ISM 2020: Beneo highlights sugar replacers in new confectionery collection

03 Feb 2020 --- Addressing reformulation pressures, Beneo is highlighting its naturally-sourced sugar replacer, Isomalt, in a new sweets collection. They are currently being presented at ISM trade show, held in Cologne, Germany, where NutritionInsight reports from. The sugar-free candies are made using flavors from Symrise and are designed to “bring excitement and authenticity to every moment in the mouth,” the company says. The collection also taps into both the “healthy indulgence” and “sensorial immersion” trends that are currently driving confectionery sales.

“Taste is key for re-purchasing food products and using genuine flavors can allow consumers to experience memorable key moments again. Bringing the two elements of taste and flavor together creates a combination that is crucial for experiencing emotional memories. With our most recent collection of sugar-free candies, we have brought sensorial immersion to life and made authentic flavors perceptible. This is to help our customers tap into the latest trends driving the category,” says Rudy Wouters, Vice President Beneo-Technology Center. 

“With a growing desire to reduce sugar consumption and a belief that the confectionery market isn’t meeting this need as of yet, the opportunity is there, worldwide, for sugar-reduced and sugar-free products that were once considered ‘niche’ to move into the mainstream,” Thomas Schmidt, Marketing Director at Beneo, tells NutritionInsight. 

He notes that the main motivation for respondents wanting to eat less sugar is its negative effects on health. Consumers are also interested in sweets with added benefits, which highlights a significant market opportunity for confectionery producers who can develop products that deliver in terms of functional benefits, sugar reduction and a clean label format, he adds. 

An emotional connection
According to Innova Market Insights, a quarter of consumers worldwide are influenced by products containing low or no sugar when buying sugar confectionery. Beneo notes that consumers still want an emotional connection to what they eat, and that this combination of flavors and sugar-free candies can inspire confectionery producers to satisfy even the most adventurous snackers – two more top Innova Market Insight trends. 

In addition to other flavors, the Beneo Sweets collection includes:

• Garden Chills: A green and yellow stamped candy that offers a taste of lemon, lime and garden-mint, which evokes warm summer days in an Italian garden.
• Yuzu Candy: This hard-boiled candy contains the refreshing, tropical taste of the Asian fruit yuzu, reminding consumers of their travels across the world.
• Tropical Blossom: This swirl candy combines the fruity flavors of orange blossom, hibiscus and blood orange, enabling the consumer to sense the summer breeze from the US’s Deep South.

Isomalt is touted as being the only naturally-sourced sugar replacer made from pure beet sugar. Although it has a sweetening profile almost equal to sucrose, it only has half the calories. This may appeal to sectors of the industry that are under increasing pressure to reformulate, due to regulation such as the UK’s Soft Drink Industry Levy. A study last month found that sugar reduction has also spread to other areas, with there being a 13 percent overall decrease in total sugar content in UK yogurts since 2016.

However, Schmidt argues that it is less legislation that is driving the demand for sugar-reduction in confectionery but rather a shifting consumer desire to lead healthier lifestyles. “Worldwide, consumers are concerned about their sugar intake and they do not want to feel guilty about their snacking anymore. Looking at the confectionery sector specifically, a large number of candies and chewing gums are already sugar-free,” he states. 

Beneo is also presenting cola-flavored power chews with Palatinose.However, he continues that for other applications, it is rather unrealistic to aim for a complete ban of sugar, mainly due to technical and nutritional reasons. “Confectionery is a treat for all of us and taste, texture and mouthfeel are all key when it comes to indulgent treats. However, technically it is not possible to replace sugar entirely in all confectionery applications without impacting those things.”

Spotlight on Palatinose
Beneo is also presenting cola-flavored power chews with Palatinose, its isomaltose product. It is another alternative to sugar and is based on sucrose from sugar beet. The chews are touted as reducing glycemic response and having slow-releasing energy. Palatinose has approximately half the sweetness of sucrose and no aftertaste. It can replace sucrose at a 1:1 scale and can easily be combined with other sweeteners to achieve a unique and tailored sweetness profile.

Last month, a study found that Beneo’s Palatinose may support the additional loss of body weight and fat mass in overweight and obese adults when replacing sucrose in a weight loss diet. “Palatinose and sucrose are very similar from a molecular point of view and calorie-wise. They are both sugars and they both consist of a glucose and fructose molecule, which is why sucrose has been used as the control within this study. However, the bonding in Palatinose is much stronger. As a result, both ingredients behave completely differently when it comes to human metabolism,” Anke Sentko, Vice President Regulatory Affairs and Nutrition Communication at Beneo, told NutritionInsight.

Sweeteners have been in the spotlight recently ahead of the anticipated release of draft guidelines on the intake of non-sugar sweeteners from the World Health Organization (WHO) Nutrition Guidance Expert Advisory Group (NUGAG). A report publicized by the International Sweeteners Association (ISA) argues that there is an extensive body of robust scientific evidence that shows that low and no-calorie sweeteners are safe and can be part of broader strategies to reduce sugar intake. 

Edited by Katherine Durrell