What is the Effect of using Sucralose and Sugar Alcohols in Baked Goods Compared to

Sucrose?
Chantelle Faul
FOS4041 Food Science
Ms. Shank
March 13th 2014

Introduction
Sugar has many redeeming qualities in baked products and it is critical in the science of
baking. It gives baked goods its texture, sweetness, and color, since sugar caramelizes,
tenderizes, stabilizes, and provides structure.1,2 These food science principles are imperative
when choosing alternative sweeteners, since substitutions can alter the overall quality of muffins,
cakes, cookies, and biscuits.
The texture of a baked product is highly dependent on the use of sugar. Texture refers to
the feel, the appearance and the consistency of a product. This is what makes a certain baked
product distinct; muffins and cakes should be moist, spongy, airy and have a high volume, while
cookies should be moist, crisp, chewy, and have a low volume. Replacing artificial sweeteners
for sugar can be a difficult task, when trying to maintain positive structure and textural
properties. Sucrose is responsible for keeping baked goods tender and moist, since it limits starch
gelatinization. Sugar retards this process, because it is a bulking agent that competes with the
starch for water, thus limiting gluten formation. Limiting starch gelatinization is important in
cake and muffin baking, since it provides time for carbon dioxide and water vapor to form air
bubbles, before the batter can set.3 Sugar is also responsible for the science of creaming which is
a leavening technique that incorporates air into batters and dough. This process gives baked
goods a light, airy, and crumbly texture.1 The crisp browning on the edges of cookies and the
tops of muffins is the result of sugar caramelizing and browning under heat due to maillard and
carmelzation reactions.2 Another food science principle altered with the use of artificial
sweeteners is the rheology of the dough or mixture. Rheology is the spread or flow of the
mixture before it is baked. The mixture must have the right consistency and altering sugars will
alter the consistency of the mixture. Sugar helps absorb the water in the mixture, and the use of

different sugars, results in different solubilitys.2 Sucrose is used as a bulking agent in baked
goods. Sucralose lacks the bulking agent and properties of sucrose, therefore it is combined with
digestible (sugar alcohols), partially digestible sugars (polydextrose, maltodextrins), and nondigestible sugars (cellulose). This allows the products containing sucralose to produce similar
results to products only containing sucrose.4 This research discusses the positive and negative
effects that sucralose and polyols have on the texture and overall quality of different baked
goods.
Effect on the Texture and Overall Quality of Muffins and Cakes
The use of alternative sweeteners, in cakes and muffins, is increasing with the consumer
markets diet trend.3 Sucralose, commonly known as Splenda, is a zero calorie artificial
sweetener that is frequently used. Sucralose is 600 times sweeter in comparison to sucrose;
sucrose has a sweetness factor of 1.0.2,3 This causes difficulties when substituting sucralose for
sucrose in baked goods. One cannot simply replace, one cup of sucrose with one cup of sucralose
due to the intense sweetness. Also, sucralose weighs a lot less than sucrose; sucralose weighs 24
grams per cup and sucrose weighs 196 grams per cup.2 This affects the weight of the mixture and
solubility of the mixture. Therefore, correct conversions must be made to correctly substitute
sucralose for sucrose in a mixture. Sucralose is fairly heat stable under normal baking conditions
in cakes and muffins. This can make it a perfect alternative to sucrose if the substitutions are
made correctly. On the other hand, it lacks the same structural components that sucrose provides
in baked goods. Therefore, Splenda requires an additional substance, like polydextrose and
erythritol, to achieve the same properties. These substances act as bulking agents that are able to
provide the same structural components that sucrose gives to baked products. Studies show that a
replacement of less than 50% of Splenda allows for similar texture results compared to cakes and

muffins without any substitution.3,5 Overall, it is found that the quality and texture of muffins
and cakes are negatively affected with an increased use of alternative sweeteners. This direct
correlation shows that sucrose serves a vital role in the texture and quality of muffins and cakes.
A study was conducted to test how the overall quality is effected, in muffins, using the
replacement of sucrose with a sucralose-polydextrin mixture. Five experiments were conducted
on the same muffin recipe. Everything was kept consistent in the muffin recipe except the sugar
replacement. The first batch of muffins contained 100% of sucrose with no alternative and the
second batch replaced 25% of sucrose for a combination of sucralose and polydextrin. This
substitution increased by 25% each batch, until the fifth batch had a 100% sucralose-polydextrin
substitution. The results varied mainly in grain size and volume. The cross section of the control
muffin displays large air pockets that are evenly dispersed throughout, with a high peak volume.
All muffins over a 25% substitution show a significant reduction in grain size and peak volume.
This is related to the viscosity and consistency of the different batters and the ability to maintain
air during baking. Splenda shows a negative effect on the batters consistency and viscosity and
could be resultant from the finer grain and lighter weight in comparison to sucrose. The
springiness, cohesiveness and resilience of the muffins was also significantly effected in all
muffins greater than a 25% substitution. On the other hand, all of the substituted sucralose
muffins had a softer texture and a reduction in firmness where the muffins were easier to chew
compared to the control1 This also occurred in a study of chiffon cakes, where there was a
substitution of sucralose-erythritol for sucrose.3 An overall acceptance test was conducted and
the 100% substitution received a low score, due to texture flaws. This study showed an
acceptance to the muffins with 50% or less of a substitution. The use of poldextrin in the study
may have skewed the results, because the polydextrin is used to help give the structural

