The wide family of glucoses

The wide family of sugars/sweeteners

A little history and background:

The discovery of the transformation of starch into sweetened substances goes back to the 9th century: the Japanese produced glucose syrups while working malt enzymes on reduced powder sweet potato tubers.

By “sugars” we include all the mono- and disaccharides as well as isoglucose, whereas “sugar” applies only to sucrose, or table sugar.

The maintenance of a stable body requires a balance between the total amount of energy consumed and the total amount of energy expended. Increases in body weight, specifically in body fat, occur when intake exceeds expenditure. There is no conclusive evidence that dietary sugars have a direct effect on either total energy intake or on energy expenditure in human subjects. However, current scientific evidence suggests strongly that the ratio of fat to carbohydrate consumed influences the regulation of body weight and that high-fat diets that are low in carbohydrates are more likely to promote weight gain and obesity than diets in which carbohydrates, including sugars, predominate.

In addition to the lack of physical activity, health authorities rightfully point an accusing finger to poor eating habits -excess of calorie intake- to explain the epidemic of overweight and obesity in Western countries. However, every food can play a role in a balanced diet: the wide variety of foods and beverages enables individuals to buy the foods that are appropriate for their lifestyle and physical activity levels.

The popular belief that sugars, because of their innate sweetness and hedonic properties, may over take the regulatory controls on food intake and promote excessive consumption is not supported by robust scientific evidence.

Today, the EU has a programme of action in the field of public health, focussing on life-style determinants such as nutrition and physical activity which are identified as priority areas.

Glucose:

Glucose was essential in food industry from 19th century, when Europeans sought to substitute products for cane sugar which was in shortage supply. The industrial process of starch hydrolysis first appeared in 1811; German scientist KIRCHOFF discovered that it was possible to give a sweetened character to starch by heating with water and sulphuric acid. Later during the 1960’s enzymatic technologies began to be used in the industry for starch hydrolysis: this interest in enzymes for use in the starch industry has increased significantly.
Broad range of more or less hydrolysed products, they have various sweetening capacities associated to functionalities, in particular texturing, which make them very suitable for food applications.

Dextrose:

It is the pure form of glucose, obtained by the complete hydrolysis of starch, marketed in crystalline form.

Malto-dextrins:

Slightly hydrolysed, they are marketed either as a syrup form, or after atomisation in the form of a white powder. Little sweetening, they are good bulking agents used as supports for flavours, fat content substitutes, or like excipients in pharmaceutical industry.

Isoglucose:

Isoglucose is obtained by isomerisation of a part of glucose in fructose.

Derivatives of glucose:

Glucose syrups are sometimes used in their original state, but very often, they constitute a new raw material to manufacture products even more sophisticated: sorbitol, other polyols (mannitol, maltitol...), amino and organic acids...

Caramel:

Colouring caramels are liquids or solids with a brown dark colour, water soluble, obtained by a controlled action of heat on food sugars, the principal use is the colouring of foodstuffs. They improve the appearance of products, giving some colour and eliminating the colour variations. The use of colouring caramel began around 1840 in a broad range of products, such as alcoholic drinks (beers, liquors, brandies, rum, whisky), carbonated beverages, (colas...), soups and sauces, vinegars and condiments, preserves, dairy ice creams, bakery products, biscuit factory and confectionery and pharmaceutical products.

Aromatic caramels, from pale brown colour to dark brown are obtained by the action of heat on food sugars. Their principal use is the aromatisation of the foodstuffs. All types of manufacture of caramel are very close to the natural reactions of tanning met during food cooking processes such as roasting, torrefaction, netting, crackling, etc.