In an ironic twist, real sugar is emerging as a dark horse in the race to reduce its consumption as more shoppers favor moderation of the real thing over its total elimination and look for products featuring clean labels and whole food ingredients rather than alternative sweeteners.
Whole Foods Market predicts in its 2026 food and beverage trends forecast, published earlier this month, that consumers who are mindful of their sugar intake increasingly will opt for products that are “subtly sweetened” with real cane sugar, honey or maple syrup or which lean on fruit for flavor and texture rather than high amounts of sugar.
“To me, this movement started around dates, which we identified as a trend in 2023. At that time, we started seeing so many date-sweetened products, like date syrups and sugars, and many CPG brands started incorporating the fruit as a replacement for refined sugar,” said Kelly Landrieu, principal planner of local and emerging brands and a member of the Whole Foods Market Trends Council.
“This has continued over the years, and I even saw a date-sweetened cola out there recently,” she added.
She explained that the retailer’s “sweet, but make it mindful” trend, included in its 2026 forecast is “the next iteration” of the date-sweetened movement and will include “brands opting for sweeteners, like real cane sugar, whole fruit or honey instead of artificial sweeteners.”
Among the frontrunners using dates as a sweetener and bulking agent highlighted in Whole Foods’ forecast is Harken Sweets, which makes candy bars with date caramel and which will launch in select Whole Foods in November.
Founder Katie Lefkowitz previously said the brand was “about reinvigorating the confectionary space with the power of the date fruit,” which she said offers vitamins, minerals and – notably – fiber, which is a shortfall nutrient for many Americans.
Landrieu also noted one of her favorite new brands tapping into this trend is Tuyyo Foods, which was also part of the retailer’s Local & Emerging Accelerator Program (LEAP).
Tuyyo Founder Stefanie Garcia Turner said in January that she launched the company to recreate her nostalgic childhood memories of drinking powdered agua fresca, but without artificial colors, flavors and preservatives. Instead, her drink mixes contain agave and real dehydrated fruit.
Are Americans’ palates changing?
Consumer demand for real sugar – but less of it – also reflects shift in the consumer palate to favor less sweetness as well as a pushback against the long finish associated with some alternative sweeteners, argued Landreiu.
“There also tends to be a lack of aftertaste” with real sugar “that can be prominent with artificial sweeteners,” she said.
Emerging brands embracing this less-is-more philosophy when it comes to sugar include Happy Candy, which also participated in Whole Foods 2025 LEAP Early Growth Cohort.
Happy Candy Founder Maxi Heidenblut explained earlier this year a third of Americans want to avoid sugar substitutes because they believe they are unhealthy – which is one reason why she uses real sugar, but 70% less of it, in its gummy candies than conventional competitors.
Whole Foods Market shapes the trends
Whole Foods Market’s highly anticipated annual trends forecast is a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts given the retailer’s influence among startups and emerging brands and its power to place products on its shelves.
In the case of the “sweet, but make it mindful” trend, the build has been slow and steady at the retailer, which bans from its stores several sweeteners considered safe by FDA, including acesulfame-K, advantame, allulose, aspartame-acesulfame salt, neohesperdine dihydrochalcone, saccharin and sucralose.
According to the retailer that still leaves plenty of options for creating sweet treats for consumers who want to avoid the calories and other aspects of sugar. Among these are agave nectar, barley malt syrup, beet sugar, brown rice syrup, brown sugar, cane sugar, cane syrup, coconut sugar, corn syrup, date sugar, golden syrup, honey, maple sugar, maple syrup, molasses and palm sugar.