properties of sucrose that sucralose lacks. Overall texture is negatively compromised with a
higher substitution of sucralose for sucrose.3 Texture seemed to be negatively affected in many
studies with the increase substitution of alternative sweeteners.
A similar study was conducted to test the use of different polyols as a complete sucrose
replacement in spanish muffins. The study included sorbitol, isomalt, maltitol, and erythritol.
These polyols, sugar alcohols, are another common sucrose replacers in baked goods. Five
different muffin mixtures were created, one with 100% sucrose and the other four, with 100%
sucrose replacement, using each of the different sugar alcohols. The elimination of sucrose
resulted in a denser and harder muffin. It also resulted in lower values in cohesiveness and
resilience. Isomalt had a similar chewiness value as the control, while all others had lower
chewiness values compared to the control. Sensory analysis was conducted and erythritol was
found to be the least acceptable polyol for a sucrose replacement. Sorbitol and maltitol muffins
held similar properties to the sucrose muffins, and were overall accepted in the analysis.5 This
shows that some polyols are suitable for complete sucrose replacements in muffins.
Another study focused on the substitution using an Erythritol-Sucralose substitution for
sucrose, in chiffon cakes, to compare the overall quality of the product. Erythritol has a
sweetness of 60-80% in comparison to sucrose. This study showed an overall negative impact on
tenderness, moistness, and sweetness with an increase of the sugar substitution. The tenderness
of the 100% replacement cake was very compacted in comparison to the control. The color
quality was also negatively affected; the control cake had a yellow-brown crumb color while the
100% substituted cake had a brown colored crumb. This study displays similar negative
attributes to the chiffon cake as erythritol had on the effect of the Spanish muffins. Although the
100% substituted cake was unacceptable in quality, the 50% substituted cake was considered

acceptable in quality.6 This tendency seemed to be true for all of the studies; a substitution of
50% or less of the sucrose resulted in an acceptable overall quality of the muffins and or cakes.

Artificial Sweeteners Effect on Texture and Overall Quality of Cookies

Unlike cakes and muffins, cookies are known for their low volume, chewy texture, and
crisp edges. Sucrose is the principle sweetener used in cookies. It affects the sweetness, the
browning reactions, the cookie spread, the crispness, and the bulk of cookies.7 Sugar alcohols
have been proven to provide positive properties in sugar free cookies. This is because sugar
alcohols act as a bulking agent in baked goods. The effect of some polyols on the hardness and
sensory characteristics of cookies were studied. The polyols that were investigated, were
sorbitol, lacitol, isomalt, and maltitol. The results proved that all of the polyols created a softer
cookie, except lacitol, when substituted for sucrose. Lacitol showed similar sensory properties
when compared to the cookies that only used sucrose.8 The softer characteristics are highly
desirable in cookies. This positive characteristic shows that sucrose can be positively substituted
for alternative sweeteners in cookies.
Another study was conducted to test the rheology of the dough, the physical
characteristics, the textural properties, and the overall acceptance of the cookies using polyols
instead of sucrose. The control cookies contained powdered sucrose. Sucrose was substituted for
different polyols, using an equal amount, including maltitol, lactitol, sorbitol, xylitol and
mannitol. Acesulfame-K was added in addition to the polyols, in order to obtain the sweetness of
sucrose. Acesulfame-K is 200 times sweeter than sucrose, therefore only 0.037g was added to
the polyol substitutes. The results display the positive and negative effects that polyols have on
cookies, in comparison to sucrose. Maltitol and lactitol had the same increase in diameter as

