Recent Trends and Market Status for Sugar Alcohols (Polyols) - A Revolution in Sweetener Sector

Diabetes and epidemic obesity continue to influence dietary lifestyles of consumers across the globe as they witness transitions in the quality of food being served to them. Despite limited market for natural sweeteners, a spurt in preference to plant derived-alternative sweeteners is known. Sugar substitutes, such as non-nutritional artificial sweeteners, low calorie or zero calorie natural sweeteners that include sugar alcohols and plant derived non-saccharide sweeteners find their application in processing various types of foods and beverages including pharmaceutical sector too. The demand for low calorie foods containing polyols is expected to grow since the market is driven by increasing consumer awareness of diabetes, as well as weight management. There is a need to further explore the available technologies for the development of alternative sweeteners, especially sugar alcohols from biomass, which would not only help in minimizing the problem of disposing surplus biomass but would also function in line with the safety and health of consumers and also to food and beverage industries to get better market and price. The present work summarizes a literature review on current trends and future innovations of sugar alcohols for value additions.