Reducing Added Sugars

You needn’t look far to see the attack on sugar. Take this recent internet headline: Sneaky sources of sugar. As if sugar is a wily ingredient sliding into foods undetected and wreaking havoc with our diets.

The sugar content of foods and beverages is a consumer hot button. The same week, my friend said, “There’s just so much sugar in orange juice. We’re better off eating an orange."

It had never occurred to me that the sugar in natural juice was a problem, so I looked up the nutritional breakdown in the USDA Nutrient Database.

One cup of raw orange juice has 112 calories, 20.83 grams sugars and 496 milligrams potassium. A Florida orange that weighs 141 grams has 65 calories, 12.89 grams sugars and 238 milligrams potassium.

The whole fruit wins with a lower calorie count, but are an extra 8 grams of sugar a diet buster? Isn’t the additional potassium beneficial?

If consumers are avoiding sugars that are naturally occurring in nutritious foods, the backlash is magnified against added sugars. And that at least is something food formulators can address.

Sugar wars

The battle to win customers’ favor begins with the label. A product with a front panel announcing lower-sugar content might win the customer’s attention. Information on the back panel may also help guide the purchasing decision. The buyer may be swayed by an ingredient statement that meets their expectations for natural, artificial or a specific sweetener preference. The nutritional panel will reflect the food’s actual sugar content.

What the consumer is actually looking for is as far ranging as their personal diversity. Some people will simply look at total sugars; others seek out low-calorie, artificial sweeteners. Still others want a label declaration.

Products that make a reduced-sugar claim need to follow FDA guidelines. In Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 101, Section 60(c), FDA proposes that, to warrant a reduced-sugar claim, products must contain "at least 25% less sugar per reference amount customarily consumed than an appropriate reference food." Sugars are defined by FDA as the sum of all free mono-and disaccharides such as glucose, fructose, lactose and sucrose. A claim cannot be used on meals, main dishes or dietary supplements.

When working with honey, remember that it contains fructose and glucose and about 7% other disaccharides including maltose, tutanose and isomaltose. It also contains oligosaccharides, which are larger units of carbohydrates.

The terms “no added sugar," “without added sugar," or “no sugar added" applies only to products where no amount of sugar, or ingredient containing added sugars—such as jam, jelly or concentrated fruit juice—is used. The product cannot contain sugar alcohols, either. If the food is not “low calorie" or “calorie reduced" it must be stated.

The term "sugar" is used loosely, but it covers a lot of ground. The food developer must understand the nuances. Sugar is the common name for sucrose, disaccharides of glucose and fructose units. It’s a nutritive sweetener, meaning it provides 4 calories per gram. However, the sweet monosaccharide fructose, commonly found in fruit, also falls in this category. It’s about 10% sweeter than sucrose. Dextrose is a glucose isomer. It’s about 70% as sweet as sugar, and has a slight cooling effect on the tongue. Technically speaking, these are all "sugars," and they all are used in food and beverage formulation.