Healthier Ingredient Alternatives

By Mark Anthony, Ph.D.

More than ever before health-conscious consumers are scrutinizing food labels, searching for clues that will lead them to healthier choices. According to a study conducted by the Nutrition Business Journal, the healthy food category now holds 21.2 percent of the total food market. That’s over 120 billion dollars in sales. To say that healthy food has grabbed the public’s attention is an understatement.

Researchers from the Hartman Group have found that consumers want to connect their food with the ingredients in it, the nutrients added and the health benefits claimed. The ingredients that most often catch the eye of health-conscious consumers are sugars, fats, fiber, salt and calories, each of which affects the other. Products with the greatest chance of attracting loyal customers in the future will be ones that have moved away from traditional processed food staples of refined sugar, bad fats and high sodium and instead have value added benefits for health like fiber, vitamins and minerals and heart-healthy fats.

Refined Sugar Substitutes
Even though the low-carb craze has faded, there are many who are watching their intake of the sweet stuff due to the rise in diabetes and obesity. In fact, according to the Natural Marketing Institute’s 2007 Health and Wellness Trends Database, 47 percent of consumers prefer foods with no sugar added.

A lesson to be learned from the abundance of sports drinks on the market is that we can grow accustomed to drinks with far less sugar. The typical sports drink averages about 50 calories per 8 ounces, compared to popular soft drinks weighing in at anywhere from 105 to 130 calories. In fact, we hydrate better with minimally sweetened drinks, which was the original intent of sports drinks.

Teas are also using less sugar. Honest Teas, sweetened with honey and a little cane sugar are only about 30 calories per 8 ounces. Some are so confident in the natural taste of the tea, they simply drop the sweeteners completely.

Besides cutting down on the amount of sugar, many processors are opting for more nutrient-dense sweeteners instead. Fruit is growing more popular because it not only sounds healthier on a label, but also because it contains many more micronutrients such as antioxidants, minerals and fiber.

Knudsen’s Recharge uses organic white grape juice as a sweetener and source of potassium electrolytes, along with lemon juice, and a pinch of salt for sodium. Their spritzers are also sweetened with white grape juice. The light varieties simply add less juice. There is also another added benefit—a 2006 study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found the antioxidant potential of grape flesh equal to that of the skin, making white grapes as healthy and cardioprotective as the highly touted red grapes.

Bionaturae uses small quantities of organic apple juice in its fruit spreads. It’s less sweet than grape juice and does not mask the taste of the fruit. Fruit juice is also used to sweeten many cereals and snacks.

In the conventional world, Healthy Choice just released a line of fruit-inspired frozen meals using whole fruit such as mango to create flavorful, sweet, more nutrient-rich sauces.

Low glycemic index and low/no calorie options. Agave nectar, which is revered as a sacred food in Mexico, has recently become popular as an alternative sweetener. Its selling points are its mild honey-like flavor and, most of all, its low glycemic index (GI)—a result of its composition, which ranges from about 60 to 90 percent fructose.

A lesser known low GI sweetener is coconut palm sugar. This option not only has a lower GI than agave, but is also low in calories and high in nutrients such as potassium, iron and zinc. It is soft, dark and crumbly like brown sugar yet, unlike other options, palm sugars remain dry and free-flowing, rarely caking.

Another sweet and healthy option that is entering the sweetening scene is yacon, a tuber vegetable from Peru. This exotic ingredient is much lower in calories than sugar and has the added benefit of high levels of fructooligosaccaride (FOS) and inulin, which work in conjunction as prebiotics and help manage blood sugars. The syrup has a stronger taste, much like molasses, and the powder has a fruity, apple-like flavor.

Organic erythritol, a sugar alcohol, is a zero calorie sweetener that occurs naturally in very small quantities. Industrially it’s produced by fermentation of glucose with a yeast strain. Erythritol is 60 to 70 percent as sweet as table sugar, yet has only 0.2 calories per gram, compared to 4 calories per gram for all sugars. Because it is not sugar, it does not promote tooth decay, stimulate insulin production or affect blood sugar. It’s absorbed in the small intestines, like all sugars, and excreted unchanged in the urine. Large amounts of this very low calorie sweetener can produce a laxative effect though. It also tends to be less soluble than sugar and is said to yield a cooling sensation in the mouth upon immediate dissolution into water. Inulin, however, can be used with erythritol to provide bulk and texture and to offset the cooling sensation.

