded supply. In search of cheaper production factors, "global expansion" came. In the 16th century, the Portuguese and Spanish brought sugarcane and the sugar refining industry to various parts of tropical America. There was both suitable land for cultivation and hardworking slaves. The demands of great powers expanded colonial production, and the sugar industry became increasingly specialized and standardized. After the 17th century, the Industrial Revolution allowed the British to gradually catch up. The sweet stimulation of sugar increased the average annual sugar consumption per person in Britain from 2 kg in the 18th century to 8 kg in the 19th century, and then to 40 kg in the 20th century. This gradually changed the history of sugar as a luxury for ordinary people. Sugar became industrialized, affordable for all social classes, and consumption increased significantly. In the 18th century, sugar accounted for 20% of European imports. On one hand, people were driven by sweetness to consume sugar continuously. A saying at the time was, "Tea without sugar tastes like tasteless wine." Coffee, tea, chocolate, and various new addictive foods and beverages became popular globally, but sugar always played a role in sweetening. The Portuguese added large amounts of sugar to their Brazilian coffee, so much that the spoon could stand upright in the cup. Queen Elizabeth I of England had sweets at every meal, to the point of having black teeth, which she was proud of. Paul Hemtzner, a Dutchman traveling in England, thought black teeth "looked like an old English problem, all due to eating too much sugar." On the other hand, people discovered many other uses for sugar: brewing, preparing cannabis, preserving and flavoring tobacco, and coloring. With demand, profit, and the gap in weaponry brought by industrial and technological development, the discovery of sugarcane brought a sweet life but also countless enslavements. The rise in sugar demand and the fall in prices increased the need for labor, exacerbating the evil slave trade. Oppressed sugar producers endured endless, labor-intensive sugarcane harvesting, and living in hot tropical houses, their mortality rates increased and fertility rates decreased. To supplement labor, wars were fought around the world, some not even related to land invasion but to obtain more manpower. Slave ships arrived batch after batch at the sugarcane fields. In the 18th century, sugar held a position in the economy akin to steel in the 19th century and oil in the 20th. Colonial interests represented by sugarcane directly influenced wars among European suzerains and even changed the balance of power among slave owners. Behind the sweetness was blood. Ironically, besides sugar, blood is also sweet. Slaves and lower-class laborers also developed the habit of eating sugar and adding it to drinks, as it was the simplest and most efficient way to replenish energy. From the late 18th to the early 19th century, the success of sugar beet production greatly promoted the sugar industry, solving the problem of sugarcane only growing in tropical and subtropical regions, and directly leading to the mechanization of the sugar industry. The once evil and dark sugarcane manufacturing, along with the rest of the world, gradually moved from backward systems to modernization. Sweetness guided humans to continuously pursue sugar, but purely from an energy perspective, sugar is no longer important. After the development of large-scale agriculture, grains such as wheat, corn, and rice became the main energy sources for humans. Sweet-tasting sugar gradually shifted to a seasoning role. Although the recent Russia-Ukraine war (the two countries contribute one-third of global grain exports) and changes in the global trade environment, as well as short-term grain and food export bans, have caused many price increases and concerns about food supply shortages, global grain production has actually increased year after year, with surpluses each year. In the past decade, production of major food crops has increased by 50%. The fact that hundreds of millions of people are hungry is more a social reality caused by uneven development. Putting aside distribution issues, on a macro scale, humanity has reached a stage in history where sweet-tasting sugar is no longer the primary energy source. Currently, the global average food supply per person is about 2900 kcal/day. According to the Chinese Dietary Guidelines, the average calorie intake should be 2000 kcal/day. Of all energy supply, sugar (mainly white sugar and high-fructose corn syrup) contributes about 8%. Even in the lowest-income country groups, sugar does not play a more important role; instead, staple foods contribute a higher proportion of energy, up to 70%. From an energy intake perspective, we no longer need the brain to chase sweetness. But "it's easier to invite a god than to send it away"—sugar has deeply penetrated every corner of the human diet. The United States recommends a daily sugar intake of 36 grams for men and 25 grams for women, but the actual average intake is 70 grams. The Chinese Dietary Guidelines state that daily sugar intake should not exceed 25 grams, but a single can of cola can easily exceed 30 grams of sugar. Think about the bread at breakfast, the mochi at afternoon tea, the potato chips at midnight, and the milk tea and juice throughout the day... Global annual sugar production is 180 million tons, of which 59 million tons are involved in import and export trade, accounting for 33% of total production. This reflects the global dependence on the globalized production of sugar. In recent years, global sugar consumption growth has exceeded production growth. A rough calculation shows that global per capita daily sugar consumption is 70 grams. Considering some regions with sugar shortages due to underdevelopment and war, other countries in normal living conditions consume far more sugar than needed. The food industry is highly developed, and we can easily obtain high-density, high-absorption-efficiency foods. However, the genetic pursuit of sweetness has not yet adapted to the current dietary structure. We consume so much sugar because sugar is almost everywhere in modern food and beverages. As an important additive, sugar continuously demonstrates its important role in improving food processing and quality. Sugar, as a basic nutrient, is the main raw material for the fermentation industry. Sugar can improve the flavor, texture, and color of cakes and cold drinks. Sugar's easy dissolution, coloring, and crystallization properties are very beneficial for candy production. Besides being a sweetener, sugar is also used as a modifier for frozen foods, a crystallization modifier, and a leavening agent. Due to osmosis, sugar can also preserve jams, jellies, and preserved fruits, extending shelf life. Sugar also plays an irreplaceable role in vegetable preservation and dehydration processing. The beverage sector is the main application area for sugar as a sweetener. Different concentrations of solutions produce different viscosities, providing different flavors and maintaining stability. If you carefully check the ingredient lists of various products on the beverage shelf, you will find that regardless of the category or flavor, the top three ingredients are almost always water, white