The International Steering Committee on Nutri-Score recently announced a beverage algorithm update that affects soft drinks. While high-sugar beverages remain classified as before, the algorithm now lowers the rating of drinks with non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS), including soft drinks. UNESDA Soft Drinks Europe, a trade association, opposes the update, calling for changes that will incentivize producers to reformulate or innovate new lower-sugar-content drinks. The Nutri-Score algorithm ranks food products from -15, the healthiest, to +40, the least healthy. The update introduces a specific component for NNS, which will now receive negative points. Soft drinks containing NNS will score a C or lower, and those with both NNS and sugar are likely to score a Nutri-Score D or E.
The new algorithm has received criticism from UNESDA, which believes that it does not incentivize beverage producers to reformulate and innovate. The association submitted recommendations to the International Steering Committee on Nutri-Score that were not all accepted. UNESDA wants a few adjustments to the algorithm, including avoiding conflicting information with nutrition claims and ensuring a more even distribution of rankings throughout the soft drink sector. The WHO’s 2022 draft recommendations noted that NNS should not be used for weight control or reducing the risk of non-communicable diseases. The WHO did not state that NNS were unsafe but stated that they were primarily used in highly processed low-sugar or sugar-free junk foods.
The negative scoring of NNS by Nutri-Score is questionable since it is not aligned with existing scientific research, according to UNESDA. The trade association argues that the use of low- and no-calorie sweeteners helps reduce people’s consumption of sugar. NNS are one of the most effective ways to reduce sugar and calorie content in soft drinks. UNESDA is concerned that this lack of public support for NNS could jeopardize the soft drink sector’s progress on sugar reduction and reformulation.
The Scientific Committee in charge of Nutri-Score has reviewed the scientific literature concerning NNS to justify the algorithm update. Serge Hercberg, a nutrition professor at the Université of Sorbonne Paris Nord’s Faculty of Medicine, points out that the soft drinks industry is working mainly to defend its interests. Scientists are not there to please industrialists or anyone else but to make recommendations based on collective expertise relying on science for consumers and public health.
Research is ongoing into the sustainability credentials of sugar and sweeteners. SWEET, a European Commission Horizon 2020 funded project, is working to develop evidence on long-term benefits and potential risks involved in switching over to sweeteners and sweetness enhancers. Stevia, for example, is a better choice for planetary health than cane and beet sugar, according to a life cycle assessment. Production of steviol glycosides extracted from stevia grown in Europe generates just 10% of the greenhouse gas emissions linked to sugar production.
