How to select your natural sweetener ingredient?

Natural sweeteners are gaining increasing popularity along with the growing consumer awareness and preference for healthier, more natural options. This article will delve into natural sweetener benefits and provide guidance on choosing the right sugar ingredient in your product.
Introduction
Compared to artificial sweetener, Natural sweetener, which derived from plants, are increasingly favored for their health benefits. The demand of natural sweetener ingredients that extracted from natural sources and low in calories or even zero calorie. Such as stevia, mognolia, honey, coconut, molasses.
Market data and analysis indicate that the global natural sweetener market was valued at $24.48 billion in 2023. It is projected that the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) will reach 6.4% over the next decade. Currently, natural sweeteners are utilized in sectors such as Food and Beverage, Bakery, Confectionery, Pharmaceuticals, Personal Care, and Cosmetics.
However, choose the proper natural sweetener ingredient applied in your product will be a important issue.
Factors to consider:
Health impact
Discuss the health benefits or concerns associated each sweetener, such as low-calories, Low Glycemic Index.
Flavor and Sweetness
Different natural sweeteners vary in sweetness and taste, such as stevia, which is very sweet but slightly bitter, and coconut sugar, which is closer to the taste of sucrose.
Functional Benefits and Limitations
Evaluating sweeteners for various product processes, and it is crucial to consider their performance under different conditions. Stevia, for instance, exhibits remarkable heat stability, maintaining its sweetening properties during both HTST (High Temperature Short Time) and UHT (Ultra High Temperature) processing. These methods are widely employed in the production of numerous beverages, including juices, iced tea, and milk, making Stevia an ideal choice for such applications.
Popular Natural sweeteners
Monk front extract
Monk fruit extract, celebrated for its zero-calorie content and negligible glycemic index (GI), has emerged as a favored natural sweetener. Its health benefits, coupled with a sweetness potency approximately 200 times greater than sugar, make it a versatile ingredient. It is extensively utilized across a diverse range of food and beverage products, as well as in the bakery sector and cosmetic industry.
Stevia leaf Extract Stevioside
Stevia, known for no-calorie sweeteners and stability, it about 300 times sweeter than sugar and stable in high temperatures, has has widely used in beverages, bakery product processing.
Conclution
In general, when choosing natural sweeteners, it is necessary to meet the basic needs of taste, but also to take into account health, practical and environmental protection and other aspects.
References:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S030881462101997Xhttps://www.purecirclesteviainstitute.com/ingredient-and-taste/stevia-of-stability