sugar, and high-fructose corn syrup. Sugar is not only sweet but also produces unique aromas through caramelization and the Maillard reaction. Caramelization refers to the process where, in the absence of proteins, sugar is heated above its melting point, undergoing dehydration and degradation, producing brown substances (mainly caramel) and aromas. Caramel is a widely used natural colorant and food additive. Common cooking ingredients like soy sauce, vinegar, cooking wine, and oyster sauce all contain caramel. The coloring of soy sauce and cola relies on caramel. The Maillard reaction refers to the process where, in the presence of proteins, sugar undergoes condensation and polymerization reactions during heating, producing melanoidins and aromatic compounds. The products of this reaction also cause changes in food color and aroma. The combination of pork belly and white sugar is the most classic application. Since most foods contain both sugar and protein, caramelization and Maillard reactions can occur during heating, such as in roasted sweet potatoes, baked bread, grilled meat, and popcorn. Different types of sugars and amino acids in foods produce different reaction products, resulting in various flavors. This is why grilled chicken, lamb, and beef have different flavors. The 800 aromas of coffee, including floral, fruity, nutty, creamy, and caramel notes, are mostly produced by caramelization and Maillard reactions. The sucrose content is positively correlated with the aroma after coffee roasting. Arabica is more aromatic than Robusta because it has a higher sucrose content: 6-9% vs. 3-5%. The dark brown color of coffee is also a dehydration product of sugar. "Coffee color" should actually be called "sugar color." Sugar is widely used in beverages, dairy products, seasonings, baked goods, candies, and chocolate. Moreover, because it tastes better when heated, it is easily chosen by consumers, leading to more and more sugary foods. 04****The Harms of Sugar For a long historical period, sugar refining technology was backward. In addition, sugarcane could not be grown in higher latitudes, so only the wealthy could afford "sweetness" as a common consumption. Heavy sugar use was not only a dietary habit but also a status symbol. This also explains why some regions have "cloyingly sweet" tastes, such as Britain and France in Europe, and Jiangsu and Zhejiang in China. But today, the development of the modern food industry and the easy availability of sugar mean that the genetic pursuit of sweetness leads to excessive sugar intake, causing damage to life. Various refined foods invented by humans often have high GI values due to their high absorption efficiency. GI (glycemic index) refers to the speed at which blood sugar rises after consuming a certain food. Low-GI foods stay longer in the stomach, have lower absorption rates, increase satiety, and reduce the desire to eat. High-GI foods cause blood sugar to rise faster, increase insulin secretion, and make you hungry sooner. Over time, this not only makes insulin overactive but also inhibits fat breakdown and promotes fat synthesis. Although the stomach actually has enough food, the hunger pangs lead to uncontrollable snacking, making energy intake far exceed the body's actual needs. The World Health Organization recommends that adults should not consume more than 10% of their total calories from sugar. Excessive sugar intake has strong scientific evidence linking it to risks of overweight, obesity, tooth decay, osteoporosis, cardiovascular diseases, and accelerated skin aging. In the past 40 years, the prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents aged 5-19 has increased more than 8-fold globally and continues to rise. In China, the rates of overweight and obesity among adults and children and adolescents aged 6-17 have also been rising. More dangerous than obesity is having a large body but loose parts. Excessive consumption of sugary foods, especially beverages, increases the risk of dental caries and affects the absorption of calcium from food, easily leading to osteoporosis. A strong heart is internal, and good skin is external, but sugar, as a high-density energy source, can "kill on all sides" when consumed in excess, damaging both inside and out. Sugar affects gut microbiota, raises triglycerides, and increases the risk of heart disease. Sugar also steals collagen from the body, causing glycation reactions, making skin less elastic and leading to wrinkles and spots. The harms of eating sugar have now attracted some attention, but "drinking sugar" is a greater danger. A more terrifying hidden danger: fructose and fructose products, mainly in the form of beverages. Our bodies basically do not need fructose, but the drawbacks of fructose are very frightening. Simply put, fructose is almost exclusively metabolized in the liver and does not enter the bloodstream to form blood sugar. The regulatory mechanism of fructose is independent of the main sugar metabolism. A 70 kg person who consumes 100 grams of glucose will have the entire body, all 70 kg, participate in the metabolism of those 100 grams. But after consuming 100 grams of fructose, only 1 kg will participate in metabolism. Excessive fructose increases the metabolic burden on liver cells, leading to ectopic fat distribution, i.e., fat in areas other than normal subcutaneous fat, most commonly visceral and abdominal fat. In severe cases, it can even lead to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Fructose is even more efficient at generating fat than glucose. Most beverages contain fructose, mainly due to the addition of high-fructose corn syrup, which can have a fructose content as high as 90%. Since fructose does not form blood sugar, it is not controlled or regulated by insulin, does not provide satiety, and thus cannot inhibit the intake of other foods through the mechanism of calorie regulation. Drinking sugary beverages when hungry does not satisfy hunger; they become extra calories beyond physiological needs. Excess blood sugar inhibits intake, but fructose does not, so it is easy to consume without restraint. Its harm is much more insidious than glucose and refined carbohydrates, which are closely monitored. Fruit juice, with its high fiber, high water content, and natural health mask, is consumed without guilt, but this excess is precisely a greater danger. 05****Sugar Addiction Is Hard to Quit Why is it so hard for us to control the desire to eat too many sugary foods? It's not that our willpower is weak, but that the physiological mechanism of addiction is too strong. Sugar is highly addictive, and its principle is fundamentally no different from other addictive substances like caffeine and alcohol. In today's world, no addictive substance is more widespread and affects more people than sugar. What's scary is that in the management of food additives, other addictive substances have strict upper limits, but sugar is often treated leniently. Easily addictive foods activate the mesolimbic dopamine system, producing a feeling of excitement and sending a signal that "this is right." Experiments at the University of Bordeaux in France, Princeton University in the US, and the US National Institute on Drug Abuse found that high-sugar foods stimulate the brain's reward system in a way similar to addictive drugs like cocaine, with similar biological and neurological principles. What also makes consumers addicted to sugar is taste. The combination of sugar's sweetness with the slightly bitter taste of coffee, tea, alcohol, and cocoa is arguably the greatest invention in the food retail industry. The most successful example is "happy fat house cola." During pandemic lockdowns, we also saw how cola served as a "hard currency" for survival in barter transactions. Addiction can be summarized as a cycle of "stimulus"-"action"-"reward," influenced by dopamine. Nerve cells in the brain transmit information through neurotransmitters, affecting human behavior. