With the continuous improvement of health awareness, the trend of reducing sugar is like a fresh trend, which is gradually penetrating into people's daily lives. This is not only a change in eating habits, but also a profound reflection and innovation on the traditional perception of sweetness.

Under the trend of reducing sugar, sugar substitutes are on the rise! Faced with a variety of sugar substitutes, how to choose?

Sugar substitutes are a type of sugar that can produce sweetness. It can make our brain perceive sweetness, but it will not cause fluctuations in our blood sugar levels. The calories produced by sugar substitutes can be almost regarded as zero.

Sugar substitutes can be divided into two types according to the source of raw materials, artificial sugar substitutes and natural sugar substitutes.

Artificial sugar substitutes

Artificial sugar substitutes mainly include aspartame, acesulfame potassium, cyclamate, etc. These sugar substitutes are obtained by artificial synthesis, with high-intensity sweetness, but no calories or very low calories.

The sweetness of artificial sugar substitutes is often much higher than that of sucrose, which means that the amount of sugar substitutes used can be reduced at the same sweetness. Artificial sweeteners have good stability during food processing and storage, and are not easily affected by factors such as temperature and humidity.

Previously, after the news that the World Health Organization listed aspartame as a possible carcinogen quickly swept across major social media, artificial sweeteners were once again pushed to the forefront.

Natural sweeteners

Natural sweeteners mainly include stevioside, mogroside, etc. These sweeteners are derived from natural plant extracts and have the characteristics of low calories or zero calories. Natural sweeteners are derived from natural plant extracts and are safer and more reliable than artificial sweeteners. Some natural sweeteners also have some health benefits, such as lowering blood sugar and improving intestinal flora.

Stevia

Stevia are a natural sugar-free sweetener extracted from stevia leaves. The sweetness of stevia is about 250-300 times that of sucrose. It does not contain calories, is not absorbed after consumption, and does not generate heat energy. It is known as the world's "third generation of natural zero-calorie (zero-calorie) healthy sugar source" and is a natural sugar substitute for patients with diabetes and obesity.Stevia is easily soluble in water and alcohol, and tastes better when mixed with sucrose, fructose, isomerized sugar, etc. 

Due to the limitations of the characteristics of stevia itself, it is impossible to completely remove the astringency it contains. It is moderately delicious, but it will have obvious bitterness and astringency at high concentrations.

Monk fruit Extract

The sweetness of monk fruit extract is about 300 times that of sucrose. It is a high-intensity sweetener with very low calories despite its high sweetness. Its raw material, monk fruit, is one of the first batch of "medicine and food" medicinal materials in my country. Its many effects such as lowering blood pressure and blood sugar, anti-aging, lowering blood lipids and weight loss have been widely recognized.

Monk fruit Extract has the advantage of clean label, pure and natural sweetness, which can modify and optimize the taste of other sugar substitutes, and can also be directly added to food and beverages in the form of monk fruit powder and monk fruit concentrated juice. Therefore, in recent years, mogroside has also become an ideal natural sugar substitute sweetener in the food and beverage industry.