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G. R. ZIEGLER, Dept. of Food Science, Pennsylvania State Univ., 116 Borland Lab., University Park, PA 16802-2504 Calorie reduction in high-solids foods is a challenge because classic techniques of adding air or water to replace a volume of the food are not available. Ingredients that add bulk without adding calories are required. For fat-containing foods one option is to lower the fat content by increasing the proportion of non-fat solids. This typically means an increase in the carbohydrate content, since carbohydrates contain less than half the calories of fat and are cheaper than proteins. However, with recent focus on “carbs” in the diet, this may be a self-defeating strategy. Where fat adds functionality that cannot be easily replaced, e.g. as a heat exchange medium, non-caloric or reduced calorie lipid alternatives such as sucrose polyesters or short chain triacylglycerols are used. Lubricity has been simulated, to some degree, by the use of hydrocolloids and microparticles. Carbohydrates, even “complex” ones, may now be seen by consumers as bad, if not worse, than fats. Ideally, one would want to replace them with non-caloric but in some sense nutritive alternatives. This may translate into resistant starch or fiber. However, in many cases sugar provides more than bulk, and the unique properties of crystalline sucrose cannot be easily reproduced. Polydextrose, inulin and sugar alcohols are alternatives to simple sugars, but may cause flatulence, or as with some of the fat replacers, have a laxative effect. Most recently there have been attempts to bulk high-solids foods with minerals such as CaCO3, but minerals present their own challenges to the digestive system. The irony is that product formulators turn foods, with nutritive value, into “non-foods,” with less nutritive value so that consumers need not show restraint. This is best accomplished if the added bulking agent can confer some value to the consumer, e.g. in the form of a functional fiber or a mineral supplement.
Session 8, Physics and chemistry of modifying food for caloric reduction
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