Book excerpt: Sugar replacement in food and beverage manufacture no longer hasjust an economic benefit. The use of ingredients to improve thenutritional status of a food product is now one of the majordriving forces in new product development. It is thereforeimportant, as options for sugar replacement continue to increase,that expert knowledge and information in this area is readilyavailable. Sweeteners and Sugar Alternatives in Food Technologyprovides the information required for sweetening and functionalsolutions, enabling manufacturers to produce processed foods thatnot only taste and perform as well as sugar-based products, butalso offer consumer benefits such as calorie reduction, dentalhealth benefits, digestive health benefits and improvements in longterm disease risk through strategies such as dietary glycaemiccontrol. Part I of this comprehensive book addresses these healthand nutritional considerations. Part II covers non-nutritive,high-intensity sweeteners, providing insights into blendingopportunities for qualitative and quantitative sweetnessimprovement as well as exhaustive application opportunities. PartIII deals with reduced calorie bulk sweeteners, which offer bulkwith fewer calories than sugar, and includes both the commerciallysuccessful polyols as well as tagatose, an emerging functional bulksweetener. Part IV looks at the less well-established sweetenersthat do not conform in all respects to what may be considered to bestandard sweetening properties. Finally, Part V examines bulkingagents and multifunctional ingredients. Summary tables at the endof each section provide valuable, concentrated data on each of thesweeteners covered. The book is directed at food scientists andtechnologists as well as ingredients suppliers.