What Exactly Is a "Natural" Sweetener? It's Not What You Might Think
- Adriane
- Jul 4, 2020
- 10 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
We've all seen sugars, syrups, and sweeteners labeled as "natural," "all-natural," or "100% natural." The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the agency in charge of making sure food labels are accurate, has never defined what “natural” means — yet sellers are still allowed to use the claim.
So, what's a "natural" sweetener, anyway?
Does it mean minimally processed? Unrefined? Free from anything artificial, synthetic, and genetically modified (GMO)? Is it a sweetener produced by nature without any human intervention? Can it be synthetically produced by fermentation?
If you’ve scratched your head at “natural” sweeteners, this post is here to make sense of them. We all have our own idea of what a “natural” sweetener is — read on to see if the products on store shelves match yours.
THE FDA TAKE ON "NATURAL"
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The FDA has no official definition for the use of the term "natural" on food labels, but it follows a longstanding, informal policy. Outlined in 1993, the policy is vague and can have different meanings in different contexts. It's meant to be generally applied across all foods and ingredients (though there is a legal definition specifically for natural flavors). When the FDA asked for public feedback, thousands of people spoke up — showing that what counts as “natural” depends on the food and who you ask.
One big reason there’s no law? Not everyone sees it the same way — what shoppers expect from “natural” often isn’t the same as what the food industry or the FDA has in mind.
Consumer surveys and research show that confusion around the term “natural” is widespread:
78% say they are willing to pay 10 to 30% more for products labeled “all-natural,” largely because they believe it means healthier, higher-quality products made without artificial ingredients.
At least 60% believe foods labeled as natural mean they contain no artificial ingredients, pesticides, or genetically modified materials.
Breaking Down the FDA’s View on “Natural” Sweeteners
Based on the FDA’s informal policy, these are the main points food makers follow when labeling a sweetener as “natural”:
1. FDA's policy is based primarily upon the source material, which must be found in nature
According to the FDA, all sweeteners "derived from a natural source" are natural, no matter how highly refined and processed they might be. It must have "nothing artificial or synthetic included in, or added to, it that would not normally be expected to be in" it. By contrast, the FDA considers artificial sweeteners to be those that are "not found in nature" and therefore must be "synthetically produced."
2. Processing and refining don't change a sweetener’s “natural” status
The FDA’s policy doesn’t consider the extent of processing or the manufacturing method. Highly processed or refined sweeteners may be labeled as natural. Examples include Stevia leaf extracts, monk fruit extracts, table sugar, and other refined sugars — all of which go through a great deal of processing and refining before they reach your kitchen.
3. Fermentation or enzymes can be used to make sweeteners that are labeled “natural”
According to the FDA, ingredients "found in nature can be manufactured artificially and produced more economically, with greater purity and more consistent quality, than their natural counterparts." That means many sweeteners labeled as “natural” aren't directly isolated and extracted from a plant — or, put simply, not just "taken out of" a plant, as many assume. Instead, they are "natural sweetener-like" ingredients or synthetic copies of sweet components of plants — which are made through fermentation or using enzymes in a process that chemically changes a plant-derived material.
THE FOUR FACES OF NATURAL SWEETENERS
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Now that you know how the FDA informally defines “natural,” let’s look at what that means in practice.
My goal here is to help you see that sweeteners labeled as "natural" can fall anywhere on the spectrum — from minimally processed to highly refined, or even synthetically made through enzymes or fermentation.
Next, we’ll look at how sweeteners are actually made. By understanding how they’re transformed from their source materials, you’ll be better equipped to decide whether a product labeled as “natural” truly meets your expectations.
All natural sweeteners go through some level of processing and refining by physical, chemical, and biological actions — whether that’s boiling, blending, adjusting pH, filtering, fermenting, or using enzymes and chemicals.
Based on how much processing and industrial interventions is involved, I group natural sweeteners into four categories: 1. Minimally processed 2. Refined 3. Highly refined 4. Synthetic
This breakdown isn’t about which sweeteners are better for your health — it's not meant to separate them into "bad-for-you" and "good-for-you" boxes. Many people choose less-processed sweeteners because they assume they’re healthier — an idea that makes sense for foods like grains, but doesn’t really apply to sweeteners. Nutritionally speaking, a minimally processed sweetener like raw honey, isn't much different from refined cane sugar.
So yes—natural sweeteners can fall into any of these four categories — minimally processed, refined, highly refined, or synthetic. Let’s look at what really sets them apart.
1. MINIMALLY PROCESSED SWEETENER
A minimally processed (or minimally refined) sweetener is one where only a small portion of the source’s natural components is removed.
Don’t be misled into thinking that minimally processed sweeteners offer more nutritive value, are healthier, or safer than refined or synthetic ones. While they may retain slightly more nutrients, such as minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, or oligosaccharides, the amounts are minuscule. At the end of the day, they’re mostly just sugar calories.
