KR20010101417A - Dietetic chocolate composition - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a diet chocolate composition sweetened with a bulk sweetener system and a method for preparing a diet composition. The chocolate composition is sweetened by a bulk sweetening composition comprising 10-90 weight percent maltitol, 9-89 weight percent lactitol, and 1-30 weight percent polydextrose. The combination of these sweeteners provides surprisingly high sweetness, clearly reduced glycemic index and reduced calorie content and taste, chew and mouthfeel that are close to conventional chocolate products. The method of the present invention introduces such a bulk sweet composition into a chocolate product.

Description

Diet chocolate composition {DIETETIC CHOCOLATE COMPOSITION}

Diet chocolate products, and diet chocolate compositions, especially for diabetics, have been prepared using sorbitol. However, such compositions generally do not resemble the taste, chew and mouthfeel of traditional chocolate compositions.

Sugarless and sugarless chocolate products have generally been prepared using a combination of one alternative sweetener or two alternative sweeteners. In particular, current sugarless and sugar-free chocolate products generally use maltitol, lactitol, mannitol or xylitol as one alternative sweetener to achieve the desired sweetness of the chocolate product, optionally in combination with fortified sweeteners. do. In addition, certain proposed chocolate products may include other alternative sweeteners such as isomolt, sorbitol, erythritol or maltodextrin. Other current sugarless and sugarless products use a sweetener system consisting of a combination of lactitol and polydextrose to achieve the desired sweet taste, and optionally also include fortified sweeteners when needed. However, each of these systems failed to satisfactorily reproduce the taste, chewy and mouthfeel of conventional sugar-sweet chocolate products.

Chocolate products sweetened only with maltitol sweeteners alone have a cooling effect that begins with eating and continues with chewing. This cooling effect is not typically typical of the taste profile of a typical sugar-sweet chocolate that only cools when it starts to eat, as it lasts longer in conventional products where it is stronger and negligible during the chewing effect. . In addition, chocolate products sweetened only with maltitol alone do not provide much reduction in the glycemic index as compared to chocolate products sweetened with sucrose, as well as such products are chocolate with lactitol and / or polydextrose. It does not provide the same level of calorie reduction that is provided by sweetening the product.

Chocolate products sweetened by the combination of lactitol or lactitol and polydextrose do not have a noticeable cooling effect when they begin to eat. In the end, the consumer immediately notices the difference between the taste of such a product and a chocolate product sweetened with conventional sucrose, which exhibits a gentle cooling effect when starting to eat. In addition, the delicious chocolate aftertaste generally associated with sucrose sweetened chocolate is suppressed in the sweetened chocolate product by the combination of lactitol or lactitol and polydextrose. Consequently, addition of high strength sweeteners is required when using lactitol or a combination of lactitol and polydextrose to produce a chocolate product of sufficient sweetness.

An example of a diet chocolate product is disclosed in Japanese Patent No. JP10234302 published on September 8, 1998. This patent replaces sucrose with sweeteners comprising sugar alcohols selected from the group of lactitol, reduced isomaltose and maltitol, and secondary sugar substituents selected from the group of polydextrose, xylitol, erythritol and maltitol. Describes a chocolate product. These sweeteners are used in the manufacture of low fat chocolate products.

Another example of a diet chocolate product is described in US Pat. No. 5,490,996. In the product, a combination of sucrose substitutes selected from polydextrose, inulin, mannitol, maltitol and mixtures thereof and sucrose substitutes selected from lactitol, fructose, sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol, isomolt and combinations thereof Sweetener compositions comprising the same are used. A two step manufacturing method is used whereby the first sucrose substitute is treated separately with the second sucrose substituent to allow the use of different conching temperatures for each component of the sweetener.

