Source: Today's Headlines • Food Industry Eye / Author: ZhiShixuan
Led by health trends such as weight loss and weight loss, a variety of low-sugar foods have emerged, ranging from factory-produced low-sugar packaged foods to low-sugar delicacies made by food experts at home. No matter which kind of low-sugar food, in order to achieve the purpose of reducing food calories, a special food additive "sugar sweetener" can be used.
At present, there are 20 kinds of sugar substitute sweeteners (sweetener additives) allowed to be used in China, of which 9 are artificial synthetic sweeteners, and the sweetness can reach up to 20,000 times that of sucrose (white sugar). In the face of so many sugar sweeteners, especially synthetic chemical sweeteners, the majority of consumers can't help but ask: Eating sugar substitute foods containing sweeteners, is the safety and health of the body guaranteed?
Sweet milk with added sweetener
Although sugary foods such as biscuits, cakes, and happy fat house water are delicious and delicious, the sugar content is also high, and eating more can easily cause health problems such as obesity and caries. Therefore, low-sugar foods are becoming increasingly popular and are being loved by more and more people.
Sugar sweetener is a variety of sweet food additives collectively referred to, mainly instead of sucrose, glucose, fructose, maltose, starch syrup, glucose syrup, fructose syrup and other sugar substances of sweetness, these sugars can provide energy for the human body, but also easy to make people fat.
In the process of making sugar substitute foods, the role of sugar substitute sweeteners is very important. Sugar substitute sweeteners have the characteristics of low or even no heat generation. In the preparation of sweet foods, the use of these sweeteners to partially or completely replace edible sugars such as sucrose can reduce the sugar content in foods, promote the production of low-sugar foods, and provide healthy food for dietary people.
Low-sugar cookies with added sweetener
Sugar substitute sweeteners include natural sweeteners and synthetic sweeteners. The authoritative data "National Standard for Food Safety" (gb 2760) shows that there are 11 kinds of natural sweeteners for sugar substitutes and 9 kinds of synthetic sweeteners for sugar substitutes.
Specific types of sugar substitute natural sweeteners include: ammonium glycyrrhizinate, monk fruit glycosides, steviol glycosides, somassel, sorbitol, maltitol, isomaltulose, lactitol, mannitol, xylitol, and chithritol.
Synthetic sweeteners of sugar substitutes include: Edwin Sweet, Bisweet (methyl aspartylphenylalanine acesulfame acid), sucralose, cyclamate, sodium saccharin, acesulfame potassium, aspartame, ali sweet, neo sweet.
Low-sugar chocolate made with sweeteners
The sweetness of synthetic sweeteners is very high, such as Edwantian is an ultra-high multiplier sweetener, which is currently the sweetest edible substance, and its sweetness is 20,000 times that of sucrose (the main component of white sugar). Edwin Sweet has good water solubility and high temperature resistance, is suitable for high temperature processing products, and can be added to chocolate, candy, yogurt, ice cream, tea beverages, jelly, compound seasonings and other foods.
Sugar sweeteners are food additives, many of which are synthetic chemical additives, so many people are skeptical about the safety and quality of sugar sweeteners, and even some people rumor that "eating foods with added sweeteners will cause cancer." So, is this really the case?
Low-sugar bread processed with sweeteners
In fact, there is no scientific basis for this statement. First of all, each sweet food additive has been subjected to a large number of long-term toxicological experiments before being allowed to be used, and can only be used in food after it has been proved to be safe. For example, in 1965, aspartame, a high-power sugar sweetener, was successfully developed abroad, and after 16 years of toxicological and safety tests, it was not approved for use as a food ingredient until 1981. Third, so far, there have been no incidents of "getting cancer from eating foods with added sweeteners."
Authoritative experts from domestic and foreign health institutions, including the World Health Organization, have always believed that as long as food additives such as sweeteners are used in accordance with standards and the production process is regulated, the food produced is safe and healthy, and it can be eaten with confidence.
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