Writing in Nutritional Neuroscience, Kristen Dammann from Cargill and her co-authors report that the company’s Xtend sucromalt was associated with subjects not reporting a decline in mental and physical energy or the increase in mental and physical fatigue that can occur several hours after ingesting a high GI beverage.
Forty-four healthy adults participated in the study. The subjects consumed a beverage formulated with either 75 grams of sucromalt (test product) or glucose (control product) in the morning. Then they completed a questionnaire rating their levels of mental and physical energy and fatigue over the next five hours.
Results showed that participants reported significantly greater mental and physical energy, delayed physical fatigue, and a trend toward less mental fatigue with sucromalt compared to glucose, particularly four to five hours after consumption.
“Trials examining effects of sucromalt on cognitive and physical performance are of future interest,” concluded the researchers.
The ‘hot’ energy category
“Cargill is leveraging these exciting preliminary findings with our customers to help them explore new product opportunities in the energy category, which is red hot right now,” said Deborah Schulz, Xtend sucromalt product line manager, Cargill.
“Despite the growth of super-caffeinated products, it is clear that a growing sector of the population wants more options.”
The ingredient is provided as a syrup and is 70% as sweet as sugar and versatile enough to use in numerous product categories, including nutrition bars, beverages, ice cream and other dairy products, jams and jellies, puddings, gelatins and yogurts, said the company.
Source: Nutritional Neuroscience
Published online, doi: 10.1179/1476830512Y.0000000034
“Effects of consumption of sucromalt, a slowly digestible carbohydrate, on mental and physical energy questionnaire responses”
Authors: K.W. Dammann, M. Bell, M. Kanter, A. Berger