Sugar-Free Chocolate: Satisfying Your Sweet Tooth Without Having to Settle

In the past, trying to find sugar-free products in the candy aisle was an exception rather than the norm. Fast forward to today, the shelves are lined with a dizzying selection of sugar-free or sugar-reduced options, making consumers spoiled for choice.

- Christian Philippsen

This trend can be largely attributed to consumers becoming more health-conscious and aware of nutritional labels as a result of an increase in health problems, with high levels of obesity and diabetes causing many consumers to seek more sugar-free products. In fact, six out of ten consumers globally say that health is the priority for them when selecting indulgent products.

MEETING CONSUMER EXPECTATIONS WITH HEALTHY CONFECTIONERY

With so many consumers looking to improve their blood sugar levels, the challenge that now stands for many confectionery manufacturers is creating sugar-free products that have the same taste and texture as regular ones. As sugar is crucial for taste and texture, there is a range of technical and sensorial obstacles that must be overcome to effectively reduce sugar and also meet high consumer expectations.

In any product reformulation involving cutting out sugar or fat, the difficulty is to maintain the same sweetness and mouthfeel that is given by the original ingredients. Consumers want a better nutritional profile, but they don’t want to make sacrifices when it comes to the overall indulgent experience. But thanks to the introduction of functional ingredients, the quality of sugar-reduced; no added sugar; and sugar-free products have vastly improved and are thus now making their presence more well-known in the global confectionery market.