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.