EP 599 830B1 is an alternative sweetener which includes inulin, linear and branched fructo-oligosaccharides and mixtures thereof; Sucrose, fructose, sugar alcohol, isomaltose, polyglucose, polydextrose, polymaltose, carboxymethylcellulose, carboxyethylcellulose, arabinogalactan, microcrystalline cellulose or mixtures thereof, and high intensity sweeteners It describes a reduced calorie chocolate composition using a product selected from. This patent describes that it is desirable for the diet chocolate composition to have preferably reduced calorie content, reduced fat content, increased fiber content, beneficial effects on intestinal metabolism, reduced sugar content, and reduced cariogenic properties. have. In addition, this patent recognizes the disadvantage that, in the case of sugar substitutes such as lactitol in chocolate products, the high moisture content in the chocolate mass may require adaptation to the manufacturing method, which often leads to obvious process delays. have. In the case of chocolate products sweetened with maltitol, maltitol is absorbed and metabolized by the human body, causing less calorie reduction than expected.

Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a calorie-reducing chocolate product for closely reproducing the taste, chew and oral sensation of a conventional sugar sweetened chocolate product. In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide products that are almost similar to the pleasant cooling aftertaste of conventional, sugar-sweetened chocolate, which is basically perceived during eating, and the pleasant chocolate aftertaste common to conventional sugar-sweetened chocolate products.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a diet chocolate product sweetened with an alternative sweetener composition that provides a surprisingly high sweetness while at the same time achieving a clear reduction in the caloric content and glyceric index of the chocolate product compared to chocolate sweetened with conventional sugars. will be.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a diet chocolate product, in which sufficient sweetness can be achieved using alternative sweetener compositions even in the absence of high strength sweeteners.

Various objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following summary and detailed description.

Summary of the Invention

The present invention achieves these objects by providing a chocolate product sweetened by the combination of lactitol, maltitol and polydextrose. More particularly, in a first aspect, the present invention relates to a diet, a calorie-reducing chocolate composition, wherein the sucrose sweetener or bulk sweetener is partially or totally 10-90 wt% maltitol, 9-89 wt% lactitol, and 1- It is replaced by a bulk sweetening composition comprising 55% by weight of polydextrose. More preferred compositions (bulk sweetener base) include 30-70 wt% maltitol, 20-60 wt% lactitol, 10-50 wt% polydextrose. Such combinations of sweeteners, used in chocolate products, can provide surprisingly high sweetness and a marked reduction in caloric content and glyceric index with respect to chocolate products sweetened with conventional sugars, while at the same time such conventional chocolates It closely reproduces the taste profile, chew and oral sensation of the product.

The present invention also concerns the need for diet chocolate products that can be prepared without using complex manufacturing methods. Thus, in a second aspect, the present invention provides a method for introducing a bulk sweetening composition containing 10-90 weight percent maltitol, 9-89 weight percent lactitol, and 1-55 weight percent polydextrose in a chocolate product. It relates to a method for producing a diet chocolate product comprising the step. On the other hand, conventional chocolate making methods can be used to make the chocolate products of the present invention using a conching temperature of 40-80 ° C. The specific conching temperature used depends on the components of the particular composition.

The present invention relates to a diet chocolate composition sweetened with a bulk sweetening composition and a method for preparing a chocolate composition in close proximity to the taste, chew and mouthfeel of conventional chocolate compositions.

The chocolate product of the present invention is a diet calorie-reduced chocolate product that is sucrose-free or uses a reduced amount of sugar relative to conventional chocolate products. As used herein, "dietetic" refers to the reduction or removal of the amount of sucrose from the chocolate product. The chocolate products of the present invention typically closely reproduce the taste, chew and oral sensation with respect to the chocolate sweetened with sucrose, especially with regard to the cooling effect and the chocolate aftertaste. In addition, the bulk sweetening compositions of the present invention provide chocolate products that do not require the use of fortified sweeteners to produce the desired sweetness level. Such chocolate products can generally be prepared by replacing any portion or whole sugar used to sweeten conventional chocolate products with the bulk sweetening composition of the present invention.

