Sucrose is not in food only to be sweet: Meeting the deficiencies of other sweeteners when reformulating foods to replace sugar

Sucrose, commonly called sugar, is one of the most widely used ingredients in the human diet. With pressures and encouragement on consumers and food companies to reduce consumption of sugar, industry has pursued food reformulation with the use of sweeteners as sucrose replacers. However, industry has to consider far more than just replacing the sweetening function of sugar. This article explores the options food producers may have in replacing the numerous other technological and functional properties and attributes of sugar in the process of reformulation of many food and beverage categories.