Brown rice syrup is another healther option believed to help keep blood sugars more balanced. It’s obtained by culturing cooked rice with dried barley sprouts or other sources of enzymes, which hydrolize much of the starch into maltose and glucose. The final composition is about 3 percent glucose, 45 percent maltose, with the remainder more complex carbohydrates. This gives brown rice syrup a reputation of providing sustained energy.

Cane sugar derivatives. Although refined sugar gets a bad rap, there are many options from the same plant that offer significant nutrients and sometimes even fewer calories. Colorado Mountain jams and jellies are sweetened with a minimal amount of organic evaporated cane juice, making them naturally lower in calories and higher in nutrients (especially vitamin B2) than most jams and jellies.

Molasses is the rich dark syrup made from the juice of pure sugar cane, obtained by crushing or mashing the sugar cane plant stripped of its leaves. Boiling concentrates the juice and promotes crystallization of the sugar. The first molasses is the product of the first removal of the sugar crystals. Successive boiling and removal of sugar crystals produces second molasses and finally blackstrap molasses. The potent flavor and strong color of blackstrap molasses makes it perfect for many baking applications, sauces and marinades. Its impressive nutrient profile has made it a favorite dietary supplement. One tablespoon of this concentrate provides up to 20 percent of the daily value of calcium, magnesium, potassium and iron. The carmelization during processing and its rich mineral content gives it a licorice-like taste, which can add flavor to breads and cookies and cover undesirable strong flavors in other foods.

Sucanat, an acronym for sugar cane natural, is similar in many ways to molasses. The crushed sugar cane yields juice that is heated and reduced to rich, dark syrup. The syrup is hand-paddled, cooled and dried to produce porous granules rich in iron, calcium, vitamin B6, potassium and chromium. Sucanat’s dark color and natural molasses flavor makes it a natural choice for applications like chocolate-based recipes, baking, BBQ sauces and marinades.

Turbinado, muscovado and light and dark brown sugars all result from variant treatments of organic sugar cane. Turbinado sugar, or raw sugar, gets its name from its processing. Crushed sugar cane yields juice that is evaporated and spun in a turbine, or centrifuge. The resultant large crystals are higher in moisture and nutrients than granulated sugar. A teaspoon of turbinado sugar is lower in calories than a teaspoon of granulated sugar because of its bulk and moisture content. Muscovado sugar is made by heating cane juice with a little limejuice and coconut milk before simple evaporation. The large, dark, moist crystals are sticky and taste more like molasses than turbinado sugar. It’s used in applications where robust flavor is called for; coffee, chocolate, and sauces are examples.

Label-Friendly Fats
The trouble with fats is that the ones that are good for you are usually the most unstable. For the sake of ease and shelf life, many processors have used unhealthy saturated fats or partially hydrated trans-fats. The latter has not really been developed in organic, and hopefully never will, considering the fact that it lowers your good cholesterol and raises bad cholesterol at the same time. Plus, it’s one of the top ingredients consumers look to avoid.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, omega-3s are a fat that consumers actually want in a product. Shown to be especially important for the brain and the heart, omega 3s are found in hemp, flax, fish oil (a organic compliant ingredient) and algae. Chia seed, an Aztec superfood, is another high omega 3 ingredient that has been getting more attention. Navitas Naturals just launched the first sprouted milled chia seed powder, which is stable (without refrigeration) and gels up nicely in food like hot cereals.

Although omega 3s are the most susceptible to oxidation, many processors are still finding ways to incorporate them successfully. New flax and hemp baked products are coming out all the time, and many functional beverages are being fortified with spirulina and chlorella algae. While heat is an omega’s worst enemy, there is a new omega oil blend that can even be used for frying and in aseptic packaged and retort products.

