ABSTRACT
The low calorie and dietetic foods market, in the US alone, approaches 3 billion dollars annually. This growing market includes dairy products, soft drinks, confections, snacks, baked goods, canned goods, complete dinners, mix products, spreads, dressings, and seasonings. This chapter focuses on high potency sweeteners, especially aspartame, and related food technological issues. It emphasizes the logic and specifics of preparing low calorie food products. The chapter discusses some considerations in formulating calorie-reduced foods, and provides specific formulation data to assist the bench technologist in preparing low calorie products. It presents detailed data regarding aspartame, and its limitations, and establishes that the preparation of low calorie foodstuffs involves many reformulation factors other than sugar replacement and that aspartame can make important contributions in this overall process. Formulation of low calorie foods to affect weight loss presumes a great deal about the eating patterns and motivations of the obese, an area of study in which consistent large population data are lacking.
