Consumers more interested in total sugars than type (sucrose or HFCS), says survey

Consumers are paying more attention to how much sugar is in foods than to whether it comes from sucrose or high fructose corn syrup, according to a new study by Mintel Consulting and Nielsen commissioned by the Corn Refiners Association.

The 2013 Sweetener360 survey of 11,000+ US shoppers found that 75% claimed to regularly or occasionally read the nutritional information or list of ingredients on food labels, and more than 50% claimed to be avoiding sugars.

However, purchase data revealed that these shoppers "still buy sweetened products at the same rate as other segments”, while in unaided responses, only 4.6% read labels in order to avoid high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) specifically.

The Sweetener360 survey brings together the results of online surveys completed by primary shoppers of Nielsen’s Homescan Panel and hundreds of hours of in-home video journals. In addition, actual purchases from the Nielsen Homescan panelists were tracked from May 2012 through May 2013.

Click here to read a white paper on the results.

The study identified six distinct consumer types: