The Practical Feasibility of Allulose in Food Applications

D-Allulose, as a highly anticipated natural sweetener, has shown remarkable prospects in various fields such as food. Based on current research progress, this natural sweetener has shown tremendous potential. Allulose can regulate blood glucose and fat metabolism, inhibit cancer cell proliferation, slow down brain damage, and resist fatigue; In food processing, it can improve the texture and color of products, improve palatability, soften the texture of fudge, help the formation of gel, reduce the odor in fermentation products, and extend the storage period by inhibiting retrogradation, reducing breakage and other ways, which has practical application significance.

1. Application in grain products.

D-Allulose can slow down starch aging, inhibit recrystallization, and effectively reduce the impact of product aging on quality after refrigeration. Adding D-Allulose to most starches can enhance the plasticizing effect of the product. At the same time, when cooled and stored at 4 ℃, D-Allulose significantly inhibits the recrystallization of glutinous rice and regular rice starch. Adding D-allulose to rice noodles products can accelerate the process of crystal melting and starch gelatinization, inhibit recrystallization, slow down the aging of rice paste, and alleviate the problems of increased breaking force and increased risk of damage of rice cake samples after frozen storage.

2. Application in gel products.

The sugars and gelling agents used in candy formulas can affect the physical and chemical properties during storage. D-Allulose has a significant crystallization inhibitory effect on gelatin gummies. Using D-Allulose instead of sucrose in gelatin gummies can produce products with higher moisture content and softer texture, and can maintain their softness during storage.

3. Application in fermented products.

Sugar, as the main energy source for microbial fermentation, has an impact on the fermentation pathway and products. Adding Allulose to soy sauce brewing reduces alkaline amino acids and lowers the bitterness of the product. In addition, Allulose can inhibit the acid production of some lactic acid bacteria and weaken the strong sour taste produced by excessive fermentation of milk without changing the activity of probiotics. The synbiotic whey beverage containing bifidobacteria, D-Allulose, and β-glucan has shown good performance in reducing total cholesterol, improving blood lipids, and maintaining weight. Supplementing D-allulose in beverages can effectively increase the average survival of bifidobacteria, and the product has been highly evaluated in terms of taste, texture, and general acceptability.

4. Application in meat products.

Allulose can improve the texture of some meat products, increase product palatability, and improve economic benefits. Adding D-Allulose can alleviate the elasticity deterioration caused by long-term frozen storage of sausages, but completely replacing sucrose with Allulose will lead to a decrease in sausage viscosity and quality. Allulose can be used to replace some sucrose to improve the quality of sausages; The addition of D-allulose in surimi gel can promote the non disulfide covalent cross-linking formed by mercaptan residues, improve the gel strength and water holding capacity of heat induced surimi, and can be used as a gel modifier to replace sucrose for heat induced gel of surimi.