sucrose. Whereas, all of the other cookies had a smaller increase in diameter. The spread of the
cookie is related to the low gluten content, which results in an expansion and collapse during
baking. The spread is also related to the rheology of the dough. If the polyol creates a different
consistency to the dough, then the diameter of the spread will be affected. The solubility of
maltitol, lactitol, and sucrose, in water, is similar. This proves why the spread of the dough for
these would be similar. Thickness was also assessed in the cookies, and mannitol had a
significantly greater thickness in comparison to the rest of the cookies. This is due to the results
of the negative diameter spread after baking. Overall, all of the cookies had a similar color to
them. The texture of the cookies was tested by evaluating the amount of force it takes to break
the sample. Sucrose and maltitol had higher hardness values, while the other polyols resulted in
softer cookies. Overall, sorbitol, maltitol and lactitol was found to be suitable to replace sucrose
in baked goods, based on spread and texture. Although xylitol had favorable texture qualities, it
lacked the flavor that sucrose provides. Also, mannitol was proved to not be suitable for
substitution, because it restricted the spread of the dough. This research displays that the use of
certain polyols, as a sucrose replacement, can result in desirable cookies.7
Although xylitol was not accepted as an alternative sweetener in the above study, another
study proved otherwise. A panelist of judges, 46%, determined that the xylitol cookies had the
same sweetness as those with sucrose. 15% of the judges stated that the xylitol cookies were
sweeter than the cookies with sucrose. This study also proved that xylitol had a much longer
shelf life and was microbiologically safe. Therefore, xylitol can be positively substituted as an
alternative sweetener in cookies. 9

Artificial Sweeteners Effect on Texture and Overall Quality of Biscuits

Another baked good highly effected by rheology is biscuits and croissants. Biscuits and
croissants should be soft, airy, fluffy and flaky. Generally, sugar free doughs are more solid and
elastic in comparison to doughs using sucrose. It is recommended to use a bulking agent with
similar properties of sucrose, if one is going to use an alternative sweetener to make the dough. 10
A study was conducted using sucralose and maltodextrin (a bulking agent), in place of sucrose in
biscuits. The results discussed how a 30% substitution, of sucralose-maltodextrin, had an overall
acceptance in comparison to the control biscuits which contained 100% sucrose. The biscuits did
become softer and decreased in hardness values as there was an increase in substitution. This
flaw was minimal in the 30% substituted biscuit. Although the biscuits lacked the same color,
which may be due to the addition of maltodextrin, the biscuits texture and rheology properties
were similar to that of the control, with a 30% substitution.4 Therefore the use of smaller
substitutions for sucrose, the better the outcome for the dough.

Conclusion
This research proves that certain alternative sweeteners can be used to properly replace
sucrose in baked products. Overall, it is found that smaller substitutions for sucrose, result in a
more desirable product. On the other hand, consumers that are worried about sucrose, can use
full substitutions in baked goods. Certain polyols seem to have a greater success when wholly
substituted in baked goods in comparison to sucralose. The challenge is to create a baked good
that has the same textural and sensory properties of the desirable sucrose products. Some polyols
including xylitol, maltitol and lactitol, are better than others. These polyols are proven to
improve sensory characteristics, extend shelf life, enhance moisture control, and increase flavor

and mouth feel. The current and future use of polyols as sugar replacers in baked goods, seems
to be improving and expanding. The use of polyols as a sugar replacement will allow individuals,
which are maintaining weight, and controlling blood glucose levels, to confidently enjoy these
baked products.11
Application to dietetic practice
Health trends have increased among the years. This growing health awareness has created
an interest in the use of alternative sweeteners. Consumers have created a demand for companies
to come out with healthier food choices, like sugar free, low calorie or fat free. 12 The Academy
of Nutrition and Dietetics state that consumers can safely consume nutritive sweeteners and
nonnutritive sweeteners with a balanced diet that is following the dietary guidelines, and the
dietary reference intake. Nutritive sweeteners contain carbohydrates, which is essential for our
bodies to produce energy. On the other hand, the overuse of nutritive sweeteners can lead to,
type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease and many other harmful diseases. This is why the use of
alternative sweeteners is recommended to consumers who consume large amounts of sugars
daily or have any of the above diseases.13 Dietitians must monitor the sugar intake of individuals
and educate these individuals on a healthier diet. Dietitians should be able to form diet plans
based on the individuals eating habits. One may suggest using alternative sweeteners if their
daily intake of sugar is too high and they refuse to cut back on sweets. On the other hand, further
research needs to be conducted on the health consequences of alternative sweeteners. A study
has found that non-nutritive sweeteners can be harmful for our health over a long period of
time.14 Another study found that rats, consuming sucralose, had a significant decrease in
beneficial gut bacteria, which resulted in weight gain for the rats. Dieticians need to be careful
with their recommendations, one does not want to recommend to solely use alternative

sweeteners, because there is not enough research to prove if they are unsafe. Moderation should
be the primary goal when a dietitian makes recommendations.15

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