With the industry’s renewed awareness and focus on carbohydrates, the Glycemic Index (GI), a concept closely related to the quality of carbohydrates, has also become one of the focuses of attention.

Although the GI value is still not well known in China, consumers are unknowingly “actively” choosing low GI foods by selecting self-perceived “healthier” foods such as vegetables, fruits, coarse grains, legumes, and low-fat dairy products.

In the past two to three decades, the scientific knowledge related to GI value has gradually increased, and some foreign brands that focus on low GI have also continued to educate the market in order to promote the concept of low GI with their products, which has made the “low GI” from the field of medicine to the field of functional food gradually. The rapid growth of the “low GI” product market in Europe and the United States has further stimulated the gradual awakening of China’s low GI market, and China’s functional food sector is gradually ushering in a new low GI era.

Low GI brings a blue ocean for solid beverage industry

As consumer demand becomes more personalized and diversified, a wide range of solid beverages such as milk protein, vegetable protein, fruit and vegetable juice, instant tea and so on are constantly on the market, and the scale of demand is still expanding. Among them, the low GI diet for diabetics and consumers who “emphasize on quality of life and want to be healthier” has undoubtedly brought a blue ocean for the solid beverage industry.

Starting from the “Sugar Reduction Wave” a few years ago, the implementation of SodaTax, the development of sugar substitutes, the popularity of low-carbohydrate diets, and the recent government’s promotion of the Three Reductions Initiative (salt, oil, sugar), all signs not only indicate that consumers and even the whole society are enthusiastic about “sugar control All these signs not only indicate that consumers and even the whole society are keen on “sugar control”, but also indicate that low GI products will become the upgraded version of the “sugar reduction trend” and the mainstream “standard” of solid beverages and even the whole functional food and beverage category in the future.

Utilizing Healthy Sugar to Reduce GI Value

Crystalline fructose, a monosaccharide, is an isomer of glucose, containing 6 carbon atoms, structural formula C6H12O6, sweetness of sucrose 1.2 to 1.8 times, naturally occurring in fruits, honey and cereals in the syrup. Crystalline fructose has fruit flavor, low calorific value, faster metabolism than glucose in the body, easy to be absorbed and utilized by the body, and does not depend on insulin, the blood sugar burden is small.

Experiments have proved that, under the same conditions, if the glucose produced after the consumption of glucose index as 100, then after the consumption of fructose, the human body’s blood glucose index is only 23, and even some can be as low as 19, while sucrose is as high as 65.

The International Tables of Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load from EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) states that crystallized fructose has a GI of 19.2, while sucrose has a GI of 68.5. The International Tables of Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load (2002) provides the glycemic indices of a wide range of foods, including crystallized fructose and foods and beverages containing crystallized fructose.

In other words, the degree of elevation of blood sugar in human body after consuming fructose is much lower than that of other traditional natural sugar products. Another evidence shows that fructose in the body can promote the growth and reproduction of beneficial bacteria such as bifidobacteria, inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria, improve gastrointestinal function and metabolism, reduce blood lipids, do not lead to dental caries, is the ideal sweetener for diabetic patients, obesity patients, children.

The safety of crystalline fructose has been generally recognized by authoritative institutions.

As a new type of healthy edible sugar, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has carried out a series of authoritative assessments of its safety, of which the report “Authorized EU health claim for fructose” was collected by Foods Nutrients and Food Ingredients with Authorized EU Health Claims. Authorized EU Health Claims” is included in Foods Nutrients and Food Ingredients with Food Ingredients and Food Ingredients with Authorised EU Health Claims.

Back in March 2011, the EFSA NDA Panel provided a guidance document on the scientific requirements for health claims for glucose concentrations in blood, which stated that “the scientific evidence on health claims indicates that blood glucose concentrations do not increase after consumption of foods with crystallized fructose, and that consumption of foods containing crystallized fructose, compared to foods containing sucrose or glucose, do foods do not cause an increase in blood glucose.”

Subsequently, on November 6, 2013, the European Commission document 536 / 2013 established a list of health claims on food products, which is a statement on the reduction of the risk of disease and the developmental health of children, which states, inter alia, that the consumption of foods containing crystalline fructose does not cause an increase in blood glucose compared to foods containing sucrose or glucose.

After the introduction of the EU health declaration on crystallized fructose in 2011, crystallized fructose has been widely used as a substitute for sucrose in the “exclusive food” for diabetic patients, e.g., the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Spain, Germany, etc. Crystallized fructose is used as a substitute for sucrose in the production of jams, bakery products, chocolates, etc. In addition, it is also widely used in cold drinks such as ice cream, iced tea, soft drinks, yoghurt. In addition, the EU countries also use crystallized fructose in a wide range of cold drinks such as ice cream, iced tea, soft drinks and yogurt.

