Abstract
Sugars have a long history of safe use in foods. They are common food ingredients that add taste appeal and perform important functions in foods. Besides its pleasant sweetness, sugar performs a host of less obvious and important functions in cooking, baking, candy making and the like. As carbohydrates, sugars are a contributor of calories for the body. The ability to produce solutions of varying degrees of sweetness is important in many food applications, particularly in beverages and confectionery. Low-calorie sweeteners add a taste that is similar to that of sucrose. Intense sweeteners are generally several times sweeter than sucrose. On the other hand, sugar replacers are the bulk and volume providing sweeteners usually less sweet than and different tasting from sugar, commonly used on a one-for-one replacement basis for sugar in recipes. Sugars have been studied extensively for their impact on a variety of issues.