{"id":4019,"date":"2023-06-28T11:43:30","date_gmt":"2023-06-28T11:43:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationisrael.org.il\/en\/?post_type=report&p=3233"},"modified":"2023-08-15T10:10:50","modified_gmt":"2023-08-15T10:10:50","slug":"sweet-tasting-innovation","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/innovationisrael.org.il\/en\/article\/sweet-tasting-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"Sweet Tasting Innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In a reality where one of every three children worldwide is overweight or obese, not to mention 40% of the adult population, sugar is a critical health problem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our modern-day high-sugar industrialized food has led the average person to consume two or even three times more than the maximum recommended daily quantity of sugar (between 6-9 teaspoons per day) \u2013 less than the quantity of sugar in a single can of Coke. Most people consume nearly twenty teaspoons of sugar a day and children consume even 30. Nutritional habits and health are primarily formed between the ages of 6-12, and sweet is a favorite flavor already from childhood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Exaggerated consumption of sugar was defined in 2017 as the largest health problem for humans after bacteria and viruses. Studies have proved that sugar is the central factor in the metabolic syndrome that includes obesity, diabetes, fatty liver, pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer, teeth problems and even emotional problems. As the result of these insights, fifty countries, including Israel, have already imposed taxes on sugar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Furthermore, sugar is one of the less environmentally friendly crops, requiring huge quantities of water, pesticides, and fertilizers. Transporting the large quantities of sugar creates significant carbon dioxide pollution and, in many places, extracting the sugar from the cane involves burning the cane. And to make matters worse, sugar has been found to mainly harm the weaker sectors of the population. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reducing sugar consumption is complex and entails difficulties not just because of addiction to the sweet taste but because sugar is also a preservative that contributes to a product\u2019s texture, appearance, and color. As a low-cost raw material, many manufacturers also add it to increase mass and volume. The depressing result is that 70% of supermarket products contain added sugar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBecause taste is the primary reason for repeat purchase of a product, the challenge is how to solve the problem of over-consumption without compromising the flavor, especially for children\u201d, says Liat Cinamon, Chief Growth Officer of DouxMatok. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
DouxMatok\u2019s story began last century. The late Avraham Baniel conceived the idea during the British Mandate period and later worked as an advisor to the President and CEO of the English sugar substitutes company that developed Sucralose \u2013 widely known under the \u2018Sweet & Low\u2019 brand name. Baniel understood that Sucralose is not a suitable solution for the population most in need of it \u2013 children \u2013 and had the idea of changing the sugar structure. Only 8 years ago, aged 95, did Baniel have the time to realize his idea and, together with his son Eran Baniel, established the DouxMatok company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
DouxMatok’s solution is to significantly reduce sugar (between 30%-50% depending on the product), by altering the sugar’s structure and without compromising on flavor. This is a purely sugar-based solution, without any artificial substances, the main raw material being sugar canes or sugar beets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“From a technological perspective, the idea is to make sugar more efficient. The assumption is that only 20%-30% of the sugar is consumed by the taste buds when chewing food and most of it is simply ingested at the cost of calories and carbohydrates but without benefitting from most of it”, Cinamon explains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
DouxMatok has developed a technology that disrupts the structured form of the molecules in the sugar crystal. The result is a “rearranged” crystal that dissolves in the mouth faster and more of which reaches the taste buds. The improved product allows to enjoy the sweetness of the sugar while using almost half the quantity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The company, located in Petach Tikva, has fifty employees, 80% of whom engage in R&D in three primary areas. The first is materials science where the team is responsible for designing the sugar structure. The team working in the second discipline consists of engineers responsible for “scale up” i.e., the product’s practical application. “One of the fundamental decisions we took is to enter the existing industry. Sugar is such a traditional industry, and we had no intention of interfering in the existing product but rather, chose to collaborate with existing sugar companies and factories to reach agreement over production of our raw material. Our engineers work with sugar companies and apply our technology in their products”, says Cinamon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The third discipline, that is now the most significant for the company, includes food technologists working in developing and adapting recipes. When you remove 50% of the sugar from a recipe, it goes wrong. DouxMatok\u2019 s technologists not only integrate our product in chocolate and cakes, but also become familiar with other raw material that can compensate for the sugar reduction. Their expertise or art is to design an alternative recipe that will be similar in taste and texture to the original one. Indeed, in taste tests we’ve conducted at the company between a chocolate praline, caramel sweet, and cookies in which both regular sugar and the DouxMatok sugar were used, we were unable to detect any difference \u2013 either in texture or sweetness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DouxMatok\u2019 s primary product is ‘Incredo Sugar’ which looks like sugar and behaves like sugar. The change in structure is undetectable to the naked eye. The company currently manufactures ‘Incredo Sugar’ as part of a commercial agreement in Canada and the product is sold to food companies in the US and Europe. However, the work doesn’t end with the product’s sale, as Cinamon explains: “An important part of our activity is providing service or technical support on how to build the formula because the companies struggle to compensate for the sugar removed from recipes”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So why is ‘Incredo Sugar’ only sold to industry and not in retail chains as a regular sugar substitute? Because it is only suitable for use in solids and not in liquids or beverages. “The effect of our sugar is based on its dissolution in saliva. If I put it in coffee, I will get a lower level of sweetness than regular sugar”, Cinamon stresses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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