Washington: Consumer interest in reducing sugar remains strong, according to the International Food Information Council’s (IFIC) 2025 Food & Health Survey, though concern has declined compared to 2015 levels, reports Food Business News.
In the 2025 survey, 75% of respondents said they were trying to limit or avoid sugar — 61% were limiting it and 14% were avoiding it entirely. Among this group, 63% said they were specifically targeting added sugars. Overall, 63% said they were concerned about how much sugar they consumed, down from the 2015 peak of 71%. Concern about the type of sugar consumed also fell to 56% in 2025, compared with 64% in 2015.
“These data suggest that most Americans are aware of public health guidance to reduce excessive sugar intake,” said Monica Auburn, senior director of food and nutrition at IFIC. She said policy steps — including the 2014 proposal to list added sugars on the Nutrition Facts Panel and the first quantitative added sugar limit in the 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans — likely contributed to the high concern seen in 2015. She added that Americans still show steady interest in understanding how sugars affect health, influencing both attitudes and behaviour.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020–2025 advise limiting added sugars to less than 10% of total daily calories. However, in the 2025 survey, 28% of respondents said they did not know the recommended limit. Sixteen percent correctly identified it, while 7% believed the limit was zero grams, and 8% thought there was no limit at all.
The 2025 findings are based on an online survey conducted from March 13 to 27 among 3,000 Americans aged 18 to 80.
When asked how they were reducing sugar intake, 55% said they were opting for water instead of sugary beverages — the most common approach for the sixth consecutive survey and an increase from 51% in 2021. Other methods that saw growth since 2021 included checking the Nutrition Facts Panel for lower added sugar (up from 23% to 30%), limiting certain foods and drinks (up from 33% to 41%), eliminating specific items (up from 31% to 36%), choosing “reduced sugar” products (up from 22% to 27%) and buying “sugar-free” options when available (up from 21% to 25%).
Survey participants expressed mixed views about low- and no-calorie sweeteners such as sucralose, aspartame and stevia. Ten percent had a very positive opinion, 17% were somewhat positive, 28% were neutral, 19% were somewhat negative, 22% were very negative and 4% were unsure.