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter between neurons. When we expect a reward, dopamine-releasing neurons are activated, and the release of dopamine produces a pleasant feeling, i.e., the reward effect. Take an ice cream rich in sugar as an example: The "stimulus" is when we first see the ice cream, take a bite, and feel the sweetness. Taste receptors sense the high-density energy substance, stimulating the brain with sweetness, and think that eating ice cream is something to encourage. The "action" is that we continue to eat more ice cream, the brain releases a large amount of dopamine, and the "reward" is completed. However, dopamine secretion lasts only a short time; after 5 minutes, more than 80% of it dissipates. This is why we often feel "empty" after "happiness." Therefore, we want to immediately continue the cycle. As we repeatedly deepen our learning of this reward system, the timing of dopamine secretion becomes earlier and earlier. The "stimulus" becomes the thought of the ice cream packaging, and dopamine begins to secrete at that point. The premature secretion of dopamine after repeated cycles is its first problem. When dopamine was first discovered, scientists called it the "happy molecule," thinking it gave us happiness. But later experiments found that what we actually get is not happiness, but the expectation that we will be happy. Dopamine promises that doing something will bring happiness, but this promise often ignores what you actually do. When we can't help binge eating, revenge staying up late, or indulging ourselves, we don't actually enjoy the results, but the anticipation before the action gives us impulse and pleasure. Another problem with dopamine is that it leads to unrestrained, endless desires. When we become addicted to sugar, eating the same sugar no longer brings the same happiness. When we repeatedly do things that release dopamine in the reward system, the body secretes a large amount of dopamine, and the brain, observing the high dopamine levels, begins to reduce dopamine receptors and transporters to maintain balance. Simply put, when dopamine receptors become less effective, more dopamine is needed to achieve the same effect. Next time, you need to eat more to feel the same, which is "dopamine resistance/desensitization." At the same time, when similar stimuli appear, we become more sensitive than others because the brain knows it can satisfy us. Like the principle of learning, the connections between neuronal synapses are continuously strengthened until they are firm, a phenomenon also known as "sensitization." In the constant desensitization and sensitization reactions, we want more and more, and after getting it, we feel instantly empty and continue to want. We eat pack after pack of sweets our bodies no longer need, burying endless hidden dangers under insatiable greed. After long-term addiction, what drives us to do something is no longer the beneficial result, but dopamine itself. Things that bring sweetness and happiness, such as virtual sweetness: shipping CPs (couples), are essentially the same. Addictive behaviors like games, cigarettes, and alcohol are all related to this. Since 2016, the World Health Organization has repeatedly called on governments to impose a special tax of at least 20% on sugary beverages. Currently, about 50 countries around the world levy sugar taxes. The public revenue from sugar taxes can be directly used for health or medical expenditures, mainly to address diabetes, obesity, and dental caries. Under this policy trend, finding sweeteners that can provide the sweet taste without the harms of sugar has become a common goal for global food companies. Driven by sugar taxes, companies have objectively achieved the rapid development of the sugar substitute industry through support for upstream research, investment in midstream production, and education of downstream consumers. The implementation of sugar taxes has made sugar reduction in the food industry, especially the beverage industry, like new energy vehicles replacing fuel vehicles, no longer an optional marketing gimmick or a small-scale alternative for niche users, but an irreversible global trend. But for companies, reducing sugar is not just about putting less sugar in; sugar's sweetness and addictiveness are the basis for popularity. Consumers want both health and good taste. Promoting sugar substitutes that are cost-controllable, safe, and have good taste has become a strategic issue for global food and beverage companies. 05****Sugar Substitutes Although humans have not used sucrose widely for a long time, the first generation of sugar substitutes appeared over a hundred years ago. Humans have never stopped seeking more sources of sweetness, initially not even for health, but simply for a sweeter taste or cheaper sweetness. In the history of the pursuit of sweetness, the following sources gradually formed: Among these, everything except sugar is called "sugar substitutes." The essence of "sugar substitutes" is "substitute sweetness." We hope to use other sweeteners to achieve sweetness while reducing the health problems caused by excessive sugar intake. 06****Classification and Iteration In the global sweetener market, sucrose (mainly white sugar) accounts for 80%, high-fructose corn syrup for 10%, and only 10% are sugar substitutes. According to Chinese national standards, there are more than 20 non-sugar sweeteners allowed in food, of which only a dozen are high-intensity sweeteners, and the same is true globally. Although it has been developed for over a hundred years, there are actually not many sweeteners that can meet food processing requirements and pass safety evaluations. The main advantage of sugar substitutes is providing sweetness while striving to not participate in human metabolism and not be easily absorbed. Sugar substitutes have different technical routes, and which is more suitable has been changing. A major distinction is whether they are artificially synthesized or naturally extracted. Since the invention of sugar substitutes, global production has mainly been artificial synthesis. Artificial sweeteners have gone through six generations: saccharin, cyclamate, acesulfame, aspartame, sucralose, and neotame. The history of artificial sweeteners is a history of continuous abandonment, from invention to discovery of harm or controversy, and then continued invention. Saccharin was discovered 140 years ago, first accidentally tasted as sweet in a chemical experiment, and began to be used. Later, it was found to potentially cause poisoning, mental and visual disorders, and bladder cancer, and was gradually banned in some