Next-generation stevia: A new wave of extracts
13 Mar 2018 --- Natural sweeteners, including stevia, have been trending amid the clean label boom. With 2018 set to be a big year for sugar reduction and with sugar taxes coming into effect in the UK and Ireland, many ingredients suppliers are looking to innovate even further in the space of sugar reduction with new and emerging sweeteners, including stevia extracts.
Several major ingredient companies have increased their presence in the stevia space in recent years, remaining confident on the outlook for the natural high-intensity sweetener. Consumers are increasingly looking for natural sweetening solutions that help them reduce calories and sugars, but they’re not willing to sacrifice on taste. In fact, the most important benefit to a consumer when choosing a sweetener is that it’s “a good balance of taste and health.” Stevia ranked second highest in this attribute, second only to honey, according to Tate & Lyle Sweetener Perception Research, conducted in 2015.
Ingredion, in partnership with SweeGen Inc., launched and began distributing BESTEVIA Reb M stevia leaf sweetener in the US and Canada in 2017. BESTEVIA Reb M Stevia Leaf sweetener is a next-generation stevia leaf sweetener with sugar-like sweetness and no bitter aftertaste, which enables significant calorie reduction by replacing sugar in beverages.
Afrouz Naeini, Senior Marketing Manager- Sweetness & Beverage, North America. Ingredion Incorporated, Westchester, IL told FoodIngredientsFirst: “It offers significantly higher levels of sugar reduction versus Reb A and can help to reduce 85-100 percent of sugar in product formulations without negatively impacting the sweetness experience of the product.”
To deliver on the increased requirements for innovative non-nutritive sweetening solutions, back in 2017, Sweet Green Fields announced a partnership with Tate & Lyle, a leading global provider of specialty food ingredients and solutions, through which Tate & Lyle provides customers with access to SGF’s exceptional line of stevia. This includes the newly launched Optimizer Stevia Line, as well as SGF’s other established “Project Non-GMO Verified” stevia offerings, certified organic stevia and the breakthrough sugar-like proprietary stevia extract Intesse.
Major stevia mover
PureCircle is also a pioneer in offering innovative stevia-based products. VP of Marketing and Innovation, Faith Son, told FoodIngredientsFirst: “Since stevia received approval as a commercial ingredient in 2008, it has experienced tremendous growth. Furthermore, we have observed the increased use of stevia across all regions globally. Stevia has been incorporated into most applications you would traditionally find sugar, including sodas, ready-to-drink teas & coffees to sauces and cookies. Based on consumer and health practitioner demand for plant-based and zero to low-calorie ingredients, we only anticipate stevia-based product growth to continue its growth in the years to come.”
In mid-2017, the company announced the successful production of the first stevia leaf extract from a new, breakthrough, proprietary stevia leaf – StarLeaf stevia. The ingredient contains over 20 times more sugar like steviol glycoside content compared to standard stevia leaf varieties. “We believe as companies are continued to be challenged with more significant levels of reducing sugar while maintaining the great-taste their consumers expect, they will increasingly turn to stevia as the plant-based zero calorie sweetener for the best-tasting, reduced-sugar food and beverage products. StarLeaf is sustainable, has a low carbon and water footprint and provides the company a sweetening ingredient which is easy to work with,” Son explains.
“We see StarLeaf as being the clear choice as compared to other natural origin sweetener options because of its wide range of applications, being zero calories and being an economically sensible ingredient,” Son adds.
Cutting-edge sweeteners
“Caloric beverages/carbonated soft drinks have been under scrutiny for many years due to their sugar content. Similarly to the focus on salt and fats in the past, the attention now goes to reducing added sugars content in foods. Achieving great taste in reduced and zero-calorie applications can be challenging. While stevia sweeteners opened the door for new product innovation, some applications remain tricky when stevia sweeteners are used at higher levels,” Maus notes.
The food industry is now under attack when it comes to sugar and is actively looking for alternatives. There is also growing and linked consumer demand for natural ingredients. This too, demands a response.
Roquette believes that in most food applications (except beverages), stevia-type sweeteners do not perform well technologically as they do not add mass (volume) to the finished product.
Speaking to FoodIngredientsFirst, Henri Gilliard, Global Market Manager at Roquette, says: “Solutions exist that are not only technologically efficient but also both attractive to the consumer and nutritionally interesting – in short, solutions that decrease the number of simple sugars by replacing them with complex ones.”
NUTRIOSE soluble fiber is both an ingredient and bulking agent; it can be used to replace sugar in equal proportions in most applications. “It contains half the calories of sugar and because it is tasteless, adding NUTRIOSE to the diet does not interfere with the sweet flavor that sugar contributes but will reduce its intake,” explains Gilliard. “When used in combination with intense sweeteners, NUTRIOSE also offers a solution combining sweetness, nutrition and health. Moreover, its health benefits have an official seal of approval: two new health claims for NUTRIOSE have been authorized by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/854, published in the Official Journal of the European Union.”
These claims confirm that NUTRIOSE soluble fiber contributes to the maintenance of tooth mineralization by decreasing tooth demineralization; and that it also induces a reduction in postprandial glucose.
In addition to promoting a reduction in general sugar content, public health authorities recommend reducing the sweetness itself of food products to help consumers gradually come to expect less sweetness, according to Roquette. “This leads to a gradual decrease in the general level of sugars, an approach that in turn is leading to a niche market responding to a growing demand for healthier biscuits, energy bars and sugar-free chocolate,” notes Gilliard.
SweetPearl maltitol is a low-calorie (2.4kcal / g) sweetener with a low-glycaemic index that is good for the teeth. “Easy to incorporate, it can replace sugar on a simple one-to-one basis. SweetPearl maltitol also helps reduce calories and glycemic response without compromising taste or texture,” he adds.
Continued appeal
As a whole, it does look as though stevia has a solid hold on the food and beverage industry as it continues to appear in ingredient lists globally. As a strong competitor to many artificial sweeteners, stevia extracts appeal to today’s mindful consumer. Other emerging natural sweeteners in this space include oat, spelt and date syrup, which will lead to increased innovation in using ever more plant-based sweeteners.
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