Low-sugar, no-sugar, healthier sugar alternatives, and low-glycemic substitutes are just a few ways developers are working to reduce, replace, or remove sugar altogether from their products.
Despite its necessity, there is no one-size-fits-all solution or simple swap that isn’t without its challenges. This is why sweetness enhancement can be a game-changing addition to any sugar reduction or replacement strategy.
The Need & Demand for Sugar Reduction
While the human desire for sweet foods might have deep-rooted biological and evolutionary causes, the amount of sugar present in modern Western diets is more than was ever needed for survival.
Unsurprisingly, the average American adult consumes 17 teaspoons of added sugar every day, which is 2 to 3 times the recommended amount. Overconsumption of sugar is associated with an increased risk of diabetes, fatty liver, cardiovascular disease, and more.
This makes it easy to see why the demand from consumers for healthier options continues to increase.
However, this doesn’t mean they still don’t want their fill of sweet and indulgent snacks, desserts, and beverages. This is especially true for younger generations like Millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha.
Unfortunately, research from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign suggests that achieving a satisfying level of sweetness with less sugar might prove even more difficult the younger your target consumer is. The study found that children and adolescents were less sensitive to sweet taste and needed 40% more sucrose to detect the taste of sugar when compared to their older counterparts. Moreover, they preferred a more intense sweetness than the adult participants.
Yet, this is only one of the hurdles facing developers looking to reduce sugar.
Growing demand for cleaner labels and more natural ingredients is increasingly taking traditional synthetic sugar substitutes out of the equation and forcing developers to look elsewhere for alternatives.
Struggling with Stevia & Other Sugar Substitutes
Many companies are turning to replacing sugar in their formulations with healthier natural sugar alternatives, such as maple syrup, honey, or date sugar.
These may contain similar amounts of sucrose or fructose but may also have lower glycemic impacts, as well as provide antioxidants and other nutritional benefits.
Still, calorie-free, non-nutritive sweeteners, especially natural high-intensity sweeteners like monk fruit and stevia, are the preferred options for many.
In the case of stevia, this is because, despite having no calories, it has around 200 times the sweetness of sugar.
This is caused by the unique structure of rebaudioside A (Reb A), the glycoside molecule responsible for the sugary taste.
Though this may give a jolt of sweetness at a low dosage, Eric Diaz, Certified Flavorist at Edlong, asserts that, unfortunately, that’s not all that it provides. “Stevia and similar sweeteners interact with the receptors on your tongue differently than sugar.
It’s like a key that fits in the door, but doesn’t quite unlock it. So even though you might trick someone into thinking it’s just as sweet, well, is it just as the same sweet experience? The sweetness might be the same, but the mouthfeel and the melt of it and how it dissolves on your on your palate would be off. Whereas regular sugar impacts and comes off your palate at just the right speed, some of these high-intensity sweeteners stick around, giving a lingering sweetness, or sometimes it even comes off as a metallic or bitter note.”
Those metallic or bitter off-tastes are also caused by Reb A, which activates two bitter receptors (hTAS2R4 and hTAS2R14) on your tongue.
Additionally, Diaz says there is more than off-notes one has to contend with.
“Sugar does more than just provide sweetness. For example, in a beverage, it can add that coating or syrupy mouthfeel. In applications like bakery and other foodstuffs it is part of a complex system of interactions that help to provide balance to the product in taste and function.”
He continues, “It’s not just sugar. A lot of things have salt and they have acidity to them, right? So when you have salt, sugar, and acids together in a system, they all play off of each other.
The best place to see this is in Asian cuisines, where they use a lot of sour, salty, and sweet components in their dishes. So, if you mess with the sweetness, it might not taste as salty either. This is because sugar sometimes boosts saltiness and vice versa.”
“The same thing, if you have something that you’re adding that’s sour, the sweetness is kind of taming the sourness, but what if all of a sudden that sugar goes away. Stevia doesn’t really tame sourness the way sugar does, because it doesn’t coat your mouth the same way. So now you’re so now you’re not only messing with the sweetness, but you’re making the other salt and sour components unbalanced at the same time.”
“It’s easier to replace sugar in a system that only relies on sugar than if you have those other variables in there. The more variables, the more balancing you need to do and the more delicate you need to be with your sugar reduction or replacement strategy. This is where sweetness enhancement can really make a difference.”
But why?
Science and Strategies for Sweetness Enhancement
According to Diaz, there are three primary reasons companies should incorporate sweetness enhancement tools into their various sugar strategies.
- Optimizing existing sweetness without adding sugar.
- Enhancing the remaining sweetness of a sugar-reduced/replaced formulation.
- Recreating the taste experience of sugar in a reduced or sugar-free product.
He stresses that Edlong’s approach to sweetness enhancement is not to add sweetness but instead to increase, improve, or enhance the perception of the sweetness that already exists within the product.
The question is how?
“There are two major ways we enhance sweetness with our flavors. One would be with certain non-volatile components of our flavors that are able to boost the perceived level of sweetness. The other is through various volatile aroma compounds that through olfactory and retro nasal olfactory responses, help enhance the sweet taste perception without any sugar or sweetener,” says Diaz.
One such aroma compound is vanillin, the chemical compound responsible for the characteristic profile of vanilla. While it has no sugar or inherent sweetness, most people find it sweet, perhaps due to their association and connection with desserts and sweet treats.
“Most importantly, when approaching sweetness enhancement is the need to achieve balance in the overall taste experience,” explains Diaz.
This is where he believes Edlong’s proprietary suite of Sweet Spot™ flavors truly shines.
“Flavors utilizing our Sweet Spot™ technology can enhance sweetness perception by helping shorten the onset of sweetness, increasing sweetness peak, and reducing unwanted lingering. They also work by complementing and boosting the inherent or existing sugar already in the product.”
He adds that they also help to mask bitter, acidic, and astringent off-notes, along with improving and building back mouthfeel for a holistic approach.
In fact, a paired comparison study at N.C. State demonstrated that iced tea containing Edlong’s flavors resulted in a sweeter, thicker perception for consumers than unflavored iced tea, all without the need for any added sugar, fat, gums, or texturizers.
“Though flavors aren’t a magic bullet,” says Diaz, “They are an incredible versatile multi-tool in our tool box for helping customers find that sweet spot and hit their sugar reduction goals.”
About the Author: Eric Diaz, Certified Flavorist
I am Eric Diaz, a certified flavorist with a deep passion for the science of taste. After earning my certification from the prestigious Society of Flavor Chemists, I’ve dedicated myself to pushing the boundaries of flavor creation. My role at Edlong allows me to craft innovative, high-quality flavor solutions that enhance our customers’ products. I’m proud to contribute to the industry by blending creativity with expertise, ensuring every flavor meets the highest standards of excellence.
Topics: Better For YouClean labelHealthy ReductionSweet dairy flavorsSweet Spot
Resource Type: Article