Simply removing sugar from a recipe rarely works. Besides providing sweetness, sugar contributes significantly to the appearance, stability and texture of the food matrix. Thus, it is important to select ingredients that improve the food’s nutritional profile and also maintain the required levels of taste and appearance. Beneo offers suitable solutions for a wide variety of concepts.

For some people, sweets evoke memories they can almost taste and smell: Memories of colourful candies, sticky fingers and sweet chocolate stains. Sweets will continue to hold this magic in future, but it will be healthier and contain less sugar.

Yet, reducing sugar is a real challenge, since in addition to good taste it has a wealth of technologically important advantages. What is needed are alternative ingredients that can compete in terms of taste and sensory properties and at best deliver additional health benefits, too. The ingredients specialist Beneo offers support here: Whether it is low calories, low glycemic or high fiber, the right ingredient can be found for a wide range of different concepts.

A high sugar diet is considered unhealthy because it can promote weight gain and chronic diseases like diabetes. This has been known for a long time – so much so that countless products are now labelled as “sugar-reduced” or “sugar-free”.

According to a recent survey, 43 % of consumers are specifically looking for products that contain less sugar (based on information on the packaging). Not only is less sugar crucial, but the type of reduction is also important. For example, 33 % of Germans are concerned about artificial ingredients and cite ingredients of natural origin as their preferred alternative.

In particular, when it comes to the development and optimisation of formulations, the supplier industry can help with its knowledge and ingredients expertise. Simply removing sugar from a recipe rarely works. Besides providing pleasant sweetness, sugar contributes significantly to the
appearance, stability and texture of the food matrix. Thus, it is important to select ingredients that improve the food’s nutritional profile and also maintain the required levels of taste and appearance. Beneo offers suit-able solutions for a wide variety of concepts.

When sugar has to be completely replaced, isomalt is an ingredient of choice. Formulations and production parameters require minimal changes, and sucrose can often be completely replaced by isomalt in a ratio of 1:1. In addition, the only sugar substitute derived from beet sugar provides just half the calories of sugar and is tooth-friendly. While providing moderate glucose release into the bloodstream, it has taste and technological properties that are comparable to commercial sugar.

In order to check technical feasibility, the experts at the Beneo Technology Center regularly produce product samples. Recently, they developed a butter biscuit with isomalt, in which sugar was completely replaced. Since isomalt does not draw any moisture from the ambient air, the texture also benefited: compared to the sugar variant, the biscuits were significantly crispier.

Palatinose (generic name isomaltulose) turns traditional insights and opinions about sugar upside down: from a food law perspective, it is – like table sugar – a disaccharide consisting of a glucose molecule and a fructose molecule. However, the link between the molecules is far more stable. This makes isomaltulose the only fully metabolisable, tooth-friendly carbohydrate with a low glycemic effect. It provides the full energy of conventional sugar, yet in a more balanced way and over a longer period of time. The sweetness profile is comparable to sucrose, and the sweetening power is about 50 %.

Health organisations like the WHO and the DGE (German Nutrition Society) recommend not only less sugar, but also a higher fiber diet. Partial replacement of sugar by oligofructose or inulin enriches foods in many ways: the functional ingredients can lower the calorie content, reduce the glycemic effect and, at the same time, increase the fiber content. The polysaccharides obtained from chicory root are not metabolised in the small intestine, and, thanks to their prebiotic properties, they contribute to the maintenance of gut health. Cor-responding EFSA health claims regarding the low glycemic mode of action and the effect on intestinal health are available.

The Beneo Technology Center recently replaced 30 % of the sugar in a chocolate cookie by Orafti inulin. Overall, the flavour profile remained very close to the reference product with no significant differences in sweetness or taste. At the same time, the nutrient profile was optimised by the increased fiber content.

In another sample, a granola bar, the experts replaced almost 30 % of the sugar by Orafti oligofructose. Again, no significant differences in chewability or taste were found. In addition to the nutrient profile, the texture and storage life improved: compared to the reference, the bar pulled more threads when broken and became less hard during storage.