Title: Alternative Sweeteners

526 Deis
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service has
had an ongoing program for several years to develop usable products from agricultural
by-products such as grain hulls (oat, corn, rice, soybean, peas) and
brans (corn, wheat). This has resulted in some new products that have exhibited
potential as fat-replacing ingredients, including oatrim, Z-Trim, and Nu-Trim
(18). Developed as a fat replacer, oatrim is USDA patented and was licensed to
ConAgra, Quaker Oats, and Rhône-Poulenc. Quaker Oats and Rhône-Poulenc
joined forces and ConAgra (through Mountain Lake Manufacturing Company)
joined with A.E. Staley Co. Oatrim is enzymatically hydrolyzed oat flour containing
5% beta-glucan soluble fiber. Starch in oat flour or bran is hydrolyzed
by α-amylase to form a more soluble material (oat β-glucan-amylodextrins) labeled
as ‘‘oatrim’’ or ‘‘hydrolyzed oat flour.’’ Similar to other carbohydrate and
protein fat replacers, oatrim can form a gel with water to mimic fat in a number
of food applications. From a caloric standpoint, if the gel contains 25% oatrim
at 4 kcal/g and the remaining 75% is water at 0 kcal/g, the gel is 1 kcal/g. USDAconducted
studies suggest oatrim might have some hypocholesterolemic benefits,
but this product is not currently included in the list of oat products that can
carry nutritional labeling to that effect. Oatrim was used in several commercial
products, such as fat-free and cholesterol-free milks. On October 9, 1996, USDA
announced the development of another product—dubbed ‘‘Z-Trim’’ (for zero
calories). Whereas oatrim was developed from the inner, starch-containing part
of the hull or bran, Z-Trim was developed from the more cellulosic, outer portion.
In a process similar to the alkaline/hydrogen peroxide process, which led to a
USDA-patented oat fiber also licensed by ConAgra, the hulls of oats were treated
in a multistage process to remove the lignin. The resulting cellular fragments
were purified, dried, and milled. This dried powder could later be rehydrated to
form a gel or be incorporated directly into a food. The USDA applied for a
patent in 1995, but this product has not yet been commercialized. Nu-Trim was
introduced by USDA in 1998 as a physically modified soluble fiber product with
properties similar to oatrim.
Another fiber-containing ingredient that can take the place of fat in foods
is resistant starch. Because of its reduced caloric content, it functions mainly as a
bulking agent, although it can have other beneficial effects in the finished product.
Although the term ‘‘resistant starch’’ has only recently become well known, it
was coined in the early 1980s, and scientists discussed its dietary effects years
before that time. Resistant starches are starches and products of starch degradation
that resist enzymatic digestion and act like dietary fiber. Resistant starch is
present in many foods—it is naturally found in coarsely ground or chewed cereals,
grains, or legumes as a physically inaccessible starch (RS1). It also can be
found in bananas, high-amylose starch, and raw potato as naturally resistant or
ungelatinized granules (RS2). A third type of resistant starch (RS3) is generated
by retrograding starch during food processing. This variety can occur naturally