The world’s top nutrition and diet journal “American Journal of Clinical Nutrition” (AJCN) has also made an authoritative interpretation of the safety of crystallized fructose: crystallized fructose is beneficial to the normal population, obese patients or diabetic patients.

The magazine analyzed that the intake of equal amounts of crystalline fructose foods and beverages, the peak of postprandial blood glucose and insulin concentrations have little effect, and does not lead to an increase in the level of triglycerides; intake of foods and beverages containing crystalline fructose will make the peak of postprandial blood glucose to remain at a lower level, slowing down or avoiding the buildup of glycogen and fat.

And in a systematic review and Meta-analysis on the substitution of crystalline fructose for sucrose and glucose in foods and beverages can reduce blood glucose and insulin without causing triglyceride elevation, it is shown that the intake of foods or beverages with sucrose and glucose can lead to postprandial elevation of peak blood glucose, insulin concentration in human body as well as increase the level of triglyceride in human body, and the above three factors can exacerbate the oxidation of pancreatic islet-beta cells and produce injuries, and These three factors can aggravate the oxidation of pancreatic islet-β cells and cause damage, leading to the aggravation of precursor diabetes and type 1 and 2 diabetes.

Consumption of food-grade beverages with equal amounts of crystallized fructose had little effect on postprandial blood glucose spikes and insulin concentrations, and did not result in increased triglyceride levels. The study also showed that with an elevated postprandial blood glucose peak, the body’s unutilized portion is stored as glycogen, which can eventually be converted to fat. The intake of food and beverages containing crystalline fructose will keep the postprandial blood glucose peak at a lower level, slowing down or avoiding the accumulation of glycogen and fat, a discovery that provides a new way for obese patients to control their weight.

At the same time, the Chinese Nutrition Society and other domestic authorities have also made a positive evaluation of crystalline fructose. In all sugars, sweeteners, sugar alcohols, crystalline fructose has the lowest glycemic index (GI23), without insulin metabolism, can be directly absorbed by the intestinal tract, effectively reducing insulin secretion, stabilizing blood glucose rise.

Application characteristics of crystalline fructose in low GI solid beverages

Crystalline fructose is not easy to be converted into acid by streptococcus in the oral cavity, and it can inhibit the production of dextran by this bacterium, so as to inhibit the production of dental caries; the highest peak value of its sweetness comes and goes quickly; the sweetness won’t affect the other aroma, and it has the effect of enhancing the flavor of the product; the sweetness of crystalline fructose is high and it is 1.2-1.8 times as high as that of sucrose; its sweetness changes with the change of temperature, and the lower the temperature, the higher the sweetness; crystalline fructose has a high solubility and increases with the increase of temperature; it has a high solubility and a good effect in the production of low GI solid beverages. With the rise of temperature and increase; crystalline fructose is monosaccharide, osmotic pressure is about twice as much as sucrose, which can make the sugar penetrate into the fruit better, so as to form a conspicuous color outside, and at the same time, it can effectively inhibit bacterial reproduction in the process; crystalline fructose can reduce the formation of lactic acid, which can help to strengthen the human body’s endurance, and it is the main source of physical supplementation for the people who have high consumption of physical strength and sports.

In view of the above application characteristics, Europe and the United States for the crystallized fructose developed a variety of new foods. Crystalline fructose has good solubility, foreign countries use this feature to improve the original solid drink, developed a variety of nutritious, energy-based, cool type of solid drinks, in the form of bags or cans of packaging. This plays a solid beverage easy to transport and carry the convenience of liquid beverages with a good taste, product diversification features. For example, children’s high-protein drinks of the American Amway Company, Enervit G drinks of the Italian company Also, Slimfast developed by the American Thopson Company, Herbalife protein nutrition powder, and so on.

In China, special medical use formulas (FSMP) containing crystalline fructose are gradually accepted by more and more consumers. Crystalline fructose pharmacology is obvious, at present, ZhengDa FengHai, Shanghai DongZe special medical, RenFu Pharmaceuticals is the use of fructose is a monosaccharide, the human body absorption speed, can quickly replenish the body’s energy, and will not cause the body of the characteristics of the blood glucose, vigorously develop the fructose special medical use formula food.

At present, the total global production of fructose is about 300,000 tons, and the global demand is growing at a rate of 30% per year, which is mainly used in food and beverages, health care products, nutritional solutions in the field of high-end pharmaceuticals, injections and so on.