Tate & Lyle Launches Allulose as a Branded Low-Calorie Sugar

25 Feb 2015 --- Tate & Lyle has launched DOLCIA PRIMA Low-Calorie Sugar, its newest ingredient set to transform the way the food and beverage industry develops low- or reduced-calorie products.

DOLCIA PRIMA is Tate & Lyle’s brand name for allulose, a low-calorie sugar that exists in nature and can be found in small quantities in some fruits and foods people eat every day. It was first identified in wheat in the 1930s. Tate & Lyle’s DOLCIA PRIMA delivers the satisfying mouthfeel and sweetness of table sugar, but contains 90% fewer calories, so food and beverage manufacturers are expected to be able to significantly reduce the calories in products while maintaining the same taste and enjoyment of sugar that consumers demand.

“One of the biggest challenges our industry faces is reducing calories while maintaining the taste experience consumers expect from their favourite foods and beverages,” said Abigail Storms, Vice President, Platform Management, Sweeteners, at Tate & Lyle. “Now food and beverage manufacturers can contribute to this public health challenge by using DOLCIA PRIMA Low-Calorie Sugar. Working with DOLCIA PRIMA, our culinary teams have learned that it is possible to provide consumers with products with all the taste, all the mouthfeel and all the texture they expect, but without all the calories. In taste trials, consumers ranked low-calorie versions of foods made with DOLCIA PRIMA equally with the full-calorie versions.”

DOLCIA PRIMA Low-Calorie Sugar can be used in a range of applications including beverages, yoghurt, ice cream and baked products to reduce calories or to make lower-calorie options taste even better. Unlike high-potency sweeteners, DOLCIA PRIMA is 70% as sweet as sucrose (sugar) and has the same temporal taste profile, which means it provides a clean, sweet taste as well as the functionality of sugar. In fact, products made with DOLCIA PRIMA ranked at parity with full-calorie full-sugar versions in preference taste tests across a variety of foods.

DOLCIA PRIMA can be formulated successfully into many different food products that usually contain sugar because it delivers many of the benefits that sugar offers, such as adequate browning when baking, bulk and texture. It can also depress the freezing point when making frozen products. It is a highly-soluble, liquid ingredient, which means it is easy to use in liquid products and adds bulk and texture in formulations. Tate & Lyle applications experts have developed optimised methods to incorporate DOLCIA PRIMA™ into a variety of products and continue to add new developments all the time.1

Allulose is a low-calorie sugar, one of many sugars that exist in nature. It delivers both the satisfying mouthfeel and sweetness of sugar, but without all the calories. DOLCIA PRIMA Low-Calorie Sugar is Tate & Lyle’s brand name for allulose.

Allulose is a low-calorie sugar first identified in wheat over 70 years ago. It is also found in small quantities in jackfruit, figs and raisins, and in foods such as caramel sauce, maple syrup and brown sugar.

Tate & Lyle has developed a unique, patent-protected process to produce allulose from basic agricultural raw materials (currently corn in the US).

Tate & Lyle’s food and culinary experts have developed an understanding of how DOLCIA PRIMA Low-Calorie Sugar can be incorporated into food and beverage formulations so they taste the same as the full-sugar versions, but with significantly fewer calories. DOLCIA PRIMA can also be used in combination with sweeteners, such as SPLENDA Sucralose and TASTEVA Stevia Sweetener, to enable even better sweetening systems.

Experts from Tate & Lyle’s global network of 15 applications laboratories are at customers’ disposal to work together to develop great-tasting and better-for-you solutions with DOLCIA PRIMA.

As part of its commitment to developing innovative ingredient solutions for the industry’s biggest health and wellness challenges, Tate & Lyle is working with several health organizations to educate health professionals and those that they counsel about allulose.

A particular focus for the educational efforts will be to help people with diabetes to stay informed about the role that sugars and sweeteners can play in weight management and glucose response.

‘We know that many people struggle to manage their weight. But for people with diabetes, it’s especially important to understand how sugars and sweeteners can help them achieve their lifestyle goals,’ said Kristine Clark, Ph.D., R.D., Director of Sports Nutrition and Assistant Professor of Nutritional Sciences at The Pennsylvania State University. ‘It’s important to inform all consumers that balancing a low-calorie eating plan can still allow them to eat foods they truly enjoy’.

Tate & Lyle is a member of the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation (HWCF) and is collaborating in its multiyear effort designed to promote ways to help people achieve a healthy weight through energy balance; it focuses its efforts on two critical areas – families and schools. This first-of-its kind coalition brings together leading food and beverage manufacturers, trade associations, nongovernmental organizations and retailers.

Tate & Lyle is a 2015 member of the American Association of Diabetes Educators’ Industry Allies Counciland will be working with the association to build clinician awareness and knowledge around the use of allulose in the management of diabetes.