Rebecca Spayne, Managing Editor of International Confectionery Magazine, explores the growing use of next-generation sweeteners, functional fibres and multisensory flavour systems
Public-health targets, retailer reformulation standards, clean-label expectations and global sugar-reduction commitments have pushed sweetness higher up the innovation agenda. Yet consumers remain firmly attached to indulgence. The challenge for manufacturers is not simply to reduce sugar, but to preserve the emotional satisfaction that confectionery delivers while meeting a very different set of nutritional and regulatory expectations.
What makes this shift particularly complex is that sugar was never a straightforward ingredient. For more than a century it has been the invisible structural spine of confectionery, guiding crystallisation in hard-boiled sweets, generating aeration in marshmallows, stabilising foams, enhancing colour through Maillard reactions, binding moisture, developing chew, extending shelf life, and carrying flavour. It is no exaggeration to say that without sugar, most traditional confectionery formats would not exist in recognisable form. Removing it or even reducing it disturbs the entire ecosystem of a recipe.
Yet change is no longer optional. Reformulation is a strategic imperative driven by multiple forces at once. Governments continue to press for lower sugar consumption; retailers adopt their own nutritional benchmarks that influence listing decisions; and consumers, particularly younger ones, expect products that align indulgence with transparency and health consciousness. For confectionery, a category where sweetness is both identity and function, this creates a uniquely intricate reformulation challenge. As a result, innovation has moved far beyond the search for a single substitute. Today, the industry is building new sweetness systems – architectures of ingredients working collectively to replicate both the perception and performance of sucrose.
In this landscape, ingredient specialists are playing a decisive role. Through advances in sweeteners, fibres, flavour modulation and precision fermentation, they are helping manufacturers rebuild sweetness from the ground up.
Reconstructing Functionality
The technical demands of sugar reduction begin with structure. Sugar contributes to virtually every functional dimension of confectionery. When formulators remove it, they must find ways to replicate bulk, bind water, maintain aeration, stabilise structure, support glass formation, control viscosity and retain the right melting and dissolution characteristics. This means that successful sugar reduction often depends less on sweetness than on engineering.
One major area of progress lies in functional carbohydrates and polyols, which offer bulk and stability. Roquette and BENEO have continued to refine these ingredients to improve solubility, reduce cooling effects and strengthen textural performance. Their work with polyols such as isomalt, sorbitol and maltitol has advanced significantly over the past few years, particularly in response to growing demand for improved digestive tolerance and more consistent mouthfeel. These ingredients remain essential for sugar-free confectionery, not because they perfectly replicate sucrose, but because they provide a reliable structural backbone on which reduced-sugar recipes can be built.
Alongside them, fibre ingredients are becoming an indispensable part of the reformulation toolkit. Soluble fibres produced by companies like Cargill and Ingredion are increasingly used as bulking agents that help restore mouthfeel, viscosity and chew. Their ability to bind water and stabilise formulations makes them valuable in chewy sweets, gummies and aerated formats where sugar’s textural role is critical. They also bring an additional advantage: the possibility of boosting fibre content and creating confectionery that aligns with broader wellness trends.
Slow-digesting carbohydrates and rare sugars represent another frontier. Although regulatory approval for ingredients such as allulose varies globally, interest in these sugars has grown dramatically. Their ability to brown, crystallise and participate in reactions typically associated with sucrose makes them particularly promising for caramels, fudges and filled chocolates. Companies like Cargill and Sweegen are investing in ways to scale their production and improve consistency, anticipating future regulatory shifts and increasing demand for alternatives that go beyond conventional polyols.
Across all these developments, the unifying theme is a movement away from “sugar substitutes” and toward “structural systems.” Rather than searching for a single miracle ingredient, manufacturers are adopting combinations of carbohydrates, fibres, sweeteners and modulators to bring sweetness, texture and stability back into alignment.
Read the full article in our latest issue here
