Title: Alternative Sweeteners

382 White and Osberger
Table 6 Glycemic Index
Glucose 100
Sucrose 59 10
Fructose 20 5
Maltose 105 12
Apples 39 3
Raisins 64 11
White bread 69 5
Source: From Ref. 17.
and glucose in subjects with reactive hypoglycemia was reported in Diabetes
Care (30). The investigators determined that the use of 100-g loads of pure fructose
as the sweetener in cakes and beverages or by itself resulted in a significantly
reduced glycemic effect, as indicated by markedly less severe glucose and insulin
responses. The authors concluded, ‘‘fructose may thus prove useful as a sweetening
agent in the dietary treatment of selected patients with reactive hypoglycemia.’’
VI. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF
CRYSTALLINE FRUCTOSE
Crystalline fructose was first promoted as a nutritionally beneficial sweetener by
virtue of its unique metabolic disposition in the body. Early product formulations
targeting diet and health-conscious consumers included powdered diet and sports
beverages, nutritional candy bars, and specialty diabetic and dietetic food items.
Breakthrough technology to crystallize fructose from HFCS feedstock was implemented
in the mid-1980s, enabling large-scale and low-cost fructose production.
Only then did formulation scientists attempt to integrate crystalline fructose into
high-volume, mainstream food products.
Providing incentive to alert food scientists looking for applications for crystalline
fructose was a new class of dietetic foods defined by the U. S. Food and
Drug Administration. Products in this class could be labeled ‘‘reduced calorie’’
if they contained at least twenty-five percent fewer calories than their full-calorie
counterpart (31). Crystalline fructose was immediately recognized as a critical
ingredient in achieving the necessary reduction in sweetener calories (32). Substituting
crystalline fructose for other sweeteners in existing formulas is not simply
a case of plugging in a factor to determine the quantity of fructose required.
Considerable food technology expertise is required to formulate reduced-calorie