After stevioside and erythritol, will it be the next sweetener that has taken the world by storm?

When it comes to the most popular sweetener in China, I believe many people will blurt out the name "erythritol". So do you know what is currently the most popular sweetener in the US market? The answer is allulose. This seemingly niche sweetener is becoming one of the first-choice sweeteners for NPD in the United States at a leap-forward speed. Only in the first half of this year, a large number of new products have chosen allulose as a sweetener. The industry also predicts that allulose will become the next popular natural sweetener to sweep the world after stevia and erythritol.

Allulose market situation

Allulose (Allulose) is an epimer of Fructose, a monosaccharide that exists in nature but has very little content, and is also called a rare sugar. Allulose was first found in wheat more than seventy years ago, and then it was also found in raisins, dried figs and brown sugar. In 2015, allulose was approved by the FDA and can be used in baked goods, candies, sweet sauces, dairy products, ice cream, desserts, beverages and other products. But after that, psicose has not made much improvement in the US market. This is because psicose is a monosaccharide, which is still regarded as a sugar traditionally, so it belongs to "added sugar" and needs to be included. Carbohydrates and total sugars, so it cannot be used as a "low-calorie sweetener" like other sweeteners.

In 2019, allulose ushered in spring. The FDA announced that the low-calorie sweetener psicose was excluded from the labels of "added sugars" and "total sugars". From now on, it is no longer necessary to calculate the amount of addition in these two categories. The calorie of sugar is set at 0.4kcal/g. This policy rectifies the identity of psicose as a "natural low-calorie sweetener". Many ingredient companies have begun to increase the production of psicose. At the same time, new food and beverage products on the US market have begun to use psicone on a large scale. sugar. In North America, the number of new products containing allulose in 2020 has tripled compared to 2019.

Futuremarketinsights predicts that by the end of 2020, the global psicose market will reach 210 million US dollars, of which 55% is used for food, 37% is used for beverages, and a small part is used for medicine; powdered psicose products account for about the market 87% of it. It is estimated that in 2030, the global market for allulose will reach 450 million U.S. dollars, and it is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 9.1%. North America will account for more than half of the market.

Advantages of allulose

Compared with other zero-calorie natural sweeteners, the biggest advantage of allulose is that it has similar properties and functions to sucrose. It is safe enough and resembles "sugar" enough to make it difficult to compete with other sweeteners. It also obtains excellent sugar substitute effects in applications, such as baked goods. Its main advantages are as follows:

1. Low calorie

The sweetness of allulose is about 70% of that of sucrose, but its calories are much lower than that of sucrose, only one-tenth of that of sucrose. A small-scale study in 2015 showed that psicose may be beneficial for type 2 diabetes and obesity. Researchers report that psicose may help control blood sugar levels and improve insulin resistance. For obese and diabetic patients It is a very ideal sucrose substitute.

2. Good taste

In terms of taste, allulose has a soft and delicate sweetness, and has a pure sweetness that is very similar to high-purity sucrose. The initial stimulation speed to taste buds is slightly faster than that of sucrose, and there is no bad taste during and after eating. Its sweetness will not change with temperature, and it can show pure sweetness at various temperatures.

3. High security

Allulose is regarded as the best substitute for Erythritol by European and American scholars because of its close sweetness and it is safer than sugar alcohol. People have a certain tolerance for the intake of various sugar alcohols, otherwise they will have different degrees of diarrhea-assisting effects, but psicose will not have such a situation, and it has no effect on metabolism and blood sugar levels.

In addition, psicose does not use chemical synthesis. The general preparation method is that fructose extracted from corn or sugar beet is made by enzymatic epimerization. The resulting product is relatively single and belongs to natural products.

4. Improve product quality

Allulose and egg albumin can not only form a better cross-linked structure through Maillard reaction to improve food texture, but also produce substances with higher antioxidant effects, which can reduce oxidation loss during food processing and storage . Using allulose to partially replace sucrose in cakes can produce a large amount of Antioxidants through Maillard reaction, thereby improving the quality of cakes, making it an excellent alternative to sucrose in baking applications.

5. High stability

The structure and characteristics of psicose are extremely stable, and it has strong chemical inertness. It can maintain its original state under acidic or alkaline conditions. It has higher stability than sucrose, and is convenient to apply to various nutrients and raw materials. In foods with complex sources.