Cargill Health and Food Technologies (CHFT), a division of Cargill Foods, has revealed the imminent introduction of a new, unique sugar offering a variety of health benefits to consumers.
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Trehalose is made from cornstarch and occurs naturally in many plants and foods such as honey, lobster and yeast. A naturally occurring “better for you” sugar has half the sweetness of sucrose and is now affordable and commercially available for the food industry. It provides a good energy source and has a wide range of applications including nutrition bars, sports drinks, bakery product, ice creams and confections, explained the company.
Cargill insist that the most unique and promising health benefit of the sugar is a blunted insulin response, relative to other sugars. Preliminary research shows that Trehalose may be digested and absorbed at a slower, more sustained rate than other sugars – which may lead to greater endurance for consumers.
“Trehalose is a breakthrough and exciting ingredient in the food industry today. It is gaining strong interest among innovative food and beverage manufacturers,” said Jim Kappas, director of marketing, CHFT. “This is great news for the food industry and consumers alike. We believe Trehalose will help create a new generation of products – functional products that provide added health benefits. Trehalose offers a clean and improved flavour as well as strong implications for exercise capacity.”
Furthermore, says the company, recent studies indicate that Trehalose does not elicit a high insulin response in the human body, so it may provide more sustained energy with less “sugar crash”, further justifying the use of Trehalose in sports drinks and nutrition bars.
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By GlobalDataTrehalose also helps preserve foods’ flavour, colour and texture. Studies have also shown it to be gentler on teeth than sucrose.
The news comes hot on the heels of an announcement by UK-based Tate and Lyle sugar group, which earlier this week unveiled a new calorie-free sugar product.
To read about the Tate & Lyle sugar product, click here.
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