on functional sweeteners
ICE CREAM WITHOUT SUGAR
The Focus on functional sweeteners
is a publication providing general
information on lactitol and xylitol,
to those interested in the applications
of functional sweeteners.
For more detailed information contact
the nearest PURAC office.
In the past ice cream was a seasonal
product, but nowadays it is eaten the
Freezing point (˚C)
whole year round as a dessert or snack.
To produce a good-tasting, low-calorie
ice cream is an interesting challenge for
ice cream producers. A low-calorie ice
cream can be made by replacing the
sugar and/or fat with polyols and bulking
agents like polydextrose and inulin.
Important in developing sugar-free
and/or fat-free ice cream is that taste
and texture should be equal to that of
sugar-containing ice cream to make the
product successful. Lactitol is a bulk
sweetener that is very suitable for use
in ice cream without added sugar.
Lactitol has an excellent sugar-like taste,
a freezing point depressing effect equal
to that of sugar, good whipping
properties and good solubility.
Important properties of
sweeteners
The bulk sweeteners used in ice cream
have various functions: increasing the
solid content, giving sweetness and
influencing texture. The standard
reference is sugar. To produce an
acceptable sugar-free ice cream, the
properties of the used sweetener
should be comparable to those of sugar.
A sweetener can influence texture by
providing bulk and body, improving
mouthfeel, controlling ice crystallisation
and depressing the freezing point. This
last property is important for whipping
and freezing the ice mix simultaneously.
The freezing point depressing effect is
inversely related to the molecular
weight of the sweetener. The figure
shows the freezing point depressing
effect of several bulk sweeteners. The
effect of lactitol and sucrose on the
freezing point is similar. Polydextrose
reduces the freezing point less than
sugar, which results in a harder ice
cream. Sorbitol depresses the freezing
point more than sucrose and lactitol and
is therefore more suitable for use in soft
ice cream.
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Concentration (%w/w)
Sucrose Lactitol Sorbitol Polydextrose
Freezing Point Depressing Effect of
sweeteners
The structure of ice cream depends on
how efficiently the air is incorporated in
the product. When many small air
bubbles are incorporated and homo-
geneously distributed, the structure is
good. Air incorporation is influenced by
the emulsifier and stabiliser used but
also by the sweetener. The incorpora-
tion of air increases the volume of the
ice mix. This is called overrun ((ice cream
volume-mix volume)/mix volume x
100%). When the dry solids content is
relatively low, an excessively high
overrun can cause problems in consis-
tency and storage stability. The maxi-
mum overrun can be calculated by the
following formula: (% fat + % msnf +
% dry solids) x 2 = % overrun. Lactitol
is known to have excellent whipping
properties. This can result, when
necessary, in high overrun percentages.
The sweetener influences the viscosity
of the ice cream mix, which is important
during processing. After pasteurisation
and homogenisation the ice cream mix
is cooled to 4°C and aged for at least 5
hours. During ageing the mix reaches an
equilibrium. Important here is that the
viscosity will be constant after this
stage.
The sweetener or bulking agent influen-
ces not only the textural properties but
also the sensoric properties of ice cream
such as taste, sweetness and mouth-
feel. Polyols give sweetness to the
product, but because most polyols are
less sweet than sugar, intensive
sweeteners will be necessary to adjust
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 sweetness to the required level. Next to cream is determined by weighing the
sweetness the taste of the used amount of ice cream that falls during
sweetener is important. Lactitol has a melting. The results were according to
very sugar-like taste, but fructose or expectations except for polydextrose,
sorbitol, for example, have a very which showed a more rapid rate of
scratchy taste. The mouthfeel is also melting than lactitol or sugar. Despite
important. A bulking agent like inulin will the high hardness of sucrose ice cream,
provide a more creamy mouthfeel than the melting time was equal to lactitol
polyols and intensive sweeteners. ice cream.