Examples: honeycomb, honey, organic honey, raw honey, organic raw honey, date sugar.
2. REFINED SWEETENER
Refining is the process of removing what are called impurities—anything other than the main sweet component. These impurities come from the raw source material and the production process, and they can affect both flavor and sweetness.
A refined sweetener undergoes multiple steps to eliminate most of these impurities, though some remain and contribute to its distinct taste and aroma. Considerable processing and concentration (evaporating water) is usually involved.
As noted earlier, refined sweeteners don’t necessarily have less nutritional value than minimally processed ones. In general, they aren’t a meaningful source of nutrients beyond calories from sugar.
Examples: unrefined cane sugar, traditional cane syrup, original cane molasses, organic light blue agave, organic amber blue agave, maple syrup, organic maple syrup, maple sugar, barrel-aged maple syrup, coconut sugar, coconut nectar, sorghum molasses, yacon syrup.
3. HIGHLY REFINED SWEETENER
Highly refined sweeteners are produced through processes that strip away nearly all impurities or non-sweet components of the original source. What remains is a product made up almost entirely of the sweet-tasting compound. These sweeteners are typically the result of intensive processing, often including repeated purification and concentration steps.
Like minimally processed and refined sweeteners, highly refined sugars are not a significant source of nutrients beyond calories from sugars. Zero-calorie, highly refined sweeteners, such as monk fruit or stevia extracts, provide sweetness without sugar or calories.
Examples: refined sugar (from cane and beet), raw sugar, stevia leaf extract, liquid stevia, stevia granulated, brown sugar replacement stevia, powdered stevia, monk fruit extract, monk fruit liquid, monk fruit granulated, golden monk fruit, powdered monk fruit, fruit juice concentrate syrup, apple sugar, lactose.
4. SYNTHETIC SWEETENER
Also called:
Biologically Produced Sweetener
Enzymatically Enhanced Sweetener
Bioconverted Sweetener
A synthetic sweetener is one that does not naturally occur in the plant from which it's made from — it's not directly isolated or extracted from that plant. Instead, it’s produced by chemically changing or breaking down plant materials, often using enzymes, fermentation, and/or acids. Some sweeteners — like glucose, fructose, xylitol, and erythritol — are found in nature. However, the versions sold in stores are synthetic copies. They are made this way because it’s more cost-effective, consistent, and pure than extracting the small amounts found in plants. These "natural sweetener-like" ingredients are chemically identical to their naturally occurring counterpart (as they exist intrinsic and intact in plants). For this reason, synthetic sweeteners are often referred to as naturally occurring sweeteners. Example; Erythritol
Erythritol is promoted as a natural sweetener because it is found in small amounts in fruits, mushrooms, and fermented foods. But in practice, it isn’t isolated from those sources. Instead, the erythritol you buy in stores is produced synthetically from corn — even though corn itself doesn’t contain erythritol.
Here's how one manufacturer explains how they produce their erythritol via fermentation from cornstarch:
"The yeast ferments or digests dextrose and other nutrients. In other words, dextrose is the food for the yeast – much like corn may be food for a cow that produces meat or milk. The dextrose used as the feedstock for the yeast is a simple sugar that is derived from the starch. Erythritol is not derived from corn or dextrose feedstock (just as milk is not derived from cattle feed); it is derived from the yeast organism."
Examples: corn syrup, organic corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, glucose, fructose, organic brown rice syrup, organic tapioca syrup, steviol glycosides, stevia enzymatically enhanced, xylitol, erythritol, sorbitol, allulose.
Are Sweeteners Made by Enzymes and Fermentation Really "Natural"?
Manufacturers of natural sweeteners are increasingly using terms like fermentation and enzymes to describe how their products are made. I'm often asked: Are sweeteners made this way truly natural—and what do these processes actually involve?
Many sweet-tasting molecules are found naturally in plants, but only in minuscule amounts, making extraction and production on a large scale not cost-effective. To solve this, manufacturers create synthetic copies of these molecules using fermentation or enzymology.
Producers highlight these methods as more efficient and sustainable ways to produce better sweet-tasting products. For instance, growing stevia requires intensive use of land and water, and the resulting leaves contain only trace amounts of sweet molecules mixed with many impurities. TAs a result, synthetic stevia extracts such as Bestevia and EverSweet (read about it here and here) are made through fermentation or enzymes rather than directly from stevia leaves.
How Synthetic Sweeteners Are Made?
In practice, sweeteners aren’t produced by simply “squeezing out” or isolating molecules from plants. Instead, manufacturers use enzymes grown through large scale fermentation in closed vats—often holding 150.000 liters. Conditions like temperature, nutrients, air supply, and strict rules of hygiene are carefully controlled.
