What are sweetening fibers?

A kilogram of sweetening fiber replaces a kilogram of sugar in recipes without the need to alter the production process, providing the same taste and mouthfeel as sugar, but with fewer calories and a lower glycemic index. But what exactly are sweetening fibers? And why are they needed?
Many food and beverage manufacturers would like to reduce the use of sugar in their products. Partly because the pressure to reduce sugar is increasing from legislators and authorities. And partly to gain a competitive edge in a market where healthier alternatives are emerging. Food and beverage producers who fail to keep up with these trends risk being penalized by potential measures that may be adopted in the future by legislative bodies (e.g., sugar tax) and by consumers who abandon them in favor of less sugary alternatives. But it’s not just about reducing the amount of added sugar; consumers demand that the taste and texture remain unchanged. It’s an apparently impossible equation, but there is a solution: sweetening fibers.

Sweetening fibers are a homogeneous composition of dietary fiber, high-intensity sweetener, and possibly other ingredients. They can be used as a 1:1 sugar substitute without any noticeable effects on taste, mouthfeel, or texture. They can be transported, stored, and used like regular sugar without any changes in sourcing procedures or production processes.
Sweetening fibers enable food and beverage manufacturers to reduce sugar without compromising the expected taste, mouthfeel, or texture issues. They help avoid the need for long and complex research & development activities aimed at producing “sugar-free” or “no added sugar” foods. This benefit results in time and cost savings, with a significant reduction in time-to-market.
But aren’t sweetening fibers turning something very simple into something unnecessarily complicated? Let’s investigate

Sugar is a universal solution for the food industry. Beyond its sweetness, taste, and universally appreciated aroma, it offers a range of other useful properties. It enhances other flavors, provides bulk and texture, extends the shelf life of finished products, retains moisture, lowers the freezing point, and enables browning during cooking. It’s no surprise that sugar is popular among both consumers and food and beverage producers.
There’s just one problem: too much sugar is unhealthy. Excessive sugar consumption increases the risk of overweight and obesity, which are known risk factors for insulin resistance, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, elevated triglyceride levels, and other blood fats, ultimately leading to cardiovascular diseases.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), most of the global population consumes too much sugar. The primary culprit is added sugar in everyday foods and beverages. On average, we consume over 100g of added sugar per day, more than four times the daily intake recommended by the WHO.
This is why society and consumers are demanding foods and beverages with less added sugar—or even better, sugar-free options.
However, few consumers are willing to give up the great taste and all the other benefits of sugar listed above.
To reduce sugar intake, solutions are needed that provide the same sweetness, taste, aroma, and texture as sugar, but with fewer calories and a lower glycemic index. This is where sweetening fibers come into play

Sugar is not among the sweetest substances found in nature, which is why large quantities are needed in food and beverages to achieve the desired taste. And since large amounts of sugar also take up a lot of space, it contributes both to the volume and the weight of the finished product.
The same applies to glucose syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, maltitol, and a host of other sweetening ingredients. Because these sweeteners add bulk, they are called bulk sweeteners.
Sugars and bulk sweeteners provide volume and weight, but they also deliver calories and impact blood sugar levels. Sugar provides 4 kcal per gram and has a glycemic index (GI) of 97. Glucose syrup provides the same calories with an even higher GI. Maltitol, a popular sugar substitute, delivers 2.4 kcal per gram and has a GI of 49.
This is the real issue: bulk sweeteners provide sweetness and volume but, in most cases, at the cost of high calories and a high glycemic index.
Sweetening fibers address this problem directly: they provide sweetness and volume but with almost no calories and a very low glycemic index. Typically, sweetening fibers contribute less than 0.25 kcal per gram and have a GI close to zero

Bulk sweeteners can also be referred to as “low-intensity sweeteners” due to their relatively low sweetness in proportion to their volume and weight. In contrast, high-intensity sweeteners (or intensive sweeteners) provide a much stronger sweetness experience relative to their volume and weight. This category includes artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, acesulfame K, sucralose, and others. There are also many natural high-intensity sweeteners, with steviol glycosides being the most well-known and widely used.
High-intensity sweeteners provide no energy (0 kcal) and do not affect blood sugar levels (GI 0). In most cases, this is because the body cannot extract calories from them. This is true, for instance, of steviol glycosides. Even in cases where the body can extract energy (as with aspartame, which has the same calorie content per gram as sugar), the extreme intensity of sweetness means that the quantities needed to achieve a desired level of final sweetness are so small that their caloric contribution becomes negligible (approximately 1 part of aspartame for 200 parts of sugar).
So why not use high-intensity sweeteners instead of bulk sweeteners?

The challenge lies in production. It’s not feasible to simply replace 1 kg of sugar with 3 grams of high-intensity sweetener; the remaining 997 grams must also be substituted to maintain the necessary volume and weight.
The ingredient replacing most of the sugar must replicate the original texture and mouthfeel. Additionally, the choice of replacement varies depending on the final product being manufactured.
There’s also the issue of managing the sensory profile of sweetness, which differs from that of sugar. Both the high-intensity sweetener and the bulk substitute contribute flavor and aroma, creating a taste profile that doesn’t match sugar. Sweetness might take longer to perceive or linger much longer than with regular sugar. A distinct aftertaste—something sugar doesn’t have—may also emerge. Addressing these issues often requires additional ingredients to fill gaps and mask undesirable attributes.
As if that weren’t enough, the production process must be adjusted to accommodate all the new ingredients. Substitutes for bulk properties often have different characteristics than sugar, potentially necessitating changes in the production setup. Unlike sugar, where a dosing error of a few grams isn’t critical, high-intensity sweeteners demand extreme precision in measurement. Finally, ensuring the even distribution of high-intensity sweeteners throughout the product presents an additional technical challenge

Replacing a bulk sweetener with a high-intensity sweetener is a true challenge, but sweetening fibers rise to the occasion by addressing all the issues associated with such a transition.
By definition, sweetening fiber is a homogeneous composition of dietary fiber, high-intensity sweeteners, and other ingredients needed to provide bulk. It can replace sugar 1:1 by weight without requiring any changes to the production process, all while delivering the same taste, mouthfeel, and texture as sugar.
Specifically, sweetening fiber comes in the form of crystalline powder or syrup, used in exactly the same way as sugar or the sweetener it replaces. It can be transported, stored, handled, and dosed just like the ingredient it substitutes, with no alterations to production processes. This simplicity is what makes sweetening fibers uniquely effective as a sugar alternative

At Reire, we provide sweetening fibers called EUREBA® tailored for a wide variety of applications.
We are delighted to assist you in selecting the right EUREBA® product and in fine-tuning the taste and texture of your creations.
Feel free to reach out to us or visit the EUREBA® page to learn more!

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