Recently, a well-known food company released a zero sugar smoothie. The main sweeteners used in this new product released by it are erythritol and stevia leaf extract. Judging from the ranking of ingredients, erythritol ranks high, indicating that it is the main source of sweetness in the product. What are the functions of erythritol favored by food companies? What are the precautions for using sweeteners in soft drinks?

A.Low calorie

Sweeteners are divided into nutritive sweeteners and non-nutritive sweeteners according to their energy levels. Non-nutritive sweeteners have very low calories and can be ignored. The commonly used sucralose (sucralose), aspartame, acesulfame potassium and cyclamate currently on the market are all synthetic non-nutritive sweeteners; steviol glycosides and mogroside are natural non-nutritional sweeteners. Sweetener.

Nutritive sweeteners have a certain amount of calories. Sugar alcohols such as sorbitol, xylitol, and erythritol are natural nutritional sweeteners. Among nutritional sweeteners, maltitol and erythritol are low-energy sweeteners because of their low calories.

B.High sweetness

According to Innova Market Insights data, among the new food and beverage products containing non-nutritive sweeteners in 2018, the top five applications include sucralose, acesulfame potassium, sorbitol, stevia, and aspartame.

Steviol glycosides and mogrosides are commonly used natural sweeteners. As consumers pay more attention to product labels, more and more companies are choosing sweeteners from natural sources. However, both steviol glycosides and mogrosides have a bitter taste and need to be combined with other sweeteners to obtain the best flavor.

In terms of sweetness, sucralose is 600-650 times sweeter than sucrose. Moreover, sucralose has good thermal stability and no after-bitter taste. Acesulfame potassium and aspartame are also commonly used sweeteners. The sweetness is 150-200 times that of sucrose. The sweetness is pure and has no bad aftertaste. They are also suitable for high-temperature processing conditions.

C.No aftertaste

Xylitol, sorbitol and erythritol are natural nutritional sweeteners. Maltitol and isomaltulose are artificial nutritional sweeteners. They have pure sweetness and no bad aftertaste.

Xylitol and sorbitol are slowly absorbed by the human body and have a low glycemic index. They are suitable for diabetics and are commonly used in candies, desserts, chocolates and chewing gums. However, they all have a certain tendency to cause diarrhea.

As a low-calorie sweetener, erythritol is widely used in baked goods, various pastries, dairy products, chocolate, various candies, and foods for diabetics. Since erythritol has a low melting point and low hygroscopicity, this feature can be used to preserve food by coating it, thereby extending the shelf life of food.

Comprehensive consideration

There are currently many low-calorie sweeteners to choose from, so why did food companies choose erythritol when developing zero sugar? The reason may be that it prefers natural sweeteners. Options include sorbitol, xylitol, erythritol, steviol glycosides and mogrosides. Moreover, the zero sugar smoothie claims to have a calorie limit of 110 kcal per bottle, so the amount of sugar added to the product should be minimized. Therefore, sorbitol and xylitol, two sweeteners with higher calories, are not alternatives.

The only options left are steviol glycosides, mogrosides and erythritol. Erythritol has a refreshing and pure sweetness without any unpleasant after-bitterness, and its sweetness is about 60-70% of that of sucrose. Steviol glycosides and mogrosides both have a bitter taste and need to be compounded with other sweeteners. Therefore erythritol was chosen as the primary sweetener for zero sugar smoothies.

In addition, erythritol has no reducing end groups and thus has excellent acid- and heat-stability (applicable to pH 2-12),and will not decompose or change color even at high temperature of 160 degrees. The acid and heat stability of erythritol can meet the requirements for smoothie processing.

Product optimization

After determining the development direction of a beverage product and the sweeteners used, product optimization is even more important. Flavor and texture are two key factors in successful soft drink product development. There are distinct flavor and textural differences between products sweetened with sucrose and those sweetened with sweeteners. When developing low-energy soft drinks, you cannot simply replace sucrose with sweeteners; you must adjust the flavor and texture of the product.

In terms of flavor, the sweetness and sourness of beverage products need to be properly balanced. When the aftertaste of the sweetener exceeds the desired sweetness, the amount of sweetener can be reduced by reducing the acidity of the product, thereby reducing the undesirable aftertaste of the sweetener.

In terms of texture, after the sweetener replaces sucrose, the soluble solid content of the beverage decreases, resulting in an incomplete taste of the beverage, which needs to be solved by adding appropriate thickeners and dietary fiber.

Additionally, the price of the sweetener is also a factor. Non-nutritive sweeteners are relatively inexpensive to achieve the sweetness of sucrose.

In short, when selecting sweeteners in actual production, at least the following aspects must be considered: consistency with regulatory requirements, practicality, price, nutritional value, sensory properties, and functional properties in the food system.

According to GB 2760-2014 "Food Safety Standard Food Additives", currently approved sweeteners in my country are: sucrose, glucose, fructose, maltose, lactose, raffinose, galactose, mannose, fructooligosaccharides, xylose, Xylo-oligosaccharides, xylitol, sorbitol, maltose-oligosaccharides, maltitol, mannitol, erythritol, saccharin, cyclamate, sucralose, steviol glycosides, aspartame, neotame, monk fruit Glycyrrhizin, glycyrrhizin and glycyrrhizin.