countries. The second-generation product, cyclamate, was also later found to have carcinogenic risks and is now banned in more than 50 countries. But considering cost and widespread use, their combination is still the most used sugar substitute globally, and China is no exception. China remains the world's largest producer and consumer market for cyclamate. In the past 10 years, production has remained at 70,000-80,000 tons per year, accounting for 80% of global production. In recent years, with generational elimination and market competition, only a handful of companies remain in production. Aspartame still accounts for about 20% of the global sugar substitute market share, but because its metabolites have been proven to be somewhat harmful to humans, its compound growth rate over the past 5 years has remained close to -15%. Currently, acesulfame and sucralose are growing rapidly due to relative safety, with compound growth rates of nearly 20% and 10% over the past 5 years. Due to unit price, sucralose's production value is significantly higher, and it has now surpassed the previous generation's king, aspartame, to become the highest in production value. Besides the internal structural changes in artificial sweeteners, the overall sweetener market structure is also changing. In the past 5 years, the global natural sweetener market has grown at an average annual rate of 10%, more than double the growth rate of artificial sweeteners. Although artificial sweeteners meet the sugar reduction requirements, they have some health and safety concerns and some have low taste fidelity, so natural extracted sweeteners have begun to develop. People often believe that natural food additives are safer than artificial chemical synthesis. Consumers often have a rejection mentality towards artificial sweeteners. And objectively, compared to the full taste of sucrose, artificial sweeteners indeed have many problems. Naturally extracted sweeteners are generally a class of sweet chemical components directly extracted from nature or obtained through appropriate modification, mostly secondary metabolites of plants or microorganisms. They have relatively good solubility, good taste, high stability, and few safety issues. Some sugar substitutes are gradually eliminated, and some are used more. How to simply judge a "good" sugar substitute? Physicochemical properties, calories, production costs, and safety are all important. Additionally, the most direct requirement is sweetening power; the level of sweetness is the most basic, and the time and duration of sweetness are also important. At the same time, it is best to have a pure taste without bad aftertaste. In actual food addition scenarios, sugar substitutes are generally not used alone but in combination to achieve a more faithful taste to sucrose, better stability in various situations, and reasonable control of overall costs. For example, erythritol has a sweetness of 70% of sucrose. Using erythritol alone may be costly and taste bland, so a very small amount of high-intensity sweetener is usually added. For example, saccharin has a bitter aftertaste, cyclamate has a slightly bitter taste and poor acid resistance, stevia glycosides have a certain grassy smell, acesulfame's sweetness fades quickly and lacks after-sweetness, and aspartame lacks initial sweetness and has poor stability in acidic beverages. Artificial high-intensity sweeteners developed first, and in recent years, natural high-intensity and low-intensity sweeteners have also grown rapidly, making the combined use of sweeteners more common and diverse. Natural low-intensity sweeteners usually serve as fillers in compound sweeteners, constituting the vast majority of the compound sweetener content. Therefore, with the expansion of the compound sugar market, the demand for natural low-intensity sweeteners is growing faster. The most popular erythritol in China is a typical representative. 07****Erythritol and Sucralose The internal structure of sugar substitutes has been iterating, and currently the most attention in China is on erythritol and sucralose, which are also the most common sugar substitute combinations in new sugar-free sparkling water and sugar-free tea drinks that have become popular in recent years. There is a certain inevitability to them becoming the hottest sugar substitute choices. The sparkling water of Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Sprite, and Fanta is gradually being taken over by emerging brands, and one key point is that the taste and healthiness of aspartame are clearly surpassed by new-generation products represented by erythritol and sucralose. Sugar alcohols are processed products of natural sugars, differing from the physiological mechanism of sugar metabolism. They produce significantly fewer calories than sugar while maintaining a certain sweetness, generally slightly less than sucrose. Therefore, sugar alcohols represented by xylitol were once good natural sugar substitute choices, and even the mainstream consumer retail sugar substitute for replacing white sugar is xylitol. However, because xylitol can cause certain intestinal reactions, bloating, and gas, it has not widely opened the market. Erythritol, due to its high safety, low calories, low intestinal reactions, high tolerance, good physical properties, and refreshing taste, coupled with the vigorous use and promotion by emerging domestic brands, has become the most watched sugar substitute additive. After entering the body, it cannot be digested and degraded by the enzyme system; it is filtered from the blood through the kidneys and excreted in urine. A very small portion entering the large intestine is almost not fermented by bacteria, and its human tolerance is 2-4 times that of other sugar alcohols like xylitol. Because it produces almost no calories or changes in blood sugar, it is considered a truly natural sweetener infinitely close to zero calories. Other sugar alcohols partially participate in metabolism, with low but still present calories, but erythritol is the only zero-calorie component among sugar alcohols. It can also use its high dissolution heat absorption to add a cool taste to beverages, and its high temperature resistance keeps it stable in food industry production. In manufacturing, erythritol is currently the only sugar alcohol product on the market produced by biological fermentation for natural conversion and extraction, with upstream corn-derived glucose. Global demand in 2022 is nearly 200,000 tons, with a predicted compound growth rate of 22-34% over the next three years. In production, the global compound growth rate over the past five years is 25%, with China's compound growth rate reaching 47%, and the global manufacturing center gradually shifting to China. Currently, many brands and products use erythritol, such as nkdliving's compound sugar, lakanto's flavored syrup and chocolate, natvia's jam and dessert sauce, HALO TOP, Breyers, Rebel's ice cream, CELSIUS's functional drinks, Coca-Cola and Jianlibao's sparkling water, Master Kong and Zuixi's tea drinks, Mengniu Zhen Guoli, and Tangrenfu's bread and cakes. It is also used in black sesame paste, protein powder, and even skincare water. Because erythritol's sweetness is relatively low compared to high-intensity sweeteners, it needs to be combined with suitable