Scientists slash sugar in chocolate with oat flour-based innovation

22 Feb 2024 --- US-based food scientists have formulated sugar-reduced chocolates by replacing up to 25% sucrose in chocolate with oat flour to reduce total sugar levels by 13.5%, without any adverse impact on texture or consumer acceptance.

The team used oat flour starch granules smaller than 10 µm for the study, which is expected to satisfy consumers’ sweet tooth without the guilt associated with consuming calorie-dense treats.

“Chocolate will always be an energy-dense high-fat treat, but we conducted this work as a proof of concept to see if we could swap some of the sugar for starch-containing flours without compromising the texture of the chocolate,” John Hayes, professor of food science at Pennsylvania State University, US which conducted the study and a corresponding author on the research, tells Food Ingredients First.

“We’re never going to make chocolate healthy because it’s an indulgence, but we can successfully take out some of the sugar for consumers trying to reduce their intake of added sugars.”

The oat-flour chocolates formulated by the team have a smoother texture than the rice-flour variant. (Image credit: Kai Kai Ma).Focus on added sugar by formulators is evident in F&B, with the surge of sugar claims like low sugar and sugar-free in product launches. For instance, food and beverages with sugar claims witnessed a 3% compound annual growth between October 2018 and September 2023, Innova Market Insights’ data indicates. Sucralose (14%) dominated as a sweetening ingredient in product launches with sugar reduction claims.

The researchers also conducted trials with rice flour chocolate, which blind taste participants found to be of “a chalkier texture,” as compared to the “smoother, softer and creamier” texture of the oat-flour-containing chocolates.

The findings, published in the Journal of Food Science, were able to “show that there is a range in which formulators can manage a sizable reduction in added sugar and people won’t notice and don’t care, in terms of liking,” according to Hayes.

Not just sweetness
By weight, chocolate is over half sugar and that sugar provides not only sweetness but also acts as a bulking agent, Hayes tells us.

“This means that, unlike a soft drink where you can use a high potency sweetener to replace the sugar you take out, we also needed something that could provide some bulking.”

“We thought small starch particles might work, so we tried oat flour and rice flour.”

The idea was proposed by Gregory Ziegler, professor of food science at Penn State and co-author on the study, who suggested testing two different grains — rice and oats, which contain fine granular starches as replacements for sugar in chocolate. 

Replacing sugar in chocolate formulations is not easy, since it adds bulk to the product, besides sweetness.The end result would still contain carbohydrates, which eventually break down into sugar, but the speed of absorption may be slower.

“Starch is still a carbohydrate, so it’s not lower in calories, but there is an overall reduction in the added sugar content, which has potential health benefits,” notes Ziegler.

The scientists conducted two blind taste tests — one using dark chocolate made with different levels of sugars and grain flour and the other with 25% reduced sugar chocolates made with oat and rice flours compared to regular chocolate (with 54% sugar).

Participants showed a positive response to oat flour chocolates over the rice flour ones and in some cases, rated them slightly better than regular chocolate.

Tricky reformulation
When asked if the low sugar concept can be applied to other food products too, Hayes considers it complex.

“Unfortunately, reformulation is tricky and typically needs to be done on a food-specific basis. If sugar reduction was as easy as many people assume, companies would have already done it, given the strong consumer demand for sugar-reduced products that still taste good,” he underscores.

But he is optimistic of the product’s market acceptance.

“This work points one possible way forward on sugar reduction, with the caveat that additional work would probably be needed to achieve a product that would be competitive in the marketplace,” he concludes.

Confectionery manufacturers are experimenting with chocolate to pique consumer interest and fulfill rising health demands.The team, which received funding from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture for the study, now plans to reach out to some of the university’s former students working in the chocolate industry. They aim to share the findings and innovate new varieties of sugar-reduced chocolates by providing a “proof-of-concept” that oat flour can effectively do the job of added sugars.

Meanwhile, the nutritional benefits of the chocolates need to be examined further with controlled feeding studies to confirm any putative nutritional benefits.

Chocolate innovations
The overall confectionery category hit US$42.6 billion in total sales in 2022, with chocolate representing US$23.9 billion, the National Confectioners Association told us last week. This is driving confectioners to experiment with chocolate to pique consumer interests by focusing on NPD.

Finnish company’s Fazer’s vegan chocolate snack bar, Lactalis Ingredients’ high-protein chocolates and PLAYin Choc’s vegan, cruelty, allergen and plastic-free chocolate are some of the examples changing the game for the chocolate industry currently.

Barry Callebaut recently explored what consumer preferences to watch for in the global and regional chocolate markets this year and beyond, which included “Intense Indulgence,” “Mindful Indulgence” and “Healthy Indulgence.”

By Insha Naureen