Nutrition A sweet plant grows against sugar

Nutritional Research: The sugar-sweet Stevia can help against unhealthy sugar

02/09/2012

For years, the health effects of excessive sugar intake such as lipid metabolism disorders, caries, liver damage and overweight have been known. The pressure on the food industry to reduce the sugar content of their products is growing and businesses are desperately looking for alternatives. An alternative is the sugar-sweet plant Stevia, recently approved by the European Union.

The natural sweetener stevia, which has only been approved in the EU since 2011, could be used more frequently as a sugar substitute in the future. Extracts of the stevia plant taste up to 400 times sweeter than conventional sugar without being burdened with comparable health risks. As a result, the food industry has discovered that vegetable sugar substitutes are a possible alternative under pressure from consumer advocates and politicians. With Stevia confectionery, sugary soft drinks and other sweetened foods in future will be much less harmful to health than before.

Reduce sugar content in food
Chocolate, cakes, candies or ice cream - only a few Germans are prepared to forego sweet treats permanently. However, the difficulty lies not only in the obviously strongly sweetened products, but also in foods with a rather hidden sugar content, such as ketchup. Thus, the average sugar consumption per capita in this country is far too high. Associated with this are numerous health risks, which, in the opinion of consumer advocates and politicians, also urgently require a rethink on the part of food manufacturers. At first glance, consumers should be able to see how high the sugar content is in food, according to one of the demands made by politicians. It is also urgent to look for alternatives that are suitable for replacing the sugar. One of these alternatives could be the so-called honey herb stevia, which has long been known in natural medicine. The extracts of the plant have been used by Indians in South America for centuries to give food a pleasant sweetness. Since the end of 2011, processing of the natural sweetener in food has also been permitted in the EU.

Use of artificial sweeteners partly controversial
For years, various artificial sweeteners such as saccharin, acesulfame, aspartame or sucralose have been used in the food industry. However, these are not without controversy, as critics accuse them of various negative health effects. Although sweeteners do not present a risk of caries as with conventional sugar, some have been suspected of increasing the likelihood of cancer and promoting obesity (due to its appetizing effect). Therefore, the food industry also has great hopes for the herbal alternative Stevia. This can taste sweeter up to 400 times than sugar and will be used in the future, for example, for sweetening soft drinks, yoghurt, cereals and chocolate. The world-wide represented beverage producer Coca-Cola has already introduced soft drinks with stevia as sweetener in the USA and France. In Germany, according to the Group, research is currently being conducted on the use of non-calorific substances.

Stevia allows a significant reduction in sugar content
According to recent media reports, the Federation of the German Confectionery Industry explained that stevia could not completely replace the sugar, but essentially only contributed to reducing the sugar content. The food chemist Thomas Hofmann from the Technical University of Munich emphasized in an interview with the „Hamburger Abendblatt“, that the ingredients of stevia plant „increase the sweetness of sugar in the presence of lower sugar constellations“ can. For this purpose, a small amount of stevia is sufficient, which activates the sweet-tasting cells of the tongue and thus improves the quality of the taste, reported the expert. By this reinforcing effect on the sweet taste let itself „the sugar content of a drink from twelve to two percent“ Hofmann continued, without the consumer noticing impairments of sweetness.

Sugar content in chocolate can be reduced by 95 percent
A particularly wide field of application for the vegetable sweetener offers the sweets and explicitly the chocolate industry. For years, there has been a search for ways to reduce the sugar content without sacrificing taste. The so-called diabetic chocolate is one of the results of this effort, but in terms of taste, there are clear differences compared to classic chocolate. Barry Callebaut, the world's largest producer of chocolate, is currently testing media representatives „stimulated by the increasing health awareness of consumers“ the use of stevia in alternative chocolate products. With the help of herbal sweetener, it is possible to reduce the sugar content in these products by 95 percent, said a spokesman for Barry Callebaut on.

Contrast effects to enhance the sweetness of the salty taste
A completely different approach to reducing the sugar content of different foods is pursued by the Dutch research institute Nizo. Here, according to the Nizo taste researcher, Kerstin Burseg, currently investigated how so-called contrast effects can be achieved in order to give consumers a sweeter taste. Similar studies are also being conducted on the salt taste of food, as there is also an interest in reducing it. The basic idea is to save sugar or salt by placing small amounts of sugar or salt on certain parts of a food that create a contrasting effect that makes the sweet or salty taste appear much more intense. „One ignores the layer of the food with low concentrations, because one looks at the parts with the higher concentration“, explained Kerstin Burseg to the „Hamburger Abendblatt“. For bread, this method has already been successfully tested for salt content, according to the researcher.

Sweet aromas intensify the taste
Another starting point, according to the Dutch expert, is to enhance sweet or salty taste with special fragrances. Because the taste is significantly influenced by the smell, as when chewing and swallowing odor molecules rise up to the mucous membranes in the nose and thus allow a differentiated taste perception. The tongue can only distinguish the basic tastes (bitter, sweet, sour, salty). If the sense of smell when eating food now stimulated by sweet flavors that are added to the food, they appear much sweeter, according to the Dutch researcher. According to the expert, up to 20 percent sugar could be saved by using aromas. The combination with the above-mentioned contrast effects would even allow a reduction of the sugar content by up to 45 percent, the Nizo scientist emphasized. Ultimately, however, the decision to abandon sugar or to reduce sugar consumption lies with the consumer. Many are well aware of what quantities of sugar they can consume with a bar of chocolate or a glass of cola, but this is simply ignored. However, sugar is not generally to be demonized, but „the quantity matters“, so the conclusion of Dr. Susanne Klaus from the German Institute for Nutrition Research in Potsdam. (Fp)

Read about Stevia:
Diabetes: overdose with stevia possible?
Stevia: Natural sweetness approved without calories
Jerusalem artichokes: Sweet tubers with dietary value
Stevia: Exploitation of sweetener from nature?

Picture: Sigrid Rossmann