high-intensity sweeteners, such as sucralose, stevia glycosides, or mogrosides, and the amount used is often large, generally exceeding 99%. The complementary growth with the high-intensity sweetener market makes erythritol more advantageous in the future. Erythritol is currently the absolute new leader in China and also has good growth in the United States. As a partner for erythritol, domestic research on sucralose is increasing. Sucralose, as a high-intensity sweetener, is usually used with low-intensity sweeteners like erythritol. Global demand has grown 15% over the past 3 years, and demand has increased 5-fold over the past 10 years. Future growth is expected to remain at 15-20%. Global production capacity is concentrated in China, with over 70%. Since sweeteners need to be combined in multiple ways, new sweeteners do not completely replace each other but develop synergistically. Currently, brands and products using the combination of erythritol and sucralose mainly include Monster Energy's sports drinks, SPLENDA's table and coffee sugar, Nongfu Spring's sparkling water, Genki Forest's sparkling water and tea drinks, and Unilever and Hankou Erchang's tea drinks. 08****Steviol Glycosides Among natural sweeteners, besides erythritol, the most growth potential is steviol glycosides and mogrosides. In the past five years, the compound growth rate of stevia has been 13-16%. In the 2021 US beverage market, the number of products related to stevia increased by 10%, and sales increased by 15%. Steviol glycosides are a collective term for sweet substances isolated from the stevia plant. Japan was the first country to use stevia on a large scale. In the 1970s, Coca-Cola gradually reduced saccharin and cyclamate in its formula, and stevia appeared in Japan as a substitute. In 2006, Japan had the world's largest stevia consumption, with stevia accounting for about 40% of its sweetener market. The advantages of steviol glycosides include high safety, good solubility, and high acid and heat stability, but the problem is that natural steviol glycosides have a taste different from sucrose, with many undesirable details that hinder their application in food and beverages. Therefore, it was only after research discovered enzymatic or fermentation methods to improve its taste that it gradually became applicable. China is the world's largest exporter of stevia, accounting for 80% of global production, but currently, stevia is not widely used in food and beverages in China. The United States is the main export destination for Chinese stevia, accounting for one-third of total exports. In 2018, stevia's retail sales in the US were second only to white sugar and brown sugar, becoming the third-largest sugar product in the US sugar and sweetener market, surpassing artificial sweeteners like sucralose, saccharin, and aspartame. Currently, representative brands and products using steviol glycosides include truvia's compound sugar, Merisant's sweeteners, bai's juice, and domestic brands like Ailetian and Xiangtang's zero-calorie sugar. Truvia, the second-largest in the US sugar substitute market, developed jointly by Coca-Cola and Cargill, mainly relies on the extensive use of stevia to surpass traditional Equal and Sweet'n Low. Currently, Stevia In The Raw and Pure Via are also actively positioning in the stevia field, eyeing the market. The natural extraction of steviol glycosides is limited by production capacity. A Swiss company's research points to recombinant gene methods, using recombinant microorganisms, plants, and plant cells, engineering them to express recombinant genes encoding UDP-glycosyltransferase (UGT), thereby producing steviol glycosides such as Reb A and Reb D. 09****Mogrosides Mogrosides are another natural sweetener with unlimited potential, maintaining a growth rate of 15-20% in recent years. In the 2021 US beverage market, the number of products with monk fruit increased by 1.3%, and sales increased by 20%, quite popular. They also have the characteristics of high sweetness, low calories, good solubility, good stability, and high safety. Good taste is the biggest advantage of monk fruit sweetener; it is currently the natural sweetener closest to the taste of sucrose, with a refreshing monk fruit aroma, and its calories are only 2% of sucrose. Currently, there are over 1000 retail products using monk fruit sweetener. Abroad, monk fruit can be directly labeled as a raw material rather than an additive, so monk fruit is considered a very healthy, clean sugar substitute, not subject to usage limits. Currently, North America is the largest market for monk fruit, with 90% of monk fruit coming from Guangxi, China. China is also the world's largest producer and exporter of mogrosides. In the Chinese market, mogrosides have a special attribute: they are both a sweetener unique to China and a plant with medicinal and food homology. Although the application of sugar substitutes in China is not yet widespread, and production is mainly for export, its future is very promising. Currently, its main problem is the extremely strict climate requirements for cultivation, which limits production capacity. Monk fruit is relatively natural and safe because its cultivation and production are mainly in China, so there are huge opportunities in China in the future. Currently, there are over 1000 products using monk fruit sweetener, including Starbucks and Nestlé's sugar-free coffee, Coca-Cola and Pepsi's sugar-free cola, Japan's saraya and lakanto's compound sugar, equal's compound sugar, and domestic brands like Yitang and Lüguotang's zero-calorie sugar. 10****Rare Sugars Recently, rare sugars represented by allulose have risen domestically and internationally. They are monosaccharides like glucose but have extremely low calories and can serve as sugar substitutes, making them a very exciting new direction. Allulose exists in extremely small amounts in nature, found in small quantities in wheat, plants of the Itea genus, beet molasses, and cane molasses. Because it is chemically a sugar, its baking heat resistance and liquid solubility are similar to sucrose, and it can undergo Maillard reactions, producing appetizing aromas and colors, improving food texture, flavor, color, and taste. This completely solves the problem of other sugar substitutes being difficult to use in baking. It can also reduce oxidative loss during food processing and storage, extending shelf life. Its energy supply is only 0.3% of sucrose. It does not cause diarrhea and has no effect on metabolism or blood sugar levels. Allulose is another milestone on the path to enjoying sweetness without burden. Although allulose is a sugar, in 2019, the US FDA announced that allulose would be excluded from sugar taxes. After this policy was announced, the number of new products containing allulose in North America in 2020 doubled year-over-year. Global demand last year tripled compared to 2019. In August 2021, China's National Health Commission accepted its application as a food ingredient, and it is expected to be approved domestically in the coming years. The EU is also expected to approve it in the next year or two. Rare sugars are named both because they are sugars naturally present in plants and because they are extremely rare and difficult to extract. Currently, there are few products, mainly sold in developed countries like the US, South Korea, and Japan, with 13 countries recognizing their safe use. Foreign brands like revel's plant-based yogurt popsicles, fuzemeyer's juices, and zenobars' vegan nutrition bars use allulose. Splenda, the leader in the US sugar substitute market, recently launched a diabetic care shake made with allulose. The popular Greek yogurt brand Chobani's Chobani Zero Sugar yogurt series uses monk fruit and allulose as sweeteners. 