The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Annual Expo highlighted the latest innovations impacting the food and beverage markets. Tate & Lyle offered a prototype of an almond milk coffee latte featuring Dolcia Prima allulose. The company expressed excitement of the recent FDA decision that when allulose is used in products, it can be excluded from the total and added sugars declaration on Nutrition Facts and Supplement Facts labels.
Embracing Change in the Food Industry: New Ingredients Reflect Emerging Nutrition Science
It’s often said that the only constant in life is change, and this holds especially true for the food industry. In fact, sources predict more industry changes over the next 10 years than seen over the last 50. With a growing global population facing diet-related health problems and increased investments in new technologies to deliver products that deliver both great taste and nutritional benefits, this forecast is no surprise.
The Growing Influence of Nutrition Science
Nutrition science is continuously evolving. New developments in research allow experts to study dietary interventions and evaluate outcomes with more conciseness and accuracy than ever before. As researchers can attest, the first vitamin was isolated and chemically defined in 1926 – less than 100 years ago!
Evaluation of nutrition’s role in complex diseases such as diabetes and obesity did not accelerate considerably until after 2000. This is why the World Health Organization (WHO) has only recently published guidelines on sugar intake for adults and children, recommending reducing added sugar intake to be less than 10% of total intake. These recommendations are based on evidence showing that such a reduction could help lower the risk of overweight conditions, obesity, and tooth decay.
As WHO and other global scientific and regulatory bodies consider new guidelines based on emerging nutrition science, the food industry is quickly mobilizing to leverage advancements in food science and develop products that align with modern dietary guidelines while simultaneously meeting consumer demands. Today’s businesses are also equipped with clear labeling requirement guidelines from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which the industry predicts will generate a massive surge of interest amongst formulators looking to reduce or replace sugar in a variety of products.
A Newer Entrant in the Alternative Sweetener Category
A current example of an industry innovation designed to align with new nutrition science is the discovery and application of allulose. Chemically classified as a carbohydrate, allulose is considered a “rare sugar” – a sugar that occurs in very small quantities in nature. Allulose delivers approximately 70% of the sweetness and almost identical taste and the technical attributes of sucrose (sugar) in baked goods, frozen desserts, beverages, and other products.
The difference is that allulose does not impact blood glucose levels, only contributing a mere 0.4 calories per gram. The FDA corroborated this in its recent guidance on allulose labeling, stating: “Due to advances in food technology, novel sugars are now available that are not metabolized and that do not contribute 4 kcal/g to the diet like other traditional sugars. Consequently, we need to consider how information about sugars, like allulose, should be captured on the label.”
Allulose is Exempt from U.S. FDA Sugar Labeling Requirements
The FDA also addressed the importance of considering additional factors beyond chemical composition, stating: “We should consider not only the chemical structure of sugars, but also other evidence including their association with dental caries, their effect on blood glucose and insulin levels, as well as their caloric contribution…” As a reflection of the FDA’s flexible and science-based approach to labeling for enhanced consumer understanding, allulose is exempt from the Total or Added Sugar listing on the Nutrition Facts label. A value of 0.4 kcal/g may be used to calculate its caloric contribution.
In 2012 and 2014, in response to two Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) notifications, the FDA stated that they had no questions regarding the conclusion that allulose is generally recognized as safe for use as a general purpose sweetener in foods and beverages where sugar or fructose would typically be used. (GRAS notifications: 400 and 498.) As allulose has an established history of safe use major companies have been formulating with the sweetener while asking the FDA for clarification on how it should be labeled.
Using Allulose in Formulations
In addition to allulose’s ability to lower the calories, sugar content, and glycemic impact of products, a key benefit is its versatility. Allulose works well in everything from baked goods and confectioneries to yogurt and ice cream. It’s additionally considered a great blending sweetener, and can be combined with other sweeteners such as stevia to achieve the manufacturer’s intended effect.
