Fructose

Fructose
Fructose can also used as a sugar substitute in crystalline or syrup form.

It is present naturally in many fruits and in honey, but commercially it is manufactured using sucrose as a starting material.

Sucrose is first hydrolyzed to a glucose-fructose mixture.

The monosaccharides glucose and fructose are separated using chromatography and the fructose is then crystallized.

Fructose has some interesting physiological properties. It is monosaccharide sugar with an energy content of 4 kcals/g (17 kJ/g) but due to its increased sweetness can be used at lower levels than sucrose.

Fructose is slowly absorbed and metabolized by the body, independent of insulin production, and does not cause rapid rises in blood glucose after ingestion.

It is therefore, suitable for diabetics and also for use in drinks intended to act as a lower more sustained energy source.

Owing it to limited effect on blood glucose, it is a low glycaemic index sweetener (compared with glucose).

This is an area of increased nutritional interest and may be a stimulus to the greater use of fructose in drinks.

Fructose has also been shown to have a increase satiety effect, compared with other sweeteners.

Mineral absorption (iron and calcium) has also been shown to be positively affected by the incorporation of fructose into the diet.

Chemically, fructose is very active and it readily takes part in maillard reactions, which may cause browning in some products.

It is available in crystalline anhydrous form and also in high concentrations syrups.
Fructose

A brief History of Soft Drinks

A brief History of Soft Drinks
It could perhaps be argued that Hippocrates planted the first seeds of the soft drinks industry when he wrote that mineral waters might bring health benefits.

However, he and other ancient Greeks and Romans used them, instead for relaxation and bathing.

Indeed, it was centuries later that the term “soda water” was coined in 1798.

The first patent for imitation mineral waters was issued in 1810, and they came to be considered the “health drinks” of the 19th century.

By the 1930s, pharmacists were experimenting with adding such ingredients as barks and flowers to enhance these perceived benefits, and the result was the first series of flavored sodas, including root beet, lemon and ginger ale.

Root beer was first produced for wide public sale, primarily in soda fountains, in 1876 and cola in 1881.

In 1885, Charles Aderton introduced Dr. Pepper; in 1886, John Pemberton invented Coca-Cola and in 1898, Caleb Bradham formulated Pepsi-Cola.

By early 1920s, soft drinks were sold in six packs for home consumption and in automatic vending machines.

From 1970 to 1997, production of regular, sweetened soft drinks in the United States increased from 22.2 to 41.4 gallons per person per year and the production of diet soft drinks increased from 2.1 to 11.6 gallons per person per year.

These amounts mean that the annual per capita supply of 12 ounce soft drinks in the United States is equivalent to 442 and 124 diet drinks; a cumulative total of 566 cans of soft drinks per person each year.
A brief History of Soft Drinks

The Benefits of Soft Drinks

The Benefits of Soft Drinks
Soft drinks have certain socioeconomically values and benefits.

They are main sources of the required body water intake in geographical areas where either there is not enough or no potable quality water.

Such area could be, on one hand in densely populated and highly polluted first world countries.

Here it must be pointed put that most soft drinks manufacturers adhere to the principles of treatment and purification of water for their products, and thus, indirectly rendering the locally available polluted water as potable by humans.

On the other hand, these areas may be in underdeveloped countries where natural drinking water sources are either far removed or again, the available water is too polluted.

Or not much less importance is that in our world in which millions of people suffer and die of starvation, soft drinks are simple and immediate source of carbohydrate nutrition – one glass of naturally sweetened soft drinks supplies about 20 g of sugar, which interprets into 320 kJ (76 Cal).

A glass or two of a soft drink can therefore supply a small but significant portion of essential nutrition to such unfortunates.

In addition, not only do soft drinks supply the drinking water but also the natural micronutrients it contains.

The treated water in soft drinks retains most of its original natural minerals content.

In underdeveloped countries, where local cater sources are polluted or are far removed from the community, soft drinks thus supply some of the micronutrients minerals that would have normally been unavailable.

Furthermore, many soft drinks are, for marketing purposes, especially enriched with minerals and vitamins and other nutrients.

Once again, soft drinks serve a nutritional function, especially in poverty stricken and undernourished communities and countries.

The more than 500 billion liters of soft drinks consumed annually are produced in thousands of bottling plants scattered around the world, providing employment for million of workers.

The support industries, such as bottling and canning equipment manufacturers, raw material producers, transport and cargo fleets an many other, in turn, provide gainful employment to still more millions of workers.
The Benefits of Soft Drinks

Use of Intense Sweeteners

Use of Intense Sweeteners
Use of sweeteners in soft drinks is not restricted to low calorie or dietetic products.

In some countries, particularly where sugar price are comparatively high, intense sweeteners are used in combination with sugar or glucose syrups to give more efficient formulations.

Intense sweeteners provide sweetness, the amount supplied – i.e. the relative sweetness of all intense sweetness – will depend on application.

Intense sweeteners do not supply the mouth feel of sugar and in some cases, they may supply undesirable side tastes or prove to be incompatible with some flavors.

For these reasons, use of intense sweeteners in soft drinks is rarely a case of direct substation of sucrose in the regular product formulations; more often than not, total reformulation is necessary.

It may be necessary to adjust the acidity and use buffers to assist stability of some sweeteners.

Some adjustment of flavor system used is commonly required and the use of gums or small amounts of sugars can improve mouth feel and control fobbing during filling.

Use of ingredients that mask undesirable side tastes may also be required.

Increasing the carbonation of low calorie products may also help mask undesirable side tastes and give the illusion of better mouth feel.

Sweetness synergy occurs with many combinations of intense (and bulk) sweeteners. The effects can be twofold: a higher perceived sweetness than would be expected from the theoretical sum of the relative sweetness values of the individual used and in some cases, a marked improvement in taste quality of sweetness that have undesirable side tastes.

The optimum sweetener system will vary depending on the product and will not necessarily be a sweetener blend.

However if a sweetener blend is to be used , useful starting point often quoted for blends of two intense sweeteners is that sweeteners are used in an inverse ratio to their relative sweetness (to each other), so that each sweetener contributes 50% of the total sweetness.
Use of Intense Sweeteners