Because soybeans are about 7 percent omega 3, (linolenic acid), they are somewhat unstable and thus soy oil is often hydrogenated. Although newer, more stable forms of soybean oil from low linolenic soybeans have been cross-bred for standard applications, they have not reached the organic market. With linolenic acid most likely to oxidize and produce off flavors, the organic solution is to turn to oils with a different fatty acid profile, ones rich in monounsaturated fatty acids. Because olive oil is strong-flavored and relatively expensive, canola and high oleic versions of sunflower oil are becoming preferred choices where the applications call for liquid oils.

Expeller-pressed canola and soybean oils can have the stability equal to or better than partially hydrogenated soybean oil. Their unique properties are due to the method of refining that shuns the typical hexane solvent extraction. Both oils are ideal for a variety of commercial purposes, including, par-frying and IQF, snack foods, dressings, sauces, mayonnaise, and other foodservice applications.

Filling Up With Fiber
A popular alternative to avoiding calories from fats and sugars is to increase the fiber content of foods. There are several ways of getting fiber into the diet, most of which we are all familiar with—whole grains, beans, fruits and vegetables. Seeds such as flax, chia and hemp are also high in fiber. Americans recognize the need for fiber, but don’t want to taste it. So manufactures have made fiber into a more attractive and versatile ingredient.

Stonyfield Farms’ organic dairy adds inulin, a fructose polymer, to its fat-free yogurt as both thickener and source of fiber. Inulin functions much like soluble fiber, slowing the entrance of sugar into the blood and acting as a prebiotic, the food for friendly gut bacteria. The taste of inulin tends to be either bland or slightly sweet. As a food additive, inulin can replace sugar, fat and flour to drive down the calorie content of the food, with the side benefit of increasing the absorption of calcium.

Resistant starch, the portion of starchy food that reaches the colon undigested, also acts as a prebiotic. This comes from starches that are high in amylose, the more straight chain of the starches, or rich in retrograde starch—starch that has cooled after gelatinization.

At present, there is no organic high amylose corn from which resistant starch is produced, but it is a product to watch for in the future, as it has many of the same properties of inulin.

A form of fiber used in food bars is the gum of the acacia tree. Gums tend to swell with water and slow small intestinal transit time, which has the effect of reducing the absorption rate of sugars. Escaping digestion, gums migrate to the colon to act as a prebiotic, the same as any other soluble fiber. Acacia fiber, however, may hold down colonic fermentation, which decreases gas and bloating.

Acacia gum is often used in conjunction with flax seed, a contrasting insoluble fiber that is rich in lignans, plant phytoestrogens that act like antioxidants, and may benefit the heart. Animal studies indicate cancer-protective properties in lignans as well. Insoluble fibers tend to reduce transit time in the colon, making them a natural complement to most prebiotics.

A Few Thoughts on Lowering Sodium
For several million years, our human ancestors lived on less than 0.25 grams of sodium per day. The average figure now is approximately 10-12 grams per day. Recommended levels of 5-6 grams of sodium per day can lower blood pressure, reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, and decrease health costs worldwide, as hypertension is the greatest cause of death and the second greatest cause of disability. Many companies are responding to this need. Amy’s Kitchen and Pacific Natural Foods have both recently reformulated their most popular products with 50 percent less sodium.

One of the ways that formulators are making up for less salt is by adding herbs, which enhance the salt inherent in the recipes. These spices also provide high antioxidant phytochemicals—not only helping extend human life, but shelf life as well. The best advice on this is to work with an herb specialist who can help you find the right flavor combination.

Kelp granules, with only 45 mg of sodium per half teaspoon, are also used by many as a salt substitute and contain many other micronutrients such as potassium, iron, iodine, vitamin B6, riboflavin and fiber. Glutamic acid, which enhances flavor and tenderizes, is found in kelp as well. Sea salt is another popular option used by companies. Sea salt is still sodium chloride, but the higher mineral content in unrefined sea salt makes a little less salt go a long way towards flavor.

Altogether, formulating for health is all about simplicity and choosing ingredients that are less refined and more nutrient dense. Oftentimes this means going back to the basics and stepping away from what have become the all too common quick, cheap fixes for processed foods. o

Mark Anthony, Ph.D. is an adjunct professor at St. Edwards University in Austin Texas. He is the author of Gut Instinct: Diet's Missing Link and owner of Leap Forward Publications. You can reach him at mjanthony4@gmail.com.