The 2015 edition of the U.S. dietary guidelines strongly recommends that you limit your intake of sugar to 10% or less of your calories.

To this end, many bakers have taken the lead in reducing the amount of sugar added. It's not as easy as it sounds. Traditional sugar, also known as sucrose, is essential in baking. It not only brings ideal sweetness, but also has many other important functions in baked goods due to its unique chemical properties. For example, in yeast fermentation products, sugar maintains yeast fermentation. In some products, it can affect the gelatinization rate of starch, thus affecting the shelf life, while in other aspects, the Maillard reaction involving sugar produces ideal surface browning during baking and frying.

When reducing the amount of sugar added to baked goods, high strength sweeteners are usually combined with traditional sweeteners and / or fillers to obtain the best sweetness and some other desired functions. High intensity sweeteners are much sweeter than sucrose, so the same sweetness can be achieved in a small amount. When using high-strength sweeteners in baked goods, the biggest challenge is to ensure the balance of ingredients and provide the necessary texture and taste while achieving the required sweetness.

Selection of high strength sweeteners

At present, there are eight high-strength sweeteners on the market -acesulfamic acid (Acesulfame), aspartame, neotame, saccharin, cyclamate, sucralose, stevioside, Siraitia grosvenorii extract- two of which (Siraitia grosvenorii and stevioside) are generally recognized as safe (GRAS) ingredients and are considered as natural sweeteners.

With the exception of one, all of these high-intensity sweeteners are classified as nonnutritive, which means they have very low or no calories at all. The only exception is aspartame, which produces heat. But because aspartame is 200 times sweeter than sucrose, it doesn't take much to achieve the required sweetness, so it usually makes little contribution to the energy in the formula.

Sinceaspartameis thermally unstable, its application in baked food is limited to the additives after baking or frying, such as icing, filling and brightener.

All other artificial sweeteners are heat stable and can be used for baking and frying. Saccharin has been used for the longest time. Saccharin, discovered in 1879, is 200 to 700 times sweeter than sucrose. In the early 1970s, laboratory studies linked saccharin to tumorigenesis in rats, leading to mandatory warning labels for products containing saccharin. Since then, more than 30 human studies have shown that the results in rats are not relevant to humans, and saccharin is safe to eat.

Acesulfameis about 200 times sweeter than sugar and is often mixed with sucralose, which is 600 times sweeter than sugar. The blend can be used in baking.

Steviosideand Siraitia grosvenorii extract, two generally recognized safe (GRAS) high strength sweeteners, are favored by many bakers for their reputation as natural and clean labels. Both are based on plant extracts and have good thermal stability.

Stevioside is better known. Stevioside is derived from the leaf extract of Stevia rebaudiana (stevioside) and is 200 to 400 times sweeter than sucrose. FDA has received many generally recognized safety notices for the use of stevioside with high purity (minimum purity 95%), including rebaudioside A (also known as REB a), stevioside, rebaudioside D, and stevioside mixtures with REB A and / or stevioside as the main components.

Siraitia grosvenorii is another high strength sweetener generally recognized as safe. The zero calorie sweetness of this tiny vine subtropical fruit comes from a natural antioxidant called mogrosides, which is 300 times sweeter than sucrose.

The latest choice

The latest sweetener to enter the market isallulose, which is a kind of monosaccharide with almost no calories in nature. The ingredient gained gras status in 2015, with the taste of sucrose and about 70% sweetness; Therefore, it is not a high strength sweetener. Instead, it is considered a low calorie sugar because it provides 90% less calories than full calorie sugar.

As a substance existing in nature, a small amount of ALCONE exists in jackfruit, figs, raisins and wheat, and naturally exists in some foods, such as caramel sauce, maple syrup and brown sugar.allulosehas several health benefits. When ingested, the body absorbs alloxan but does not metabolize it; Therefore, it will not be converted into glucose, so its heat is not used by the human body, it is almost caloric. Unlike other sugars with calories, alloxan does not affect blood glucose and insulin levels.

Erythritoland maltitol are very popular in baked goods. Because these sweeteners are bulky, they are often used in combination with high-strength sweeteners in baked goods to achieve the right texture.

The sweetness of erythritol is about 60% - 70% of sucrose, and the caloric content of each gram of erythritol is 0 kcal. Erythritol is found naturally in fruits such as pears, watermelons, grapes, mushrooms and fermented foods, including wine, soy sauce and cheese. It has been generally recognized as safe since 2001, and this bulk sweetener is very attractive for baked goods that claim to sell naturally.

Maltitol, on the other hand, is sweeter (about 90% sweetness of sugar) and contains calories (2.1 kcal / g). Many properties similar to sucrose make it popular in baked goods.

We Qingdao Healthchem Biotech Co., Ltd. can offeracesulfamic acid (Acesulfame), aspartame, neotame, saccharin, cyclamate, sucralose, stevioside, Siraitia grosvenorii extract,if you have interest, pls feel free to let us know. Email: sales@healthchembio.com