Development and Evaluation of Diabetic Friendly Milk-Based Sweet

The study was undertaken with an objective to develop diabetic friendly rasogolla using a suitable fat and sugar replacer. Experiments were carried out in developing and standardising a proper combination of various low calorie sugar substitutes from the available array of artificial sweeteners, intense sweeteners and sugar replacers (namely polyols) to reduce the calories. Diabetic friendly rasogolla was developed and standardised using chhana made from skim milk supplemented with a fat replacer in the form of creamex (0.6 %); boiled in sorbitol syrup; washed in water; suspended in a combination of sugar replacers (isomalt&sorbitol at 15 per cent and 25 per cent proportion respectively) which compared very well with control on sensory evaluation by a panel of judges. The combination of sugar replacers (isomalt&sorbitol) proved to be ideal in providing viscosity, texture, colour and taste almost similar to control prepared with sucrose. Creamex used as a fat replacer with skim milk, provided good texture, taste and above all sponginess to low calorie rasogolla. Chemical and microbiological quality of the standardised low calorie rasogolla was assessed and is within the standard limits. Use of other sugar substitutes such as fructose (natural sugar) and artificial sweeteners (aspartame, saccharine or a combination) proved to be unsatisfactory in rasogolla making due to the presence of browning and white cloudiness in the syrup besides poor viscosity. The other major advantages of using sugar replacers (polyols/sugar alcohols) in the traditional sweets was enhancement of shelf-life at room temperature due to restricted growth of residual micro-organisms in the presence of unfermentable low calorie sugar replacers during storage. Polyols are non-cariogenic (sugar-free, tooth-friendly), low glycemic (potentially helpful in diabetes and cardiovascular disease), low-energy and low insulinaemic (helpful in obesity), low digestible (helpful in the colon), prebiotic effect (growth promoter of lactic acid bacteria in the gut). Only 50 per cent of energy of polyols are available to the human body when compared to sucrose. Isomalt requires 5 hours for hydrolysis and the absorption rate has been reported to be very low.