21 foreign products using allulose often combine it with plant-extracted sweeteners like stevia and monk fruit. Allulose has more years of research and use experience in South Korea and Japan, and is more suitable for Asian tastes, with great prospects in China in the future. The core scenario for tabletop sugar substitutes added by consumers themselves is adding to beverages, salads, and baking, which is generally Western-style; Chinese dishes currently use them less. The gradual widespread use of allulose abroad is a good direction, enabling high-temperature operations like "caramelizing sugar" for sugar. There will be more opportunities in China in the future. Interestingly, the chemical formula of allulose is the same as fructose (C6H12O6), differing only in arrangement (an epimer of fructose), but its impact on human health is vastly different. Arabinose is also a rare sugar. It is easily soluble in water, has a sweetness similar to sucrose (0.5 times that of sucrose), and is acid and heat resistant. It is widely present in various plants, grains, fruits, and vegetables, such as beets, potatoes, apples, tomatoes, corn cobs, and corn husks. Arabinose's most representative effect is selectively affecting sucrase in the small intestine. Normally, after sucrose is ingested, it is broken down into glucose and fructose by sucrase in the small intestine. But arabinose inhibits disaccharide hydrolase enzymes, thereby reducing sucrose absorption. For example, adding 3% arabinose to the daily diet can inhibit 60% of sucrose absorption, and it also inhibits fat synthesis in the liver while improving insulin resistance. This blocking effect on sucrose metabolism can effectively control the occurrence of obesity, diabetes, and other diseases. Its safety and functionality have been verified in the pharmaceutical and health product fields, but due to its production method, it is currently expensive and has a small market size. Some health food brands are also trying to use it. Foreign brands like AdvoCare's multivitamin products and Nestlé's Opti milk powder. Domestic brands like Shark Fitness's European bread series also add arabinose to adjust taste and inhibit sucrose absorption, in addition to common sugar alcohol sweeteners. Yili Gold infant formula also uses arabinose. Tagatose is also a rare sugar with good solubility, good acid resistance, low hygroscopicity, and easily undergoes Maillard reactions, making it suitable for solid beverage powders and grain products. Its sweetness is 0.9 times that of sucrose, and it has good synergistic effects; a small amount combined with artificial high-intensity sweeteners can significantly improve beverage taste. Its functionality is similar to arabinose, and its safety has been verified in multiple countries. 11****More Possibilities Beyond existing sugar substitutes, what other methods can allow humans to enjoy the pleasure of sweetness while escaping the harms of sugar? Reflecting on the systems by which humans obtain sweetness and digest sugar, we can expect progress in science and technology in these directions: Cutting-edge food technology and even biotechnology research are continuously deepening and broadening possibilities to erase the dark and painful side of the pursuit of sweetness. Whether to work on food structure or fine extraction of special components; whether to affect digestion and absorption or to work on the neural transmission mechanisms behind sweetness. The best solution is unknown, but we are always trying different technical routes, constantly breaking through the boundaries of historical imagination. 12****Not Ingesting Sugar but Feeling Sweetness From this "technology tree" of pursuing sweetness, it can be seen that existing sugar substitutes are just a small branch of various solutions. For natural sugar sweeteners, calories are usually positively correlated with sweetness. After the accidental discovery of saccharin, the sweeteners used by humans to date have covered many types of compounds in a chemical sense. In the early 21st century, the identification of receptors responsible for sweet taste perception completed a major breakthrough in understanding the sweet taste modality. It opened a completely new angle for the development of new sweet compounds. Let's explain the sweetness mechanism in more detail. Taste buds are clusters of cells under the surface of the tongue, exposed to the oral cavity through small openings called "taste pores." Different subtypes of cells in the taste buds respond to specific taste qualities: sour, salty, bitter, sweet, and umami. The response method is that these subtype cells produce corresponding receptor proteins. When food passes through the mouth, the receptor proteins can sense the chemical components of the food. The subtype cells responsible for detecting sweetness produce receptor proteins called TAS1R2/3, used to detect sugars. After successful detection, they send neural signals to the brain, and you feel sweetness. The pair of genes encoding the TAS1R2/3 receptor proteins are TAS1R2 and TAS1R3, which have existed in humans and most vertebrates for hundreds of millions of years, such as monkeys, cows, dogs, bats, lizards, pandas, and fish. In natural selection, this pair of genes has not declined, so it is certainly not easy to quit sweetness today. Studies show that the structure of the TAS1R2/3 receptor includes a cell surface receptor domain (A) containing an orthosteric binding site and a seven-helix transmembrane protein domain (B), connected by a cysteine-rich domain (C) structurally constrained by intramolecular disulfide bonds, as shown in the figure. The mechanism of sweet receptor activation is that orthosteric ligand binding involves the closure and rotation of the extracellular domains of TAS1R2 and TAS1R3, and then chemical stimulation is transmitted through the cysteine-rich domain to the transmembrane domain where downstream signal effectors bind. The transmembrane domain has an allosteric binding site, and the cysteine-rich domain can bind sweet proteins. Simply put, because of the existence of A, B, and C, the sweet receptor can interact with sweet compounds in six different ways. Most monosaccharides (like glucose) and disaccharides (like sucrose) can stimulate A, and later we found that many other substances can also achieve sweetness. For example, sugar alcohols (like erythritol) can, as can some terpene glycosides, polysaccharides, amino acids, and polyphenols. The above diagram gives us theoretical support and the possibility of finding more sweeteners. Dietary fiber, essentially a polysaccharide, is called the "seventh essential nutrient" alongside protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and water. According to the International Food Information Council (IFIC) 2021 survey, as an ingredient, consumers have the highest health perception of