Tate & Lyle talks allulose: The first two things consumers look for are calories and sugar – Food Navigator
Allulose has 90% fewer calories than table sugar and is now attracting the attention of mainstream consumer packaged goods brands, despite the premium price tag. Allulose counted towards grams of sugar on food labels, despite the fact it contributes virtually no calories and doesn’t raise blood sugar or insulin.
Initial sales of low-carb cereal Magic Spoon have exceeded expectations – Food Navigator
Sales of new keto-friendly cereal Magic Spoon have exceeded expectations, say founders Gabi Lewis and Greg Sewitz, who claim to have sold “far more than we projected even in our most aggressive projections,” in the first three months.
Magic Spoon is sweetened with allulose, which founder Gabi Lewis notes “tastes great but has no impact on blood sugar.”
He adds: “We’re also finding that parents are emailing us that their kids love it, so at some point in the future if we decide that children are a more immediate target audience, we’ll probably develop a brand that’s more specifically targeted at children, and maybe even tweak the product to be more suited to children as well.”
FDA Exempts Allulose from Added Sugar Labeling Requirements
April 17, 2019 — For the first time, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is allowing an ingredient chemically classified as a “sugar” to not be labeled as part of the Total or Added Sugars listings on Nutrition Facts labels. In draft guidance published in April 2019, FDA announced that the low-calorie sweetener allulose does not need to be counted towards the amount of “Total Sugars” or “Added Sugars” on the new Nutrition Facts labels coming into effect January 2020 which require companies to separately list “Added Sugars” under the “Total Sugars” listed – among other changes.
Allulose is considered a “rare sugar” due to its presence in nature in very small quantities and its chemical makeup as a monosaccharide. While allulose provides the same sweet taste, texture, and other technical attributes as table sugar, it is not metabolized as energy in the body. Therefore, it provides a negligible amount of calories and does not impact blood glucose levels, thus qualifying allulose as a low-calorie sweetener. Although allulose was discovered in small amounts in nature and fruits such as figs, raisins, maple syrup and jackfruit, it can also be made from fructose as well as corn to support production scale. This is especially critical given the broad scope of applications – from sweetening baked goods while enhancing browning and crumb structure, to replacing sugar in ice cream but remaining stable in freezing conditions – and subsequent predicted demand for allulose.
The demonstrated benefits of allulose in tandem with FDA’s draft guidance on allulose labeling should help alleviate consumer confusion about the emerging sweetener and clear the runway for industry innovation. “As manufacturers considered reformulating or innovating new products in advance of the January 2020 compliance deadline for the new Nutrition Facts labels, there was confusion among industry and consumers over how to interpret the labels of products containing allulose,” remarked Robert Rankin, president of the Calorie Control Council. “Consumers looking to manage or reduce intake of Total and Added Sugars can now be assured that allulose does not count toward those listings.”
The FDA has made several major updates to the nutrition label, including changes to the nutrients that must be declared. Now, “Added Sugars” must be included separately as a subset of “Total Sugars”. According to the FDA, “Added Sugars” include “sugars that are either added during the processing of foods, or are packaged as such (e.g., a bag of table sugar), and also includes sugars from syrups and honey, and sugars from concentrated fruit or vegetable juices.” However, since allulose does not significantly impact glycemic responses, contributes far less than 4 kcal/g, and does not promote dental caries like other sugars might, FDA intends to exercise enforcement discretion with respect to the exclusion of Total Sugars and Added Sugars, including the % Daily Value (DV) declaration.
To learn more about the FDA guidance, read:
- The Federal Register (FR) announcement of FDA’s new draft guidance
- FDA’s Draft Guidance for Industry: The Declaration of Allulose and Calories from Allulose on Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels, which includes a link to download the guidance
- FDA Allows Allulose to be Excluded from Total and Added Sugars, NOSH, May 1, 2019
- Tate & Lyle: ‘The first two things consumers look for on the Nutrition Facts panel now are calories and sugar’, Food Navigator, May 13, 2019
To learn more about allulose, read these sections of Allulose.org:
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