Consumers, Influencers, We All Sell Well-Being
The influence of third parties on the final decision to acquire a product or service is considered an initial stage of the consumption process; people seek information, whether commercial, public, or from others. Today’s consumer values communication that is more human, based on the emotional energy, interest, and time someone dedicates to sharing their personal lifestyle and, in doing so, accompanying others (Pulido & Ortegon, Analysis of the Use of Influencers in Marketing, 2023).
When it comes to creating value and satisfying people’s needs, it is necessary to develop strong relationships and promote not only persuasive communication between them, Human to Human – H2H, but also ensure that their process of innovation and change materializes in a food offering that strengthens decisions guided not only by taste and pleasure, but also by contributions to their well-being and good health (Pulido & Ortegon, Analysis of the Use of Influencers in Marketing, 2023).
INCAUCA has always sold energy; it began by selling solar energy transformed by sugarcane into glucose + fructose and converted into calories, food energy, sugar. Today, it produces energy in many forms, for different uses, but it has never left in the hands of others the responsibility of sweetening, of caring for the emotion that vitality brings, which we need to celebrate, to feel that we can live through bitter days and sour relationships with or without calories, without giving up on sweetening life. This is the best definition of ART; it needs no explanation or justification, it is inspiration, it is intention without displeasure, and the body perceives it through the senses. Incauca has humanized sugar, because there is nothing more human than the enjoyment of sweet taste and the emotions we express through it.
The relationship between sugars and health is complex. Over the past 50 years, the estimated consumption of sweeteners has increased; between 1977 and 1998, sugar went from 235 to 318 calories/day; by 1999, more than 69 kg of sugars and sweeteners had already been added per person, and since then, this has coincided with the rise in obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. However, although the amount of sugars consumed has declined in more recent years, obesity rates have continued to increase, which suggests that sugar is not the main driver of weight gain; rather, it is more often discussed as an epidemiological or generational transition, given that a child’s consumption and weight gain pattern is a predictor of their weight in adulthood. The low quality of food between the 1950s and 1980s, the transition between caloric sugars and non-caloric sweeteners, whose consumption grew by 5% in 7 years (2008–2015), and the prevalence of physical inactivity (close to 40%) in higher-income countries are relatively “new” topics in research and have been gaining strength (Gillespie, Kemps, White, & Bartlett, 2023).
A review carried out in association with the Colombian Cardiovascular Foundation in 2007 had already raised this scenario; based on data from the National Demographic and Health Survey, it already showed the importance of examining this possible correlation between low growth indicators in the population under 5 years of age in 1995, and overweight and obesity 10 years later in the group over 15 years of age in 2005 (Ref…); this review showed…. This perspective helps us humanize sugar and sweetness as something inherent to our biochemistry, and depersonalize obesity; it is not only about demonizing sugar by comparing it to addictive substances and manipulated decisions, because the growing excess weight in the population is a much more complex epidemic.
The liver, kidneys, intestine, brain, and muscle are the organs that produce the sugars we need when we are fasting.
We fast while we sleep or when we decide not to eat in response to the feeling of physical or physiological hunger. The liver, kidneys, and intestine release sugars into the blood to sustain “the system,” so it keeps working, so it “doesn’t crash”; meanwhile, the brain and muscle produce them as reserves for themselves and as raw material in emergencies (Shah & Wondisford, 2023), that is, when the intake of sugars through food is limited. This indicates that sugars such as fructose and glucose, which are the same ones that make up the sucrose obtained from sugarcane, are human energy, cellular energy. Of the amino acids that form protein structures, 18 out of 20 are used to produce glucose… even the protein we eat can end up converted into glucose (Shah & Wondisford, 2023), depending on our habits. For anyone who wants more evidence, more biological reasons, “let them chew on sugarcane.”
According to the current labeling standard, so that consumers can make more informed decisions, sugars are classified as Total and Added; carbohydrates in general belong to two large groups: those that raise blood glucose or quickly enter the bloodstream, and those that do not. In none of these cases is it about labeling this ingredient or nutrient naturally present in foods as “good or bad,” but rather about helping consumers develop criteria regarding what to choose and when to choose one type or another.
There are sweet foods that have not been sweetened or in which it has been “necessary” to increase their sweetness so that more people will consume them; a piece of watermelon is very sweet, it is high in total and glycemic sugars, that is, it is the closest thing to a natural water-based popsicle. But a watermelon popsicle can also be made with water, adding sugar, artificial flavors, and colors, providing the same calories. It is the consumer who decides whether to buy a fresh watermelon and freeze its pieces before eating, or whether to buy the watermelon popsicle brand they like the most. In both cases, blood sugar rises, the pancreas produces insulin, and it tastes good.
But sweetening with Erythritol + Stevia or Erythritol + Sucralose, the two alternatives offered by Incauca Vital, is another matter. Erythritol is a close cousin of sucrose, and is invisible to the pancreas; that is, it does not reach the blood and therefore does not require insulin, which is produced in the pancreas and of which we have a limited number of units throughout life. It is a natural polyol or sugar alcohol; we have always consumed it in fruits, and even our red blood cells are capable of producing it. In other words, it is a non-glycemic carbohydrate according to the nutritional labeling standard (Ministry of Health and Social Protection, 2021), because it gives us a sweet taste but does not raise blood glucose levels.
Stevia or Sucralose?
Both are sweeteners, non-caloric sweeteners, or sweet taste enhancers, and they also carry a front-of-package warning label. The consumer makes the decision based on their ability to distinguish a bitter aftertaste, which for some is unpleasant and for others may be indifferent. Their difference lies in relation to sugar, since they do not provide energy. That is why, on the Vital Path, they remain different, because they are combined with erythritol (a close cousin of sucrose) and not with other sugars such as maltodextrins (sisters of cane sucrose).
By way of conclusion, despite our evolution as a species, nutrient availability determines survival, and our bodies adapt to long periods of famine as long as they can maintain adequate blood sugar levels. With industrialization and agricultural advances, much of humanity has never experienced malnutrition; however, diseases associated with caloric abundance represent a high cost for modern health systems (Shah & Wondisford, 2023). For this reason, persuading consumers that it is Vital to establish the right measure of sweet calories from sucrose, or the importance of being able to sweeten without calories, with erythritol, stevia, and sucralose, is the art and science behind the portfolio offered by Incauca.
When we depersonalize obesity as the result of consumption decisions, we can change the perspective on its biological causes and the true challenge for those who have turned the need to sweeten people’s lives into an efficient and sustainable industry, and who today offer healthy options.
