Nutritional optimization—reduced-sugar products and challenges

Abstract Sugar is included in foods and beverages to sweeten, to enhance flavor, as well as being a bulking agent and acts as a preservative as it reduces the water activity of foods and beverages. In bakery products, sugar adds volume, tenderness, texture, and color to the final product and acts as a functional ingredient by causing friction between the sugar granules and fat-producing air bubbles facilitating the batter to rise during baking. Thus sugar is a difficult ingredient to replace in products. This chapter describes the role of sugar and low-calorie sweeteners in standard and reduced sugar products and describes challenges specifically regarding the sensory quality of bakery (bread) and confectionary products (biscuits, cookies, cakes, and muffins) as well as dairy products and beverages (soft drinks, fruit juices, and alcoholic beverages).