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Nestle Discovers 'Breakthrough' Method To Cut Sugar In Chocolate By 40% Without Affecting Taste (theguardian.com)

Nestle and its scientists have discovered how to "structure sugar differently" to reduce the amount of sugar in some of its products by 40%. What's more is that it can be done reportedly without compromising the taste. The Guardian reports: The new process is said to make sugar dissolve faster so that even when less is used, the tongue perceives an identical level of sweetness. It plans to patent the process, discovered by its scientists, which it says will enable it to significantly decrease the total sugar in its confectionery products. A four-finger milk chocolate Kit Kat currently contains 23.8g of sugar, a plain (milk chocolate) Yorkie contains 26.9g and a medium peppermint Aero has 24.9g of sugar. If the amount of sugar in each of these products was cut by 40% the new amounts would be 14.3g, 16.1g and 14.9g respectively.

34 of 328 comments (clear)

  1. JUST GREAT! by Dutchmaan · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now I'll have to eat nearly twice as much to maintain my obesity.

    1. Re: JUST GREAT! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      How do you know what shit tastes like?

    2. Re:JUST GREAT! by Shoten · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Now I'll have to eat nearly twice as much to maintain my obesity.

      You laugh...but that's exactly what some people will do if this goes to market.

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    3. Re: JUST GREAT! by allcoolnameswheretak · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That's fine. Take a deep breath. Having very small doses of foreign matter in your body strengthens your auto immune system.
      It's how vaccines work.

    4. Re: JUST GREAT! by The+Grassy+Knoll · · Score: 4, Funny

      And homeopathy? :-)

      --
      They will never know the simple pleasure of a monkey knife fight
    5. Re: JUST GREAT! by mycroft16 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Foreign matter, not imaginary matter. ;)

  2. Thanks for doing the math by tomhath · · Score: 3, Funny

    People on slashdot would have a hard time multiplying a number by 0.4

    1. Re:Thanks for doing the math by hey! · · Score: 5, Funny

      People on slashdot would have a hard time multiplying a number by 0.4

      Indeed they would not. However they do sometimes stumble about when to multiply a number by 0.4.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    2. Re:Thanks for doing the math by freeze128 · · Score: 5, Informative

      If the amount of sugar was *CUT* by 40%, slashdot readers would have to multiply by .6.

      See, math isn't always so simple, is it?

  3. What?!?! by freeze128 · · Score: 5, Funny

    a plain (milk chocolate) Yorkie contains 26.9g

    Oh my God! They're eating DOGS!

  4. or how about less sugar anyways? by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Honestly I prefer european chocolate as it's not as overwhelmingly sweet. and anyone that actually likes chocolate likes a good dark chocolate that is already not as sweet.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    1. Re:or how about less sugar anyways? by AJWM · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Hershey's is something almost but not completely unlike chocolate.

      (Hey, I grew up on Nestles and Cadbury, both in England and Canada.)

      --
      -- Alastair
    2. Re:or how about less sugar anyways? by Anaerin · · Score: 4, Informative

      Indeed there is. The milk they use for Hershey chocolate is partially lipolyzed, producing butyric acid, which stabilizes the milk from further fermentation.

    3. Re:or how about less sugar anyways? by Namarrgon · · Score: 4, Informative

      It's also worth noting that butyric acid is the main source of the smell of human vomit.

      --
      Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
    4. Re:or how about less sugar anyways? by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 4, Interesting

      After living overseas for 15+ years, I've found I can no longer eat American chocolate--it's about 3x as sweet as chocolate made anywhere else. It's like trying to drink a cup of coffee with about 6 spoons of sugar in it. Gross.

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
    5. Re:or how about less sugar anyways? by Dr_Barnowl · · Score: 3, Informative

      Part of the reason everything is better in Europe is because of the high taxes. Low taxes lead to inequality, which leads to civil unrest, which leads to suffering. It's like the path to the Dark Side, but for civil societies.

      The happiest nation on Earth, Denmark, has

      • Federal income tax up to 15% for higher earners
      • Healthcare tax
      • Land value tax
      • Local income tax too! Around 25%
      • There is a ceiling on income tax though ; you can't pay more than 51.5% when all income taxes are added up
      • There's a 25% sales tax on nearly everything though
      • They even have a tax on stupidity being a member of the state church.

      Taxes are good for the health of a civil society Why do you think the happiness levels in the USA correlate so strongly with the drop in tax levels promoted by the richest?

  5. Re:Why not just use Splenda? by alzoron · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Because the goal is to not make the chocolate taste like shit.