dietary fiber, with 56% of respondents actively consuming dietary fiber. Sweeteners with dietary fiber as the main component are also an important future research direction. BT Sweet's Cambya has the same flavor as sugar, made with soluble fiber, monk fruit, stevia, and carob. Supplant's fiber-based sugar substitute uses straw, stems, and cores from corn, wheat, and rice, reducing sugar by nearly 60%. Israeli food tech startup Resugar's Resugarkit uses a proprietary enzymatic process to convert fiber raw materials, reducing sugar content by nearly 80% and calories by 50%, while its sweetness curve is almost identical to sucrose. Oligosaccharides such as fructooligosaccharides, galactooligosaccharides, xylooligosaccharides, inulin, and isomaltooligosaccharides also have dietary fiber characteristics and are also called prebiotics due to their regulatory effects on the intestinal system. These sugars are far less harmful to the human body than sucrose. Domestic chocolate brands like Daily Dark Chocolate use inulin to replace white sugar for sweetness. Inulin, as a plant reserve polysaccharide, is low in calories and low glycemic, and has good effects on controlling blood sugar and blood lipids. Sweet proteins are naturally produced by tropical plants, and eight types of proteins with intense sweetness have been identified. Interestingly, some also have taste-modulating functions, such as miraculin, which can turn other tastes like sour into sweet. Compared to traditional sugar substitutes, sweet proteins have many unique advantages. Based on their protein nature, they are safe, have no glycemic response, and do not cause tooth decay. They also have extremely high sweetness, up to 3000 times that of sucrose, and have no unpleasant bitterness or aftertaste. However, the cost of pure plant extraction is high and stability is poor, so they have not been effectively developed for a long time. But with continuous technological progress, more and more ingredient companies have begun to research and launch new sweet protein products this year. Improvements in large-scale production technology and combination with other natural sweeteners make it promising for sweet proteins to enter the mainstream in the future. The difficulty in sweetener research mainly lies in purifying molecules from complex matrices and elucidating their chemical structures. When a sweetener is identified, structural analogs with similar properties, such as isomers and derivatives, are usually sought, or slight chemical synthesis modifications are made to discover new sweet molecules. In addition to ingesting a single substance to achieve sweet stimulation, one research direction is to specifically treat additives for taste to achieve further taste fidelity to sucrose for current sugar substitute products, solving the problem of single sugar substitutes not tasting good enough, such as bitterness, astringency, metallic taste, and salivation. For example, there are patents on using sodium chloride, citrus peel extract, L-asparagine, etc., to achieve taste restoration for sugar alcohols under different conditions. DouxMatok's first direct-to-consumer product uses Incredo Sugar, a new sugar reduction solution that can reduce sugar by 30% to 50%. This product adds fiber, is made from organic hazelnuts, and is free of gluten and artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives. It is based on a sugar reduction solution made from real sucrose, enhancing the perception of sweetness by improving the efficiency of delivering sugar to sweet receptors, thereby significantly reducing sugar without affecting taste, mouthfeel, or texture. Since sweet receptors ultimately send neural signals to the brain to achieve the sensation of sweetness, it can be expected that with deeper research in brain science, it may be possible to skip the receptor sensation part and directly achieve the perception of sweetness. 13****Ingesting Sugar but Controlling the Harm Continuing to eat sugar and feel sweetness, but slowing down and hindering sugar absorption is another approach. The recent popularity of white kidney bean extract is an attempt. Many domestic brands have begun to try it, such as buffx's white kidney bean gummies and intous's white kidney bean coffee tablets. Terminalia bellirica can inhibit the enzymes that convert disaccharides into monosaccharides, thereby preventing sugar absorption. In recent years, Japan has filed dozens of related functional food applications, such as PILLBOX LOVET's enzyme products. BioLumen in the US has launched a natural fiber with a super-expanding structure that captures sugar in the stomach and prevents its absorption in the small intestine, helping reduce calorie intake. This fiber structure, with a diameter of 0.1mm, disperses in the stomach, absorbs sugar, and increases satiety through its own expansion. The sugar, once encapsulated, bypasses the small intestine and reaches the colon, where it is released and provides food for the microbiota. 1g of BioLumen can eliminate 5g of sugar. The control of sugar initially came from vigilance against diabetes. At the drug level, the core approach is to promote insulin secretion, reduce insulin resistance, and achieve normal blood sugar regulation. Drawing on pharmaceutical research ideas, finding components with low toxicity and side effects that can be food-grade, and using similar sugar control mechanisms to regulate the body's sugar absorption, is also a direction to try. Mulberry leaf extract has been found to have similar effects in experiments. When sugar intake is excessive, the body's mechanism chooses to convert it into fat and store it in the body for future energy shortages. The obesity caused by this is one of the important harms of sugar. Interfering with the steps of converting sugar to fat, such as promoting the utilization of glucose by peripheral tissues and enhancing liver glycogen content, are possible methods. 14****Epilogue - The End of Sweetness Is Sorrow Humans need "sweetness." As Schrödinger said, living beings feed on negative entropy. Absorbing energy to maintain the stability of life's organization is the top priority written in our genes. We evolved the taste perception of "sweetness," guiding us to discover and cherish those high-density energy sources, and gradually built the modern sugar industry centered on sucrose. The main application is the white sugar we are familiar with. The emergence of sugar substitutes has led the human pursuit of sweetness in a new direction: seeking sweeteners with less burden on the body. We hope to launch a revolution to overthrow the tyranny of various diseases caused by excessive sugar intake, but the revolution is far from successful. Currently, the three most popular sugar substitutes—erythritol, steviol glycosides, and allulose—actually represent three completely different technical routes for "substitute sweetness." In-depth research on the sweetness mechanism shows us the possibility of finding more types of sweeteners. Although most cannot be widely used currently due to safety and supply issues. There will be more and more components that can achieve sweetness, and more and more methods to control sugar digestion and absorption. Although technology is advancing rapidly, humanity's efforts over the past one or two hundred years, compared to