Was it fiber or taste that propelled Olipop and Poppi?

Are Americans so worried about their stomach health that they’re willing to spend more than three-quarters of a billion dollars a year on gut-health-promoting sodas?

That might be too simple an explanation for the rapid growth of competitors Olipop and Poppi, according to a fascinating analyst in the Food Institute site by Dr. James Richardson is the founder of Premium Growth Solutions,rt a strategic planning consultancy for early-stage consumer packaged goods brands.

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May 29, 2025 0

Time for our annual hidden sugar primer

When I saw Justvegantoday.com writing this piece about hidden sugars, I thought — haven’t I written about that before? Yes, severel times it seems. But it’s good to have an annual reminder.

*Sugar is hiding everywhere in our food supply, be aware.*

“Sugar often masquerades under various aliases, making it even more challenging to identify them in an ingredients list. Common names include fructose, high fructose corn syrup, sucrose, and dozens more. Manufacturers often use these alternative names to disguise the actual amount of sugar they are putting into products,” Justvegantoday.com writes.

How to combat the sugar rush?

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March 14, 2025 0

The quest for a new non-sugar sweetener goes on, with some bad news, some good

Finding a non-sugar sweetener for food and beverages, one without it’s own unwanted side-effects, has been the holy grail of food processors for as long as I’ve written about the food business (40 years). A new possibility, brazzein, is getting some positive attention now.

Another, Xylitol, long used in sugar-free candies and elsewhere, is getting negative attention, however.

“A new study linking the low-calorie sugar substitute xylitol to an increased risk of heart attack or stroke,” reports The New York Times.

“For the new study, the researchers measured the levels of xylitol in blood plasma samples of over 3,000 participants who had fasted overnight. They found that people with the highest xylitol levels had roughly double the risk of heart attack, stroke or death within the next three years compared to people with the lowest levels,” the Times reports.

Xylitol, also known as sugar alcohol, has never been something I could eat much of without becoming bloated and…well, you know. So this study isn’t worrying me so much.

But I am interested to read a company has received permission to use brazzein, a sweet protein produced through fermentation, reports The Food Institute.

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June 24, 2024 0

Sugar, salt limits coming for school lunches

Somehow making school lunches healthier became a political issue in recent years. The Obama administration pushed for less salt, fat and sugar in school lunches. Then the Trump administration did the opposite. Now, with Biden in the White House, federal regulators are ready to bring out restrictions on salt and added sugar in school lunches.

Associated Press reported that the USDA “proposed new nutrition standards for school meals, including the first limits on added sugars, with a focus on sweetened foods such as cereals, yogurt, flavored milk and breakfast pastries.

“The plan announced by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack also seeks to significantly decrease sodium in the meals served to the nation’s schoolkids by 2029, while making the rules for foods made with whole grains more flexible.

The goal is to improve nutrition and align with U.S. dietary guidelines in the program that serves breakfast to more than 15 million children and lunch to nearly 30 million children every day, Vilsack said.”

Unfortunately, the first limits of added sugars wouldn’t;t go into effect until the 2025-2026 school year, after another national election that could upend these plans all over again.

Children’s health should not be a political issue, just as the country’s obesity epidemic should not be a political issue. Both need to be addressed, and soon.

February 7, 2023 0

Advice on why your blood sugar may be high

Of the three harmful foods — salt, fat and sugar — sugar has been the hardest for me to kick because, let’s face it, I love chocolate and chocolate cakes of all kinds. I jsut spent two weekends in my old home, New York City, where sugar embraced me everywhere I turned. Back in Illinois now, I have to get serious again about cutting the sugar.

My wonderful chocolate dessert at the Orrington. — *A wonderful chocolate dessert I had in 2015. Cake is extremely difficult for me to give up.*

So this piece is very helpful, 5 Sneaky Reasons Your Blood Sugar Is High. It turns out your sugar levels can be impactd by more than jsut what you eat.

Stress, dehydration, lack of sleep, even hormones can impact your sugar levels, the piece outlines. Medications you take also can contribute to higher sugar levels.

The article on Eatingwell.com concludes:

“Getting to know your body and why you may experience an unexpected blood sugar high will help you to be better prepared should it happen. It’s important to stay connected to your care team and seek out the help of your primary care provider when you experience unwanted or potentially dangerous symptoms.”