According to a first aspect of the invention, the diet chocolate product contains 10-90% by weight maltitol, 9-89% by weight lactitol, and 1-55% by weight polydextrose, in part or in total, sucrose sweetener. Provided with chocolate replaced with a bulk sweetening composition. More preferred compositions include 30-70 wt% maltyrol, 20-60 wt% lactitol, and 10-50 wt% polydextrose. Optionally, for certain applications, the bulk sweetening composition may comprise up to 1% by weight high intensity sweetener. All percentages used herein are weight percentages unless otherwise indicated and the sum of all components in a particular composition is 100%.

The bulk sweetening composition of the present invention can be used in a variety of chocolates, including sugarless chocolate, sugarless chocolate and sugar-loss chocolate. The present invention can be used to make milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate or mixed chocolate products. In addition, the chocolate products of the present invention may be used in the form of chip, bar products, enrobing coatings, such as chocolate coatings for which ice cream products or chocolate coatings are commonly used.

The cocoa material used in the chocolate product of the present invention may be selected from chocolate liquor and / or chocolate liquor or cocoa powder used to make coatings. Chocolate liquids are generally about 50% by weight natural cocoa butter and / or cocoa butter substitutes having a reduced fat content, such as those described in US Pat. Nos. 5,380,538 and 5,565,232, incorporated herein by reference. These patents describe such reduced fat content cocoa butter substitutes. Cocoa powder generally contains about 5-30% by weight of natural cocoa butter and cocoa butter substitutes with reduced fat content.

Materials customarily used to mold chocolate products can be included in the chocolate products of the present invention. For example, if unsweetened milk chocolate is the preferred final product, about 5-20% by weight of whole or non-fat milk solids may be included in the chocolate product of the present invention. In addition, other, optional components for the chocolate product may be used. Examples of such optional ingredients include natural food flavor oils, oleoresin extracts, artificial food flavors, condiments, coffee flavors, nut meats, vanilla, malt cereal extracts, salts, and cocoa fiber, citrus fiber, wheat flour ( bran), oatmeal, pea wheat and dietary fiber sources such as soy fiber, and everything used at the usual levels for chocolate products such as lecithin and other emulsifiers. In the case of sugar-free milk chocolate products, constituents such as caseinate and whey-derived compounds may also be used.

The present invention relates to the partial or complete replacement of sucrose in chocolate products with a bulk sweetening composition comprising lactitol, maltitol and polydextrose. The range of application of the constituents of the bulk sweetening composition is 10-90% by weight maltitol, 9-89% by weight lactitol and 1-55% by weight polydextrose. More preferably, the bulk sweetening composition of the present invention comprises 30-70 wt% maltitol, 20-60 wt% lactitol and 10-55 wt% polydextrose. The levels of the various constituents vary among others, depending on the applications in which they are used to accommodate the wide range of sweetness and flavor release requirements of chocolate liquor and chocolate and cocoa forms. In this method, the chocolate product may be formulated to optimize various properties including, for example, calorie content, tooth decay properties, glyceric index, taste, chew and mouthfeel.

The bulk sweetening composition of the present invention may comprise up to 65% by weight of the chocolate product. More preferably, the bulk sweet composition comprises up to 20-55% by weight of the chocolate product.

The polydextrose component of the bulk sweetening composition can be used in purified or unpurified form of anhydrous-polyglucose. The polydextrose may also be in partially or fully hydrogenated or fractionated form, if desired. Preferred polydextroses for use in the present invention are Litesse , Litesse Ⅱ and Litesse It is sold by Cultor Ltd. under the name of Ultra III. Fractionated polydextrose is a commonly known material that can be prepared by the methods described in US Pat. Nos. 5,424,418 and 4,948,596. Other polydextroses suitable for use in the present invention are hydrogenated polydextroses as described in US Pat. No. 5,645,647 and described in US Pat. No. 5,601,863.

The maltitol component of the bulk sweetening composition can be used in any solid form, preferably using purified crystalline form and more preferably purified crystalline form having a purity of at least 90%. The lactitol component of the bulk sweetening composition can be used in the form of lactitol monohydrate, lactitol dihydrate, anhydrous lactitol or mixtures thereof.