Once fermentation is complete, the microorganisms are destroyed, and the enzymes are isolated for use.
These food-processing enzymes (industrial enzymes or enzyme preparations) are processing aids — they trigger chemical changes but don’t remain in the final sweetener, since they’re inactivated or removed after doing their job. Sometimes, genetic engineering is used.
So, Are They "Natural?
For the FDA and sweetener manufacturers, yes. But for consumers, it depends on expectations.
If you expect your "natural sweetener" to be directly extracted from a plant — you may be surprised to learn that many are actually copies of molecules found in nature—created through fermentation and enzymes. At WhatSugar®, we call these synthetic sweeteners for clarity, while the FDA calls them “natural sweeteners manufactured artificially.”
NATURAL vs. ARTIFICIAL
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If the FDA considers the synthetic sweeteners listed above as "natural", how do they compare with artificial ones?
According to the FDA:
• Natural ingredients are "found in nature" but may be "manufactured artificially." (At WhatSugar™, we call those synthetic to make the distinction clearer.)
• Artificial ingredients are "not found in nature" and therefore must be artificially produced.
👉 The key point: In the FDA’s view, both synthetic and artificial sweeteners are manufactured artificially. The difference is whether the molecule exists in nature (synthetic) or not (artificial).
Examples: visit my 2025 Guide to Buying Artificial Sweeteners for a list of the brand names you’ll actually find in stores.
DISAGREE WITH FDA'S VIEW ON "NATURAL"?
YOU'RE NOT ALONE!
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Consumers have long pushed back against how the FDA and food manufacturers use the word natural for sweeteners. Several class-action lawsuits have been filed, though all were settled before reaching trial. These cases highlight the confusion and frustration caused by the lack of a clear definition.
From 2015 to 2016, the FDA invited public comments on whether the term natural should be formally defined, and if so, how. More than 7,600 comments were collected. The FDA website has this page updated in October 2018, but as of March 2025, no decision has been made yet.
In 2014, a class-action lawsuit was filed against McNeil Nutritionals, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, over "100% natural" claims on Nectresse monk fruit sweeteners. Nectresse was marketed as part of the Splenda® brand, which was sold to Heartland Food Products Group in 2015. The suit pointed out that monk fruit extract is highly processed and refined. More importantly, most of the product (about 99%) was erythritol—made by converting cornstarch to glucose through enzymatic hydrolysis, then fermented to yield impure erythritol, which is finally refined into 99.5% pure erythritol.
In 2014, Merisant and Whole Earth Sweeteners were sued for marketing their stevia-based sweetener, Pure Via, as natural. The companies agreed to pay $1.65m to settle lawsuits.
In 2013, Cargill, Inc. was sued for marketing its stevia-based sweetener Truvia as natural. The complaint argued stevia extract reb A is highly processed and refined. In addition, erythritol — the main ingredient (99% of the weight of Truvia powder) — is a synthetic sweetener. In 2014, Cargill agreed to pay $6.1m, considered the highest settlement paid for a "natural" claim lawsuit.
In 2008, the Corn Refiners Association (CRA), which is the trade association representing the corn refining industry, requested to consider high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) natural. Initially, in April 2008, the FDA said in a letter that HFCS is not natural. However, in July of the same year, the FDA found that HFCS can be labeled natural, and here is the letter from the FDA.
In 2006, The Sugar Association, which is the trade association representing the cane and beet sugar industry, petitioned the FDA to adopt the USDA's definition of "natural," — which would require food ingredients to be minimally processed and retain their original molecular structure. It claimed HFCS as natural was misleading.
In 2005, The Sugar Association filed a lawsuit against McNeil Nutritionals, the maker of the artificial sweetener Splenda, for using the slogan "made from sugar so it tastes like sugar." suggesting Splenda is natural rather than artificial. The case was settled in 2008, but the agreement was confidential.
Main Takeaways
We all have different ideas about what a natural sweetener means — and often, it doesn’t match the FDA’s view. The FDA allows sweeteners to be labeled "natural" even if they’re highly refined, heavily processed, or even made through enzymes and fermentation.
At WhatSugar™, we reserve the term "synthetic sweeteners" for those made with enzymes or fermentation, rather than directly extracted from plants. Synthetic does not mean artificial — artificial sweeteners are not found in nature at all, while synthetic ones are copies of compounds that occur naturally in plants.
What is your take on natural sweeteners? Do you mind your "natural sweetener" is not directly extracted and isolated from a plant? Instead, it is a synthetic copy (chemically identical) of a naturally-occurring counterpart (intrinsic and intact in plants).
Learn more by reading another blog post 5 Misconceptions about Natural Sweeteners.
Disclosure
WhatSugar is reader-supported. When you buy through Amazon links on this website, this blog may earn an affiliate commission, at no cost to you --- A one-woman business relying on Amazon affiliate commission to avoid ads.
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