Sweeteners and fat replacers for reducing calorie content of food and beverages

Project team: Rachel Rosin, Charles Speirs, Sally Godfrey
Running: Jan 2013 – Dec 2015
Project Number: 128880
Proposal documentation

The UK has one of the highest rates of obesity in Europe. According to figures from The Department of Health, 60% of adults and a third of 10 and 11 year olds are overweight or obese. Much of the calorie reduction required to target obesity is aimed at sugar and fat. There is a range of new intense and bulk low and no calorie sweeteners available to manufacturers.

However, they are not all suitable or permitted for all applications and markets. In bakery products, sugar and fat reduction must be tackled simultaneously to reduce calories. This project will focus on calorie reduction of food and beverages while attempting to maintain the organoleptic properties of the respective products. It will challenge sugar and fat limits to assess how low we can go without compromising product attributes.

Project outputs

  • Completed project update: FDS MIG – Jan 2016
  • Project update: FDS MIG – Jan 2015
  • Project update: April 2014
  • R&D 447: An updated review of approaches to reduce sugar in food and drink products and clean label considerations
  • R&D 397: Development of reduced sugar beverages
  • R&D 398: Considerations for calorie reduction in beverages
  • R&D 403: Reducing fat and sugar in baked goods
  • Reports and summary sheets for the beverage industry
  • RSS7 2014: Steviol glycosides in simple (water) solutions
  • RSS8 2014: Steviol glycosides in fruit juice based beverages
  • RSS9 2014: Steviol glycosides in an orange and lemon flavoured carbonated drink
  • RSS4 2015: 1-Monk Fruit in simple (water) solutions
  • RSS5 2015: 2-Monk Fruit in fruit juice based beverages
  • RSS7 2015: 3-Monk fruit in strawberry flavoured, dairy based drinks
  • RSS8 2015: 4-Monk fruit in banana flavoured, dairy based drinks
  • Reports and summary sheets for the bakery sector
  • RSS23 2013: Sugar and fat replacers
  • RSS2 2015: Calorie reduction of filled biscuits
  • RSS9 2015: Options for reducing sugar and calorie content of cake

You may also be interested in:

  • Related project: Clean label sugar reduction
  • R&D 352: Reduced fat cakes development
  • R&D 353: Reduced fat biscuits development
  • R&D 376: Impact of product reformulation on microbiological stability of dilutable drinks
  • R&D 375: Impact of product reformulation on microbiological stability of dilutable drinks
  • R&D 367: How consumers respond to different types of claim statements
  • R&D 351: Consumers' familiarity with and perception of nutrition and health claims

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