EUFIC Communication Lab on sweeteners part two : Targeted recommendations for healthcare practitioners

Last Updated : 27 October 2025

In June 2025, EUFIC convened the second part of its online Communication Lab on sweeteners (See the first one from September 2024 here). Over two sessions, this second Lab brought together experts from across Europe, including healthcare practitioners, nutrition scientists, industry representatives and patient association members to translate the latest science regarding sweeteners into clear, practice‑focused messaging recommendations for healthcare professionals.

Why a Communication Lab on sweeteners targeted at healthcare practitioners?

Sweetener use is consistently dominating headlines while still sparking questions in clinics. Patients are confronted with a swirl of claims, some are grounded in evidence, others based on hype or misunderstanding. Healthcare professionals need concise, evidence‑based tools to convey both benefits and risks of regular sweetener use in everyday conversations. While our first Lab highlighted key knowledge‑to‑practice gaps, this second session was all about reality-checking those gaps, to ensure our final recommendations truly meet the clinicians’ practical needs.

About the Communication Labs

Guided by EUFIC facilitators, each carefully balanced expert group:

• Mapped out obstacles in communicating sweetener science (e.g., patient misconceptions, media sensationalism, lack of scientific literacy, distrust in authorities or industries, etc.),
• Defined priorities for messaging (e.g., distinguishing between sweeteners, warning against the naturalness halo, etc.)
• Designed specific key messages and formats to build trust and clarity (e.g., using relatable analogies, highlighting scientific evidence strength, etc.).

Although expert participants will remain anonymous, we are grateful to everyone who generously shared their time and expertise. Thank you for being part of EUFIC’s mission to foster clear, trustworthy communication about nutrition.

Generating practice-fit recommendations to support HCPs in addressing sweeteners

Essentially, this second Communication Lab on sweeteners provided a collaborative, cross-sectoral space for delivering practice-fit keys to support HCPs in navigating a complex, often polarized topic.
Participants brought forward insights informed by clinical practice, patient experience, regulatory knowledge, and food system realities.
By grounding discussions in real-world constraints, from HCPs’ time and trust barriers to patients’ fears and misconceptions, the workshop shed light on how tailored communication can bridge the gap between scientific evidence and public perception.
The end result is a set of 15 actionable recommendations designed not only to improve reassuring communication about sweeteners but also to empower professionals to deliver science-based, empathetic, and context-sensitive guidance on nutrition and health.

15 recommendations to healthcare practitioners when communicating about sweeteners

General recommendations (for all HCPs)

1. Reframe the narrative: Emphasize that sweeteners are not shortcuts but tools - safe when used appropriately, and helpful within balanced diets.
2. Explain the sweeteners safety evaluation process: Clearly communicate the rigor and thoroughness of the scientific assessments sweeteners undergo: long-term risk evaluations, real-life exposure thresholds (ADI), inclusion of margins of safety, etc.
3. Debunk health myths with evidence: Clarify that sweeteners do not cause sugar taste habituation, nor diseases like cancer or diabetes in humans when consumed within safe limits.
4. Avoid oversimplification: Address common misunderstandings (e.g. “sweeteners are all the same” or “natural = safe”) by explaining the diversity, the origin and purpose of different sweeteners.
5. Contextualize studies: Help patients understand differences between epidemiological and clinical research, between different toxicology models (cellular, animal, human, etc.), and why different studies have different weights when it comes to building scientific consensus.
6. Use everyday, relatable analogies: For example, comparing the amount of Diet Coke needed to reach the aspartame ADI (e.g. 14 cans/day for years) helps make safety relatable.
7. Welcome emotional concerns with empathy, clarify them with sourced narratives: Offer empathetic, trust-building messages that validate their concerns but debunk misinformation (e.g. about “artificiality” or “addiction”). Taking your own personal experience as a message base can also help them question their concerns.
8. Promote risk-benefit thinking: Encourage balanced decisions that consider the individual, concrete health benefits of sweeteners (e.g. for blood sugar control or appetite support) over abstract risks that are accounted for in the EU.

Specific to general practitioners & medical associations

1. Leverage trusted channels: Disseminate messages through credible bodies (e.g. RCGP) and with medical infographics showing sweetener thorough approval/safety evaluation processes.
2. Reinforce dietary benefits: Support sweeteners as part of dietary, pleasurable strategies for managing conditions like diabetes or obesity, when keeping a low sugar intake is essential.
3. Normalize their use in medical contexts: Point out that oral medical products and dietary supplements often already contain sweeteners.

Specific to nurses, patient educators & associations

1. Use patient stories: Share real-life examples of how sweeteners can help maintain eating pleasure, cultural and social practices, as well as regular nutrient intake in vulnerable patients.
   
2. Prefer visuals and experiences: Use simple, colorful food visuals or even live cooking activities with patients to build culinary familiarity, reduce fear, and improve adoption of sweeteners.

Specific to dietitians & nutritionists

1. Focus on personalization: Tailor specific sweetener recommendations to each patient’s lifestyle, taste sensitivity thresholds and preferences, as well as clinical condition.
2. Address microbiota concerns transparently: Stay up to date and communicate openly about emerging research on sweeteners and gut health, while emphasizing context and dose.

You can find the full report here.

If you need us to illustrate these recommendations through examples of content, please contact us to organize a walkthrough with you and your teams !