Who hates sugar? It's a fantastic wild card, which has made the food industry (and half the world) literally addicted to its flavor. Clearly this has no positive consequences, all excesses are disastrous. Diabetes type 2 e obesity they are there to remind us and the 2,5 billion people who are afflicted by it.
Non-caloric substitutes would be needed: a real "Holy Grail" that researchers have been chasing for decades: and someone may have found what we are looking for.
Sweetness from citrus
A scientific team from the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences ofUniversity of Florida derived natural sweeteners in citrus fruits, a group of fruits that can be produced virtually anywhere in the world.
A revolutionary discovery that could give the food industry new opportunities to produce foods and drinks with a low content of cup sugar and a sweetness comparable to the present one.
Associate Professor of Food Sciences Yu Wang, who led the project, is thrilled with the results. He has good reason, they are amazing: they revealed from the study of 11 varieties of citrus fruits 8 new sweeteners or compounds that improve sweetness.
The food industry can emerge transformed
“We have identified a natural source for an artificial sweetener, Oxime V, which has never been identified from any natural source before,” Wang said.
This discovery will create new opportunities for citrus growers, and will guide the selection of varieties to breed.
A domino effect that will involve agriculture, the food industry and human health.
Reducing sugar without reducing the sweetness of food is an "upgrade" that concerns every kind of product: currently there is no alternative to sugar that does not alter in some way what we eat, between taste and aftertaste. And this "forces" the food industry to mess with flavorings and substances to balance the result (as if it didn't already produce ultra-processed foods, with all the consequences that this entails).
The UF / IFAS citrus breeding program covered by this study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (I link it here) has truly transformative potential.
Among the 11 selections of unique and exceptional flavors I point out UF 914 (a grapefruit hybrid) and EV-2 and OLL-20 (both sweet oranges). Mandarins were also included in the project, including Sugar Belle, Bingo, 13-51, 18A-4-46, 18A-9-39 and 18A-10-38.
Sometimes sweet news is needed.