The components of the bulk sweetening composition of the present invention can be used in the formulation of diet chocolate in their crystalline form as well as other forms such as milling, spray drying, pulverize or granulate.

Optionally, high intensity sweeteners can be used in addition to the bulk sweetening compositions of the present invention. However, in some embodiments, it has been found that, according to the present invention, high intensity sweeteners are not necessary to achieve the proper sweetness of the chocolate product. If high intensity sweeteners are used, they are generally presented in amounts of 1% by weight, more preferably 0.5% by weight and most preferably less than 0.2% by weight of the chocolate product. Suitable high intensity sweeteners include acesulfame K, L-phenylalanme methyl ester (aspartame). ), alitame , Sukrazoz and mixtures thereof, but are not limited to.

The chocolate products of the present invention can be purified using techniques commonly known in the chocolate industry. The chocolate product of the present invention may be conicaled without apparent adverse effects on the chocolate product in the temperature range of about 40-80 ° C.

In the process of the invention, the bulk sweetening composition described above is added to the chocolate in the formulation as a partial or complete replacement for sucrose and other bulk sweeteners. In this method, the chocolate product may be formulated using conventional methods to produce a suitable diet chocolate product.

The chocolate product of the present invention offers the advantage of a low glycemic index over reduced chocolate content and chocolate products sweetened with conventional sucrose. In addition, the product of the present invention reproduces the taste, chewing feeling and oral sensation close to the chocolate product sweetened with conventional sucrose.

However, more importantly, the bulk sweetening compositions of the present invention have been found to exhibit surprising high sweetness with respect to the sweetness expected from a simple blending of the various sweeteners that make up the bulk sweetening composition. As a result of this property of the bulk sweetening composition, fortified sweeteners can be used at low levels. In addition, there is no need to use high strength sweeteners in the chocolate product to achieve the desired sweetness. This can avoid bitter aftertaste or leave an extra sweet taste, avoiding potential consumer concerns for such high intensity sweeteners and can also provide cost savings for the final chocolate product.

The invention is further described with reference to the following illustrative examples of embodiments.

Comparative Example A

Formulations of a conventional diet milk chocolate using maltitol as a bulk sweetener in this comparative group were prepared using the ingredients shown in Table 1. Taste the diet chocolate and describe the results in "flavor comments" in Table 1.

Comparative Example B

Another formulation of a conventional diet milk chocolate using lactitol as a bulk sweetener was prepared using the ingredients shown in Table 1. Taste the diet chocolate and the results are described in the "flavor evaluation" of Table 1.

Example # 1

Diet "Milk" type chocolates were made with a blend of maltitol / lactitol and polydextrose. The formulation of this product is shown in Table 1. This sample tasted close to the taste, chewy and mouthfeel of conventional (sugar) milk chocolate and exhibited a suitable sweetness. This observation is surprising because the sucrose has a sugar equivalent of 1.0 while the calculated sweetness equivalent of the bulk sweetening composition used in this example is about 0.4. This indicates that the combination of the three components of the bulk sweetening composition of the present invention provides the chocolate product with an enhanced perception of sugars.

The calculated sugar equivalents of the bulk sweet composition were based on the known sugar equivalents of maltitol (about 0.9), lactitol (about 0.4) and polydextrose (about 0). These sugar equivalent values were weighed to calculate a sugar equivalent of about 0.4 based on the ratio of the amounts of the three constituents of the bulk sweet composition.

Example # 2

Diet "dark" type chocolate was prepared using a blend of maltitol / lactitol and polydextrose showing similar sweetness and flavor characteristics as Example # 1. The formulation of this product is shown in Table 1.

Example # 3

A "sugar free" type milk chocolate was prepared using a blend of maltitol / lactitol and polydextrose showing similar sweetness and flavor characteristics as Example # 1. The formulation of this product is shown in Table 1.