September 14, 2022 1

Trader Joe’s High Fiber Cereal Remains MIA — Here Are Some Alternatives

Trader Joe’s High Fiber Cereal has been missing from TJ outlets in the Chicago area for two weeks now and I’m becoming more and more convinced it is being discontinued. Store managers have consistently told me it would be in the next day only to not have any that day. This is a food disaster for me since that cereal has been my breakfast go-to for the decade since my first stent went it. I’ve written about how it is relatively low in salt and sugar compared with other breakfast cereals.

*Nutrition information for three alternatives to Trader Joe’s High Fiber Cereal, which is gone from TJ stores in my area north of Chicago.*

But facing the harsh reality that it may join a long list of low-salt Trader Joe’s products that have been dropped in recent years, I decided to see what alternatives are available on supermarket shelves.

I bought boxes of General Mills Fiber One, Kellogg’s All Bran Original and Kellogg’s All Bran Buds. A friendly woman in the store suggested the Buds to me, saying they are her husband’s favorite. Maybe he enjoys the added salt and added sugars. Buds has 300 mgs of salt and 12 mgs of sugar, highest among the three. Eating a cup of them left me extremely gasey as well, not a pleasant feeling to go through the day with.

Fiber One looks a bit like TJ’s except the strings are darker and a but thicker. It has very little taste but at least the nutrition numbers are;t bad, 140 mgs of salt and no sugar. The original All bRan has the least salt per serving, although the numbers are skewed a but because it and Fiber One considers a serving as two-thirds of a cup while the infamous Buds calls half-a-cup a serving.

All of these cost more than TJs, by the way. I paid $6.99 for Fiber One, $4.99 for All Bran on sale and $4.99 for Buds on sale (each was $1.80 off their regular prices). I’m going to keep an eye out for General Mills coupons for Fiber One.

I’ll be visiting the New York City area shortly, I’m planning to check there to see if TJ has in fact stopped selling the one item that would regularly draw me to its stores.

August 25, 2022 5

Trying to kick sugar — here’s one no-sugar diet plan

I’ve written many times that of salt, fat and sugar, sugar is by far the hardest for me to give up. I tried a no-sugar challenge in 2020 but the pandemic and its concurrent stress wiped out that plan. So I’m always interested when I see pieces like EatingWell.com’s No-Sugar Diet Plan.

MY half slice of Junior's chocolate mousse cheesecake, Mmmmmmm. — *My love of such things as cheesecake make it difficult for me to kick sugar.*

The plan includes a week of do-it-yourself meals and is based on consuming 1,200 calories a day, so obviously for women rather than men who should consume around 2,000 calories daily.

Some of the items mentioned, like peanut butter energy balls, I would never eat because of my aversion to nuts. But some of the dinner main dishes, like Mediterranean ravioli with artichokes & olives, sound worth trying.

I’d suggest giving the menu plan a look and picking and choosing what you like.

March 27, 2022 0

A reminder about sugar — it’s hiding everywhere in your food

It’s fairly easy to look at a food label and see how much salt is in a product but sugar is another matter. I’ve written before about hidden sugar and so this older piece from Cooking Light that popped up in an email recently caught my eye, 5 Ways Sugar Is Hiding in Your Food.

*Cute maple syrup, who doesn’t like it? Well, surprise, it’s sugar!*

Most people, I think, know about high fructose corn syrup being sugar. It’s gotten so much bad press in recent years, the word is out about HFCS.

But how about evaporated cane juice, fruit juice, honey, molasses and even maple syrup? They’re all sugars and all covered in the piece, give it a read. And be alert, read every food label.

January 26, 2022 0

Thumbs down on chocolate frosting mix with alluose

I came across a relatievly new non-sugar sweetener last year, allulose, and sent away for several products that use it to test it out. The latest I tried — a chocolate frosting mix with alluose. My verdict — thumbs down.

I pretty much had the same reaction to a brownie mix with allulose. Sadly, this does not seem the product that will ween me off of sugar. Of the big three devil products — salt, fat and sugar — sugar has been by far the most difficult for me to cut out of my life. Without it, I am chronically depressed.

I’m starting this year needing to lose weight again to counter rising blood pressure that medeications are not fixing. So I’m dropping sugar again, suffering through the pain that comes with that. Wish me luck.

If you crave chocolate frosting, this is not the product for you. It tasted a bit grainy and not like regular chocolate at all. I disliked it so much I scrapped it off three cupcakes I’d topped with it and erefrosted those with regular chocolate frosting.