3. Diets

3.4. low-fat, sugar free

As low-fat and sugar free diets have become more and more popular as diets for weight loss or to avoid obesity related health problems the market has followed suit and provides a wide range of products to cater for this customer segment.

It is recommended to reduce the intake of saturated fats, which are mostly from animal sources like fatty meat, lard, milk, cream, butter, or cheese. Instead, the food industry offers lean meat options and low-fat milkproducts. To achieve a similar mouthfeel as in full-fat products emulsifiers, thickeners, gums, stabilizers, and texturizers such as xanthan gum and guar gum are added.

At the same time, the intake of unsaturated fats, which are labeled as healthy, is becoming more and more popular. Foods, high in these fats that provide omega-3 fatty acids, have become common in many diets and can now also be found in many supermarkets. These include: olive oil, avocados, salmon, nuts and seeds, like flaxseed and walnuts as well as soy products.

Many people who are trying to avoid high-caloric intakes would still like to eat sweet snacks, like fruit yoghurt, cookies or cakes, breakfast cereals, jams, or beverages. Sugar-free versions of these foods can be sweetened with synthetic sweeteners like:

  1. Sucralose: A synthetic sweetener that is 600 times sweeter than sugar
  2. Aspartame: A synthetic sweetener that is 200 times sweeter than sugar (contains minimal calories)
  3. Acesulfame Potassium: A synthetic sweetener that is 200 times sweeter than sugar
  4. Neotame: A synthetic sweetener that is 8,000 times sweeter than sugar
However, some of these synthetic sweeteners have become unpopular as they might be linked to Alzheimers disease.

In recent years therefore other sugar alternatives that are sugar alcohols have become more popular, in particuar in sugar free gums. Sugar alcohols like Xylitol, a sugar alcohol derived from birch trees and corn or Erythritol, sugar alcohol that is naturally found in some fruits and vegetables, have a more natural taste than synthetic sweeteners, but can also cause diarrhea. They are therefore only used in foods that are consumed in small quantities.

A new wave of natural sugar alternatives have lately entered the market with stevia and agave syrup being the leaders. Stevia is natural sweetener derived from a plant native to South America. It is 200 times sweeter than sugar and has no calories.

Many of these alternative sugars are not really reducing the sugar content but are marketed as healthier sugar version as they contain small amounts of vitamins and minerals. Among them are date syrup, palm sugar, birch sugar and rice syrup. They fall in the same category as the traditional alternatives to suger: honey, maple syrup and molasses.