the drive of sweetness genes that have survived hundreds of millions of years in natural selection, appear quite struggling, like David facing Goliath. The evolution of life's characteristics is measured in tens of thousands of years, but the efficiency improvements brought by the Industrial Revolution and capitalism have allowed humans to obtain a huge supply of sugar in a very short time. The primitive stimulation mechanism of sweetness, combined with sugar's addictiveness, has not yet had time to adapt to the rapid development of the modern food industry. Humans have moved too fast, so fast that the body cannot keep up with our pace. At the end of sweetness, what remains is sorrow and entanglement. Most vertebrates have sweetness genes, but felines are an exception. The desire of tigers and cheetahs for hunting, and even the indifference of cats to carbohydrates and their preference for fresh meat, all stem from a gene mutation in their ancestors. Every move of life over tens of thousands of years is the product of strict execution under genetic code. For humans, the problems brought by development should be solved by development. The pursuit of sweetness and the abuse of sugar is just one example. How to get along with genes that cannot keep up with the times, and how to make the primitive person in our bodies, who lived millions of years ago, adapt to today's world, are also issues that technology must consider. References "Sugar Reduction Is Urgent, Sugar Substitutes May Be the Best Consideration?" Songguo Finance "2021 Post-00s Lifestyle Insight Report" People's Daily Online Research Institute, Tencent Marketing Insight "2021 Annual Report" Baolingbao "2021 Annual Report" Jinhe Industrial "2021 Global Natural Sweetener Market Review: Main Sweetener Market Conditions, Sweetener Innovative Products" Dairy Online "2021 Beverage Industry Consumption Observation Report" Oteo Consulting "2021 China Food Consumption Trend White Paper" COFCO Nutrition and Health Research Institute, Tmall Food, China Light Industry Investment, National Sugar and Alcohol Commodity Fair "2022 China Sugar Substitute Industry: New Dark Horse in Food and Beverage, Technology Drives Industrial Upgrading" Toubao Market Research "2022 China Sugar-Free Tea Drink Industry Insight Report" Lingdian Youshu "2022 Sugar-Free Beverage Industry Research Report" Dingmang Research Institute "The History Behind White Sugar" Lang Bo "Top 5 Sugar Producers, World's No.1 in Sugar Substitutes, Why Is China the World's 'Sweetheart'?" Didao Fengwu "Sugar Substitutes: Under the Trend of Consumption Upgrade, Products Bloom" Guojin Securities "Sugar Substitute Leader, Steady Progress" Shengang Securities "Sugar Substitute Market Has Large Space, New Sweeteners Have Promising Development" GF Securities "Douyin Light 'Food' Generation Consumption Observation" Juyang Suanshu, Suanshu Brand Talk, KANTAR "The Global Sugar Substitute Market, When Will China Produce the Next 'Erythritol'?" Food Economy "Flavor Odd Talk (22) - Natural Sweeteners" Sino-Foreign Flavors and Fragrances First Information "Health Functional Sugar Accelerates Penetration, Scale Expansion Helps Growth" Guoxin Securities "OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2021-2030" OECD "Focusing on Health and Nutrition Industry, Allulose Contributes New Growth" Guojin Securities "Inventory! 2021 Global Sweetener Market Analysis and Regulatory Changes" RegASK "What Exactly Are You Quitting When You Desperately Quit Sugar?" Airui.com "Global Erythritol Industry Leader San Yuan Bio" Guotai Junan Securities "Global Food Crisis, How Does China Achieve 'Storing Grain in the Land' and 'Storing Grain in Technology'?" 35 Dou "The Future Trends of the Global Food Ingredients Industry, Just Dig into These 13 Startups" FoodTalks "How to Respond to the Global Food Crisis Under the Epidemic" Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations "Food in World History" Jeffrey M. Pilcher "Addicted for 500 Years: The History of Tobacco, Alcohol, Coffee, and Opium" David T. Courtwright "National Food Safety Standard for Food Additive Use (GB 2760-2011)" Ministry of Health of the People's Republic of China "How Food Giants Manipulate Us" Michael Moss "Introduction and Main Varieties of Food Additive Sweeteners" Kaiyin Chemical "Food and Beverage: 'Sugar-Free' Series Report" Dongxing Securities "Basic Terms of Food Nutrition (GB/Z 21922-2008)" Ministry of Health of the People's Republic of China "Analysis of the Game and Development Trends of Sugar and Sugar Substitutes" Lu Wanyao, Zhao Yun, Zhang Sicong, Wang Jian, Zhao Shuna "Prospectus for Initial Public Offering and Listing on the ChiNext Board" San Yuan Bio "Stone Honey, Sugarcane, and Maltose in Tang Dynasty Diet" Chen Lei "Sugar: Sweet Capitalism" Poker Finance "17 Harms of Sugar | The 'Toxicity' of Sugar, Comparable to Smoking!" Low-Carbon Diet Intelligence Bureau "The History of Sugar: What Were the Sweet Sources of Ancient People? From Maltose to Sucrose, Look at China's Sweet Food Culture" Haoran Wenshi "The Origin of Sugar | Talking About Sugar from 10,000 Years Ago! The Most Detailed Story of Sugar You Can Find" Errenxing (soul2walk) "How Sugar Is Made" Siemens China "Is Sugar Also a Drug? For People to Eat More Sugar, These Dirty Deals Have Happened" Chunyu Yisheng "Sugar Addiction ≈ Drug Addiction? In-Depth Analysis of the Dopamine Reward System" Yesheng Shenghuo "The Hidden Champion of the Sugar Substitute Industry, Strategically Laying Out CBD to Create a Second Growth Curve!" Tianfeng Securities "Natural Low-Intensity Sweetener New Star - Erythritol" Hua'an Securities "Sweeteners: Sugar Substitutes Gradually Become a Trend, Structure Gradually Adjusts" Guojin Securities "10,000-Word Sugar Substitute Industry Research Report: What Is Real 0 Sugar?" Titanium Media "Sugar-Free/Low-Sugar Trend Is Clear, Sugar Substitute Market Flourishes" GF Securities "County Towns, the Hardest Fortress for Sugar-Free Beverages" Market Value List "Epidemic, War, and Global Food Prices" Mingshi Partners Fund "Dietary Health Trends and Product Innovation Research" Ipsos China "Research on the History of Sugar in Ancient China" Liu Dan "Chinese Dietary Guidelines (2022)" Chinese Nutrition Society "China Zero-Sugar Healthy Diet Market Research Report" iResearch "Additional Information about High-Intensity Sweeteners Permitted for Use in Food in the United States" FDA "Effects of carbohydrates on satiety: differences between liquid and solid food" Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition & Metabolic Care "Get the Facts: Added Sugars" Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "GLP-1 Leads the Era of Global Glucose-Lowering Drug Change" Southwest Securities "History of Sugar—Making Life Sweeter Since 8000 BCE" The Sugar Association "How much sugar is too much?" American Heart Association "Natural Sweeteners—Encyclopedia of Food Chemistry" Jean-Baptiste Chéron, Axel Marchal, Sébastien Fiorucci, Laurence Melton, Fereidoon Shahidi, Peter Varelis "Sugar Exports by Country" Daniel Workman "The role of sugar-sweetened beverages in the global epidemics of obesity and chronic diseases" Nature Reviews Endocrinology Baidu Baike, Douyin, Taobao, Tmall, Xiaohongshu, Zhihu Academic, Resugar official website, soopat patent search Source: Qingshan Capital (ID: cyanhillvc) -END-