Doehler and Palatinit team up in beverage solutions

The DöhlerGroup is taking new directions in sports, energy and fitness drinks by creating concepts with specific benefits for consumers.

Beverage solutions provider The DöhlerGroup and Palatinit have an-nounced a cooperation in the beverage sector, with the launch of new sports, energy and fitness drinks with Palatinose (isomaltulose) for longer-lasting energy.

The DöhlerGroup is taking new directions in sports, energy and fitness drinks by creating concepts with specific benefits for consumers. In developing new beverage formulations, the DöhlerGroup is focusing on beverages that are more natural thanks to a higher fruit content, new flavours with exotic fruits and unusual combinations of fruits, and Palatinose, a new type of sugar with particular characteristics which offer consumers a number of benefits.

Palatinose is a pure, white, crystalline, sweet carbohy-drate that is exclusively derived from beet sugar. Palatinose has a very low glycemic index of 32, is kind to teeth and is released into the body more slowly and evenly than sucrose. With its natural but milder sweetness, Palatinose is very similar to sugar and is easily incorpo-rated into beverage formulations. 

The positive nutritional properties of Palatinose make it attractive to consumers as well as interesting for bever-age manufacturers. Palatinose has only minor effect on blood glucose levels which, in contrast to sucrose, do not fall below the baseline following consumption. This means the body receives a continuous and longer-lasting energy supply. Hypoglycemia is avoided and feelings of hunger are delayed. ’’Palatinose contains the same num-ber of calories as sucrose and is just as digestible; this means it is a ´better´ energy’’, explains  Claudia Meissner, Head of Marketing, Palatinit.

Using Palatinose in DöhlerGroup beverage concepts en-ables manufacturers and bottlers to profit from the trend towards drinks with a low glycemic index. The Darmstadt-based organisation has therefore developed new formulations for sports, fitness and energy drinks which deliver longer-lasting energy to consumers.

’’As well as the new ingredient Palatinose, there are also new flavours that are attracting consumer interest,’’ comments Peter Drewes, Business Development, DöhlerGroup. “Isotonic sports drinks can be orange-mango, orange-lime or apple-lemon, for example. Any new product launch is always driven by what consumers want, and that can be reduced to a single common de-nominator: the product has to taste good and, depending on the motive, offer a specific added benefit too.“

Product ideas which the DöhlerGroup has created for drinks containing Palatinose are, for example, an isotonic whey-based premium sports drink in lemon, grapefruit and or-ange flavour or energy drinks with lemon and rum flavour.  This  combination is setting its own course, and also ap-peals to older target audiences by extending the familiar lemon flavour with an alcohol-free rum flavour. Palatinose could also be used in aqua-plus drinks or smoothies.