SUGAR REDUCTION
ingredients to replicate the functions of sugar in each recipe. “Choosing the right ingredients often requires various elements to be considered,” explains Martina Foschia, Senior Application Specialist for Bakery at Cargill.
Martina suggests that considerations should include:
The type of bakery product: To be successful, sweetening solutions must consider the functional characteristics most important for that specific application. For biscuits crispiness and bite are important, whereas for cakes and muffins, softness is a key consideration.
Product claims: When choosing sweeteners, it is important to define sugar content and calorie objectives. Is it a no- added-sugar/sugar-free product, a product reduced in sugar (with or without a claimable calorie reduction), or a full- calorie end-product? This will determine, from a regulatory point of view, which solutions can be used.
“Aside from providing sweetness in baked goods, sugar has a bulking function and can also influence texture, spread, structure, browning, shelf life and more”
Other goals: Finding the right solution also depends on meeting additional customer requests, such as being label- friendly or enabling fibre enrichment.
In cereal bars soluble fibre can help achieve 50% sugar reductions while improving the Nutri-Score from C to B.
monosaccharides and disaccharides such as glucose and fructose – can pose something of a headache for bakery manufacturers, as it is a key ingredient in many bakery recipes.
Aside from providing sweetness in baked goods, sugar has
a bulking function and can also influence texture, spread, structure, browning, shelf life and more. So, reformulating to reduce sugars without sacrificing physical and textural attributes,
adhering to regulatory constraints, and
addressing other nutritional and functional requirements, can be a huge challenge for which, unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Instead, successful sugar-reduced bakery formulations need to find the right combination of
bakeryproduction.co.uk
Cargill can offer a portfolio of ingredients to provide sweetness, texture and enrichment. Martina advises the use of polyols in no-added-sugar or low-sugar products. “Polyols can replace both the bulk and the sweetness of sucrose and are lower in kcal when compared with sucrose – 2.4 kcal/g, with the exception of erythritol, which is 0 kcal/g. Maltitol is likely the closest sweetener to sucrose, in terms of relative sweetness, while sorbitol is often used as a humectant, to keep products soft and moist for longer,” she says. Polyol sweeteners are low-digestible plant-based carbohydrates which, in contrast to sugars, are hardly absorbed in the human small intestine. They are considered to be a good sugar replacement in bakery products as they can also offer functionality – acting as a bulking agent, emulsifier, stabiliser, humectant, thickener and texturiser in bakery products and cakes. Polyols are also tooth-friendly as they do not react with bacteria in the mouth and so do not cause tooth decay. This means that labels are also able to carry this health claim. “Fibres also have a role to play in reduced-sugar bakery,” continues Martina. “Cargill offers a range of soluble fibres designed specifically to replace the bulking function of sugar. In cereal bars soluble fibre can help achieve 50% sugar reductions while improving the Nutri-Score from C to B. Equally important, being plant-based, soluble fibre helps meet consumer demand for label-friendly solutions, too.”
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