Sweetness is a basic taste that is universally liked by people and is usually caused by carbohydrates. In addition to providing sweetness, sugars can also produce attractive color and aroma, which play an important role in improving food texture, bacteriostasis and prolonging food shelf life.
The right amount of sugar can replenish the body's energy, help restore physical strength and relieve fatigue. However, excessive intake of high-sugar foods will cause the body to accumulate too many calories, which will eventually be converted into fat, leading to obesity, increasing the risk of high blood pressure, diabetes and other diseases.
In recent years, with the improvement of people's living standards and the promotion of healthy consumption concepts, "low-sugar" and "sugar-free" foods have been more favored in the market and gradually become a new trend of consumption.
The sweetness of "low-sugar" and "sugar-free" foods comes mainly from the sweeteners added to the food.
Sweetening agent
Sweeteners are substances that give food sweetness and belong to a class of food additives. Sugar substances such as glucose, fructose, sucrose, maltose, starch sugar and lactose, although also natural sweeteners, are often considered as food raw materials because they are consumed by people for a long time and are important nutrients.
Compared with sucrose, fructose and other added sugars, sweeteners have high sweetness, low energy, good stability and other characteristics, only a very small amount of food can be added to obtain the appropriate sweetness, a wide range of applications, and more suitable for diabetes patients, obese people and the elderly need to control energy and carbohydrate intake of special consumer groups.
Common sweetener
There are many kinds of sweeteners, which can be divided into natural sweeteners and artificial sweeteners according to their sources, and nutritional sweeteners and non-nutritional sweeteners according to their nutritional value.
At present, the commonly used sweeteners in food can be mainly divided into three types: sugar alcohol nutritional sweeteners (such as erythritol, xylitol, etc.), natural non-nutritional sweeteners (such as stevioside, momorrhoeae, glycyrtein, etc.) and artificial non-nutritional sweeteners (such as aspartame, saccharin, neotame, cyclamate, sucralose, etc.).
In the process of food processing, non-nutritive sweeteners are often combined with sugar alcohol nutritive sweeteners, because non-nutritive sweeteners have the advantages of higher sweetness and less amount, but some will have bad aftertaste such as metallic taste, while sugar alcohol nutritive sweeteners have low sweetness, but can play a role in covering up bad flavor. The combination of the two can complement each other, coordinate the taste and enhance the flavor.
Sugar alcohols nutritional sweeteners
This type of sweetener is a derivative of sugar, and its structure and sweetness are similar to sugar. These sweeteners provide less energy than sugar, do not cause a significant blood sugar response, and can significantly reduce the risk of dental caries, so they are widely used in chewing gum and lozenges.
Natural non-nutritive sweetener
Stevioside (stevia, stevia side) Stevioside is a kind of sweet terpene ligand extracted from stevia, which is white powder, easily soluble in water, about 200 times sweeter than sucrose, and only 1/300 of the heat of sucrose. Compared with sucrose, the sweetness of stevia is delayed, and the bitter taste is more obvious. The combination of stevia with sucrose, fructose, glucose and maltose can synergically increase the sweetness and make the sweetness more pure. Generally used to make beverages, baked goods, yogurt, sauces, candy and so on.
Momoside (Momoside extract) Momoside is a natural sweetener extracted from Momoside fruit, which is about 240 times sweeter than sucrose and only 1/50 of the calories of sucrose. Momoside is similar in sweetness to stevia, has no unpleasant aftertaste, and is delicious and delicious, making it an ideal choice for adding to fruit drinks.
A synthetic non-nutritive sweetener
Aspartame is a combination of two amino acids in the food aspartate and phenylalanine, and its sweetness is 100 to 200 times that of sucrose. Aspartame hydrolyzes easily at high temperatures or pH, so it is not suitable for high-temperature baked goods, but it can be combined with fat or maltodextrin to improve its heat resistance. Because aspartame has the characteristics of good taste, high sweetness and low energy, it has been approved for food industry in more than 90 countries and regions around the world.
Sucralose (sucralose) Sucralose is the only sweetener synthesized from sucrose, the sweetness is 600 times that of sucrose, and has the advantages of good thermal stability, not easy to decompose and high safety. Sucralose is pure in sweetness and has a masking effect on bitter and astringent tastes. So far, sucralose is the artificial sweetener closest to sucrose. It can be used in beverages, canned fruits, soy sauce, compound seasonings, prepared wine and other foods.
Acesulmi (AK sugar) Acesulmi is a non-caloric sweetener that is about 200 times sweeter than sucrose and has a pleasant taste. It is widely used in sweets, baked goods, frozen snacks, beverages, mixed desserts and table sweeteners. The combination of acesulfameae and aspartame at 1:1 will increase the sweetness by 30%, and if it is properly matched with cyclamate when used, the sweet taste of the product will be more smooth and the taste is more pure.
The sweetness of cyclamate is about 30 times that of sucrose, good flavor, no odor, and can cover up the bitter taste of other sweeteners, which can be used in frozen drinks, jams, breads, pastries and other foods. In the compound use of cysuline, the main combination of pre-sweet, post-sweet long high-power sweetener.
Scientific diet recommendations for reducing and controlling sugar
Sugar is not only a condiment, to bring people a pleasant and wonderful taste, it is the necessities of people's lives, is one of the five nutrients of the human body. If you want to stay healthy, you need to be a sugar addict, not a sugar addict. There is no need to excessively reject sugar and sweetness in daily meals and blindly pursue sugar-free foods. In fact, many foods naturally contain sugar, and scientific sugar reduction is actually only "added sugar". Added sugars are sugars added during processing in addition to those naturally occurring in food. Common added sugars include sucrose, fructose, and glucose.
People with sugar control needs can give priority to choosing pre-packaged foods with low sugar content, or labeled "low sugar" and "no sugar" products, and pay attention to the ingredients and nutrition facts table on the product label to understand the types of sweeteners used in the product and the overall energy content of the food. Packaging labeled "no sugar" or "zero sugar" does not mean no sugar. "Sucrose free" means that there is no added sugar such as white sugar, white sugar, rock sugar, brown sugar, but other sugars such as glucose, fructose or starch syrup may be added.
