Application of mannitol in food

Mannitol is an excellent functional sugar alcohol that can be used in many fields such as medicine, food, and chemical industry.

Mannitol, also known as D-mannitol, has a pleasant sweetness, 0.55-0.65 times as sweet as sucrose. Among the functional sugar alcohols, mannitol is the only hexavalent sugar alcohol that is not easy to absorb moisture. It has suitable sweetness, low calorie, and no toxic side effects. It has nothing to do with insulin in human physiological metabolism and does not increase blood sugar levels. It does not cause dental caries, so it can be used as a sweetener for diabetics and obese patients.

Application of Mannitol in Food Industry

Relevant studies have shown that about 50% of mannitol is ultimately utilized by the human body after being eaten, and its energy is only 8.36kJ/g, and after entering the human body, it does not need to be metabolized by insulin.

As a functional food ingredient, mannitol has broad application prospects in the food field. With the development of synthetic mannitol production technology, the production scale of mannitol is rapidly expanding, and the production cost and price also tend to be stable. Therefore, it is imperative to develop the application of mannitol in the food field.

1. Development of food for diabetics. The primary metabolic pathway of mannitol in the human body has nothing to do with insulin, and it will not cause large fluctuations in blood glucose and insulin levels after ingestion, so it can be eaten by diabetics.

2. For anti-caries sweets. Mannitol will not be utilized by oral microorganisms, and can also inhibit the growth and reproduction of mutant Streptococcus, so it can be used to produce anti-caries sweet food. The FDA agreed to label "no caries" claims on sugar-free foods that use polyols such as mannitol.

3. Development of mannitol chewing gum. Mannitol has a cool sweet taste, its sweetness is equivalent to 0.6 of sucrose, and its dissolution endotherm is -29Cal/g, which is equivalent to 76% of xylitol (-38Cal/g). Taking advantage of this feature, mannitol can be used as a sweetener and flavoring agent in chewing gum production.

4. Used as a moisture barrier. Different from sorbitol and xylitol, mannitol is not easy to absorb moisture. At 20 °C, its solubility is only 18 g/100 g, which is far lower than that of sorbitol, xylitol and maltitol. Therefore, it can be used as a moisture barrier to prevent sticking during processing and use when used in chewing gum, gum and other foods.

In addition, mannitol does not participate in the Medela reaction, and when used in food processing, the material is not easy to coking, which is conducive to maintaining a good color of the product, and can be used for baked food, etc.