A review on polyols: new frontiers for health-based bakery products.

Polyols or sugar alcohols, a group of reduced calorie sweeteners, are the natural and nutritive sweeteners. These are neither sugars nor alcohols; rather they are a group of low-digestible carbohydrates which can be used instead of sucrose. They occur naturally in foods and come from plant products such as fruit and berries. They are used in food as sweeteners and bulking agents. Polyols have slightly reduced sweetness and caloric values compared to sucrose. Polyols available as either in solid crystalline form or syrups are emerging as a sugar replacer as well as a sugar substitute. Low sugar or low calorie is a top ranked market trend for bakery sector. Polyols offer the baker a versatile range of ingredients to boost the available portfolio of products. They would provide the functional benefits to bakery goods when the sugars used are replaced with polyols. This review focuses on some recent studies carried out on sucrose replacement with polyols in baked products.