Example # 4

Diet "Milk" type compound chocolates were prepared with blends of maltitol / lactitol and polydextrose that exhibit similar sweetness and flavor characteristics as sugar (sucrose) based "Milk" type compound chocolate coatings.

Example # 5

Diet “Milk” type chocolates were prepared using a blend of maltitol / lactitol and polydextrose, which showed similar sweetness and flavor characteristics as Example 1, which was 25% compared to sugar (sucrose) based reference chocolate. Give a calorie reduction of +.

The above embodiments are presented for purposes of illustration and description only and are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any way. The scope of the invention is determined from the claims appended hereto.

Claims (21)

In a diet, calorie-reducing chocolate composition, sucrose and other bulk sweetening compositions comprise 10-90% by weight maltitol, 9-89% by weight lactitol, and 1-55% by weight polydextrose A diet calorie-reducing chocolate composition, characterized in that it has been partially or wholly replaced by the composition. 2. The diet, reduced calorie chocolate composition of claim 1, wherein said bulk sweetening composition replaces nearly all sucrose of the chocolate composition to provide a sucrose-free chocolate composition. The diet, calorie-reducing chocolate composition of claim 1, wherein the bulk sweetening composition partially replaces sucrose which is typically added to the chocolate composition to provide a diet, calorie-reducing chocolate composition. 2. The diet, reduced calorie chocolate composition of claim 1, wherein said bulk sweetening composition comprises a sufficient amount of high-strength sweetener to enhance the sweetness of the chocolate composition. 5. The diet of claim 4, wherein the high-intensity sweetener comprises less than about 1 weight percent of the chocolate composition. 2. The calorie-reducing chocolate of claim 1, wherein the bulk sweetening composition comprises 30-70 wt% maltitol, 20-60 wt% lactitol, and 10-50 wt% polydextrose. Composition. The diet, calorie-reducing chocolate composition of claim 1, wherein the lactitol is present in a form selected from the group consisting of anhydrous lactitol, lactitol monohydrate, lactitol dihydrate, and mixtures thereof. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the polydextrose is a purified polydextrose, an unpurified polydextrose, a hydrogenated polydextrose, a fractionated form of any of the aforementioned polydextrose forms, and their A diet, calorie reducing chocolate composition, characterized in that it is selected from the group consisting of a mixture. 2. The diet, calorie reducing chocolate composition of claim 1, wherein the chocolate composition is selected from the group consisting of milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate and compound chocolate. 2. The calorie-reducing chocolate composition of claim 1, wherein the bulk sweet composition comprises up to 65% by weight of the chocolate composition. A bulk sweetening composition comprising 10-90% by weight maltitol, 9-89% by weight lactitol, and 1-55% by weight polydextrose in a chocolate composition is partially or complete of sucrose and / or other bulk sweeteners. A method for producing a diet chocolate composition comprising the step of adding as a substitute. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the bulk sweetening composition comprises 30-70 wt% maltitol, 20-60 wt% lactitol, and 10-50 wt% polydextrose. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the bulk sweetening composition comprises a sufficient amount of high-strength sweetener to enhance the sweetness of the sweetening composition. The method of claim 13, wherein the high intensity sweetener comprises less than about 1 weight percent of the total sweetening composition. 12. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of conching a mixture of the bulk sweet composition and other ingredients forming the chocolate composition at a temperature of 40-80 ° C. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the bulk sweet composition substantially replaces the entire sucrose of the chocolate composition. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the bulk sweet composition partially replaces the sucrose of the chocolate composition. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the chocolate composition is selected from the group consisting of milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate and compound chocolate. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the bulk sweet composition comprises up to 65% by weight of the chocolate composition. The method of claim 11, wherein the polydextrose is a purified polydextrose, an unpurified polydextrose, a hydrogenated polydextrose, a fractionated form of any of the aforementioned polydextrose forms, and their Method selected from the group consisting of mixtures. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the lactitol is present in a form selected from the group consisting of anhydrous lactitol, lactitol monohydrate, lactitol dihydrate, and mixtures thereof.