Hardness & Melting Combination with

An important property of ice cream is polydextrose or inulin
the scoopability. This depends on the If a further caloric reduction is desired in
texture, hardness and melting proper- addition to sugar replacement by
ties of the ice cream. The hardness of lactitol, the fat (or part of the fat) can be
the ice cream is measured with a TA- replaced by bulking agents such as poly-
TX2 Texture Analyser. Samples having dextrose and inulin. With this combina-
the same dry solids content, overrun, tion an ice cream can be made with no
and temperature are penetrated with a added sugar and no added fat. The
cylindrical probe to a depth of 5mm. The bulking agents will slightly influence
hardness is measured as the peak processing by increasing the viscosity PURAC biochem, The Netherlands
compression force (g). and freezing point of the ice mix. Taste Phone +31 183 695 695
The hardness of ice cream largely de- and mouthfeel will be positively influen- E-mail pnl@purac.com
pends on the freezing point depressing ced. When combining lactitol and inulin, PURAC UK, United Kingdom
effect but is also influenced by other the result is a very creamy mouthfeel and Phone +44 121 236 1828
ingredients and by the formation of ice taste without large amounts of added E-mail puk@purac.com
crystals. The results shown in the graph cream. A further advantage is that both PURAC Poland, Poland
confirm the expectations that sorbitol lactitol and inulin have a prebiotic effect, Phone +48 22 616 1852
and fructose (monomers) decrease the resulting in a functionally low-fat and no- E-mail ppl@purac.com
hardness of the ice cream in comparison sugar ice cream with excellent taste and PURAC Germany, Germany
with lactitol. The hardness of polydex- properties. Phone +49 6721 181740
trose ice cream differs very little from E-mail pge@purac.com
lactitol, but this can be expected when PURAC Russia, Russia
looking at the graph. At 14%, the concen- Phone +7 095 974 1521
tration in the ice cream, the difference Fax +7 095 974 1521
between lactitol and polydextrose is very PURAC bioquímica, Spain
small. The difference between sorbitol Phone +34 93 568 6300
E-mail psp@purac.com
and lactitol is nearly 1°C. Why the hard-
ness of the sugar ice cream differs so PURAC Hungary, Hungary
much from the other ice creams cannot Phone +36 1 433 4849
E-mail phu@purac.com
be explained.
Ice cream with chocolate covering made with PURAC France, France
350
Saccharose lactitol Phone +33 47 211 4667
300 E-mail pfr@purac.com
250 Isomalt Conclusion PURAC America, U.S.A.
Hardness (g)

Polydextrose
Lactitol Phone +1 847 634 6330
200
Fructose Sorbitol The properties of lactitol-containing ice E-mail pam@purac.com
150
Maltitol
syrup cream are excellent. The taste is similar
PURAC sínteses, Brasil
100
to sugar-containing ice cream, and Phone +55 11 3062 1535
combining lactitol with inulin results in a E-mail pbr@purac.com
50
creamy taste. As said before, the ice
0 PURAC Asia Pacific, Singapore
cream is softer than sugar-containing Phone +65 6349 1350
Hardness of ice cream made with different ice cream, but the melting properties E-mail pap@purac.com
sweeteners at –10°C, measured in triplicate
are the same. This makes an easy-to- PURAC China, China
The melt behaviour of ice cream also scoop ice cream that will not melt too Phone +86 21 6875 4755
depends on the freezing point soon. Processing lactitol-containing ice E-mail pcn@purac.com
depressing effect of the sweetener, so cream differs very little from conventional PURAC Korea, Korea
the expected melting time of the ice ice cream. Viscosity and overrun of the Phone +82 2 532 9623
creams is sorbitol<sucrose=lactitol< mix are comparable with that of sugar. E-mail pkr@purac.com
polydextrose. The melting time of ice PURAC Japan, Japan
Phone +81 3 5728 6700
Starting point formulations for lactitol-containing ice cream E-mail pjk@purac.com
Ingredients Lactitol Lactitol Lactitol 0% & 0% www.purac.com
& &
Polydextrose Inulin Copyright © 2003 PURAC. All rights reserved. No part of this
publication may be copied, downloaded, reproduced, stored in
Full cream milk (3.5% fat) 70.6 70.1 70.1 - a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopied, recorded or otherwise,
Water 8.1 8.0 8.0 63.3 without permission of the publisher. No representation or
warranty is made as to the truth or accuracy of any data,
MSNF 6.5 6.4 6.4 11.9 information or opinions contained herein or as to their suitabi-
LACTY®-M (lactitol monohydrate) 14.1 7.5 7.5 12.5 lity for any purpose, condition or application. None of the data,
information or opinions contained herein may be relied upon
STA-LITE® III (polydextrose) - 7.5 - 11.9 for any purpose or reason. PURAC disclaims any liability, dam-
ages, losses or other consequences suffered or incurred in
Inulin - - 7.5 - connection with the use of the data, information or opinions
contained herein. In addition, nothing contained herein shall
Stabiliser/Emulsifier 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 be construed as a recommendation to use any products in
conflict with existing patents covering any material or its use.
Aspartame/Acesulfame K (50:50) 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.04
Printed in the Netherlands 07-2004 /US
Vanilla flavour (IFF 15.01.9381) 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.04
Caloric value (kcal/100 g) 105.76 97.42 97.42 90.83

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