  6. Re:Why not just use Splenda? by amiga3D · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I don't know what this sugar configuration they've come up with tastes like so I can't compare but if it tastes the same as their regular sugar then that is a big improvement over splenda. Splenda is an excellent sugar substitute but it's doesn't taste like sugar.

  7. Nestle by frovingslosh · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Sorry, but Nestle "chocolate" already tastes awful. I'm not shocked that they can't ruin it further without taking over Palmer or Zacarey.

    --
    I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
    1. Re:Nestle by jandersen · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yes I agree, I live in central Europe and if you ever have tasted LÃderach (Swiss) or Bachhalm or Zotter (Austrian) you would not touch any Nestle dreck with a 10 ft pole.

      If you really lived in Central Europe, you would know that Poles, although excellent people, rarely get that tall.

  8. Simple, ypu cut everything else by 40% too by rossdee · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Except price which you increase

    ?????
    profit

    1. Re:Simple, ypu cut everything else by 40% too by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I think that Toblerone just patented that innovation.

  9. A real "breakthrough" by guruevi · · Score: 3, Insightful

    In the mean time "real" dark chocolate already has 14g or less sugar per serving. They do this by using real cocoa instead of sugar and wax as a filler.

    US chocolate brands are absolutely awful and sweet.

    --
    Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
  10. Like all their other "no change" changes by linear+a · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Like all their other "no flavor change" changes to their chocolate over the decades. This will just cheapen it a little bit more. They used to have good chocolate (maybe I'm showing my age with that remark) but it's bilge now. “There is hardly anything in the world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper." John Ruskin

  11. Re:Texture? by aXis100 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The main textural components in chocolate come from the cocoa mass and cocoa butter.

    Creaminess comes from particle size, and the cocoa mass (and sugar) spends hours and hours in conching mills to get it around 20-30 micron. The mixed chocolate then spends a long time in tempering circuits to promote the right crystal size in cocoa butter fatty acids.

  12. Re:Why not just use Splenda? by Pseudonym · · Score: 3, Informative

    It's simpler to eat dark chocolate like a civilised person.

    --
    sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
  13. on the other hand ... by swell · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Many years ago I learned about 'left handed sugar'. This, apparently was a regular sugar molecule, except that it was a mirror image. The beauty of it was that it tasted exactly like sugar but the body didn't know what to do with it so it passed through without harm. Perfect for diabetics, fat people and those who want to preserve their brain cells!

    Yeah, I really didn't want to look it up and you probably don't either, so the answer to your question is: it's very expensive to synthesize. The actual question may take some time to calculate.

    --
    ...omphaloskepsis often...
  14. Re:Why not just use Splenda? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I would argue that the first step in realizing that goal is to avoid Nestle products at all costs.

  15. Re: Why not just use Splenda? by Miamicanes · · Score: 3, Informative

    Splenda by itself doesn't quite taste like sugar. Combining it with acesulfame potassium neutralizes the 'off' taste (Pepsi has a patent on it... it's why the semi-new Diet Pepsi without aspartame tastes so good, and why Diet Coke -- even with Splenda -- is still kind of gross.)

    UNFORTUNATELY, AceK is even more unsuitable for baked, cooked, or melted foods than aspartame, so it's a one-trick pony that only works for cold beverages (but, combined with sucralose, works miracles).

  16. Nestle didn't discover anything. by Khyber · · Score: 4, Informative

    This is something well-known to anyone with actual culinary experience. See sea salt vs table salt. Same principle applies to sugar - make if finer, you find that you actually end up using LESS because of more even distribution for same effect.

    Nestle is literally trying to patent that which has been known for fucking centuries by any generally-knowledgeable housewife or cook or chef.

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  17. Re:Why not just use Splenda? by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 4, Funny

    How the hell do you raise your tail?

    --
    If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
  18. Re:Maybe NOW we can have Nestle chocolate back by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well, and Dove... Dove is better than Hershey's, but not as good as I remember Nestle chocolate being.

    Dove does taste better than Hershey's but please note that it's intended to be a body soap.

  19. Re:No you won't. by Dr_Barnowl · · Score: 3, Informative

    Sugar is worse than fat. Fat doesn't spike your insulin making you hungry again shortly afterwards.

    The start of the real obesity epidemic in the USA correlates strongly with the research that sugar companies paid for that painted fat as the enemy, and the frenzied replacement of fat in many food products with sugar. See "low fat!" on a label? They had to find something to replace it with, and that was usually sugar.

  20. Nope. by serviscope_minor · · Score: 5, Informative

    Parent post is inaccurate and shouldn't be modded informative.

    Dark chocolate still has sugar in. It doesn't have milk in like milk chocolate.

    --
    SJW n. One who posts facts.