Nestlé says it has found a way of slashing the amount of sugar in some of its chocolate bars by 40%, without compromising the taste.
The Swiss food company, whose products include Kit Kats, Aeros and Yorkies, said it has achieved the reduction by discovering a way “to structure sugar differently”. The new process is said to make sugar dissolve faster so that even when less is used, the tongue perceives an identical level of sweetness.
It plans to patent the process, discovered by its scientists, which it says will enable it to significantly decrease the total sugar in its confectionery products.
Sugar has been blamed for fuelling the obesity epidemic crippling the NHS in the UK and health campaigners have urged confectionery companies to cut unnecessary sugar from their products.
In 2014, Action on Sugar was launched with the goal of encouraging government and manufacturers to cut sugar in food by 30%.
In that context, Nestlé’s self-proclaimed breakthrough is likely to be welcomed, should it live up to its claims, and be potentially lucrative to the company.
It says it will begin to use the faster-dissolving sugar in its confectionery products from 2018.
A four-finger milk chocolate Kit Kat currently contains 23.8g of sugar, a plain (milk chocolate) Yorkie contains 26.9g and a medium peppermint Aero has 24.9g of sugar. If the amount of sugar in each of these products was cut by 40% the new amounts would be 14.3g, 16.1g and 14.9g respectively.
Dietary sugar should account for no more than 5% of daily calories consumed, which equates to 30g for those aged 11 and over, according to the UK’s official nutrition advisers.
Figures published in September showed that in 2012-14 the average was 13.4% for those aged between four and 10, 15.2% among 11- to 18-year-olds, 12.3% for adults under 65 and 11.1% for those aged 65 and over.
Nestlé’s chief technology officer, Stefan Catsicas, said: “This truly groundbreaking research is inspired by nature and has the potential to reduce total sugar by up to 40% in our confectionery.
“Our scientists have discovered a completely new way to use a traditional, natural ingredient.”