When most people think of gummy, they think of a kid's snack filled with sugar that will make kids bounce off the wall. But the reality is that with the development of society, candy has transformed from a delicious snack to a multifunctional nutritional gummy. It can help people control their appetite and get their daily needs of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients, which is great for children and adults alike.
Many people currently use nutritional gummies as supplements. So, since it is a health product, is the sugar in the gummy the same as the sugar in traditional candy? That's what we'll see in this article.
1. Are sugar-free gummies sugar-free?
Since it is focused on the field of nutrition, the sugar content of nutritional gummies is not so important. Customers pay more attention to the nutritional content of gummies, and even many customers who need to lose weight will ask for sugar-free gummies. Therefore, sugar-free gummies are currently very popular in the market, and the packaging of such gummies is usually marked with "sugar-free" (Sugarless or Sugar-free, No Sugar added or Artificial sweeten, etc.).
The feature of sugar-free gummies is not to add sugar, but do not add traditional sugars, such as white sugar, granulated sugar, sucrose, glucose, etc., and replace them with sugar substitutes, so that the gummies are also sweet, allowing you to both You can enjoy delicious food while being "sweet and healthy".
2. What is a sugar substitute?
There are many types of sugar substitutes, which can be generally divided into two categories: nutritive sweeteners and non-nutritive sweeteners, according to whether they generate heat or not. Below we introduce several common ingredients in these two types of sugar substitutes.
（1）Nutritious sweeteners
Nutritious sugar substitutes are sugar substitutes that generate calories when eaten but produce fewer calories per gram than traditional sucrose. Nutritious sugar substitutes are:
- Sorbitol
Extracted from blueberries in 1872, the sweetness is about half that of sucrose, and one gram can produce three calories. Because it has a cooling sensation in the mouth and does not cause tooth decay, it is often used to make chewing gum or sugar-free candy.
- Xylitol
It was obtained by hydrogenation of xylose in 1891. It is mostly found in natural vegetables and can also be synthesized from hemicellulose in the food industry. Because it has the same cooling effect as sorbitol, it is also commonly used in the manufacture of candy, chewing gum, or cooling lozenges.
（2）non-nutritive sweeteners
Non-nutritive sweeteners are divided into two categories: natural and synthetic.
- Natural non-nutritive sweeteners
Natural non-nutritive sweeteners have been paid more and more attention to and become the development trend of sweeteners. Natural non-nutritive sweeteners are mainly stevia sugar, also known as stevioside, which has the characteristics of high sweetness and low-calorie energy. It doesn't affect blood sugar levels or interferes with insulin, giving people with diabetes more flexibility when it comes to budgeting for total calorie intake. Stevia also does not contain any calories and helps with weight control. The acceptable daily intake established by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is no more than 4 mg per kilogram of body weight per day. There is no doubt that stevia is very suitable for making gummies with weight loss properties (eg CLA Gummies, Apple Cider Vinegar Gummies, Fat Burner Gummies, Probiotics Gummies, etc.).
- Synthetic sugar substitutes
For example, aspartame, acesulfame potassium, saccharin, sucralose (sucralose), etc. The sweetness of this type of sugar substitute is hundreds of times that of white sugar, so the amount is very small. Synthetic sugar substitutes are no additives that can be used in our daily life and are often used in industrial production.
3. How sweet is the sugar substitute?
| Type | Name | Sweetness (values are for comparison only) |
| Natural sugar substitute | Stevia | 200-300 |
| Mogroside | 300 | |
| Glychin | 600-800 | |
| Sugar alcohols | Xylitol | 0.6-1 |
| Maltitol | 0.75-0.95 | |
| Erythritol | 0.75 |
（1）Natural sugar substitute
Natural sugar substitutes include stevioside, mogroside, glycerin, etc. Stevia has a bitter aftertaste, so stevia is used in combination with other ingredients to make compound sweeteners to balance and eliminate this bitterness.
Through the table, we found that the sweetness of natural sugar substitutes is also several hundred times that of white sugar.
（2）Sugar alcohols
The sugar alcohols include xylitol, sorbitol, maltitol, mannitol, erythritol, and the like. The difference between erythritol and other sugar alcohols is that its molecular weight is very small, how to eat it and how to excrete, it will not be metabolized in the body, so the calories are zero.
From the table, we found that the sweetness of sugar alcohols is often lower, so the amount of sugar alcohols used is relatively large under the same sweetness. In addition, sugar alcohols not only prevent dental caries but also have a beneficial effect on gut microbes. However, its cost is higher than that of white sugar, and some people have a low tolerance to a sugar alcohol, and they are prone to bloating after eating.
To sum up the above, some sugar substitutes with high sweetness are used very little, while sugar alcohols are used more because of their low sweetness. Choose a few different sugar substitutes from each of these two categories to make a combination, you can debug a sugar substitute formula that tastes close to white sugar, but is healthier than white sugar, and is easy to use.
