Image source: Visual China
One morning in August 2021, 39-year-old Gao Hong was unbearably thirsty, so he opened a bottle of Yuanqi Forest Sparkling Water and drank several sips in a row. The sparkling water packaging has fresh fruit printed on it and "sugar-free" in prominent red fonts next to it, which looks refreshing and thirst-quenching. But soon, Gao Hong felt itchy on her body, "Maybe it's bugs?" She didn't pay attention until she drank most of the bottle.
Within a few minutes, Gao Hong's eyes swelled up, and then his entire face became swollen and deformed, followed by itching all over his body. "My whole body was itching like crazy. I was so scared that I hurried to the hospital. The doctor told me not to scratch and gave me a drip. He also asked me to drink more water to speed up my metabolism." Ms. Gao told Jiemian News that she did not She had a history of allergies and her body's reaction puzzled her.
Gao Hong recalled that she ate nothing on the day of the allergy and only drank Yuanqi Forest Sparkling Water. The beverage's nutritional information shows that the carbohydrates it contains mainly come from erythritol. Gao Hong said that she also had an allergic reaction after eating yogurt containing erythritol. "It was basically determined to be an allergy to erythritol."
In recent years, as erythritol has been widely used in the food industry, many consumers online have reported allergic reactions after drinking drinks containing erythritol. Is erythritol really the “culprit” of allergies? How should manufacturers label when using erythritol?
"Sugar aristocrats" are favored
Gao Hong noticed that the publicity gimmick of this sparkling water is "0 sugar, 0 fat and 0 calories". The description below the nutritional label reads, "Although this product contains 1.9g of carbohydrates per 100ml , but meets the national sugar-free standards; the carbohydrates contained mainly come from erythritol, which is a sugar alcohol produced by microbial fermentation..."
Erythritol, also known as protoalcohol and erythritol, is a new polyol sweetener that is widely found in fungi, fruits and various fermented foods, and in human or animal tissues and body fluids. The ingredient erythritol is also present. Because of its low calories, it has been favored by food manufacturers in recent years and is known as the "sugar aristocrat".
Liu Liping, a senior engineer at the Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Food Fermentation Engineering, introduced to Jiemian News that compared with various functional sugar alcohols such as xylitol, sorbitol, and maltitol, erythritol has a lower molecular weight and a higher solution osmotic pressure. , low hygroscopicity and other characteristics.
Liu Liping introduced that the energy value of erythritol is only 5%-10% of the energy of sucrose, making it the lowest energy among all polysugar alcohol sweeteners. Since the human body does not have the enzyme system to metabolize erythritol, erythritol does not participate in the metabolism of sugar after entering the human body. A 2003 study pointed out that 90% of erythritol in food is quickly absorbed by the intestines and excreted directly through urine; the remaining 10% passes through the intestines and can theoretically be fermented and used by bacteria.
As early as the 1980s, Japan took the lead in launching sugar-free tea drinks with added erythritol. Japanese brands such as Kirin and Suntory became leaders in the field of sugar-free drinks with erythritol drinks. The Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) jointly formed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) approved erythritol as a edible sweetener in 1999 without setting an acceptable daily intake (ADI). The former Ministry of Health of China officially approved the use of erythritol in various foods in appropriate amounts according to production needs in May 2008.
Liu Liping introduced that since xylitol, sorbitol and other products entered the Chinese market before erythritol, their current market share is still large, but after years of development, the market for xylitol, sorbitol and other products has It is almost saturated. As people's health awareness increases, erythritol, a safer and natural new sugar alcohol, has shown strong market demand.
On December 13, 2021, Baolingbao Biological Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Baolingbao), the sugar substitute supplier of Yuanqi Forest, announced that it is expected to achieve profits of 190 million yuan to 210 million yuan in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 281.05% - 321.16%; it is expected to realize non-net profit of 160 million yuan to 180 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 341.23% to 396.38%.
Baolingbao said that benefiting from the growth in demand for healthy consumption such as zero sugar and sugar reduction, and the effective driving of operation and management measures, the company has steadily advanced the business plan determined at the beginning of the year, and the linkage of various businesses has increased; due to the strong market demand for sugar substitute products Impact, the supply and demand of the company's erythritol products will be strong in 2021, and the price will increase significantly compared with the same period in 2020, which will also drive the market demand for other functional sugar products; in 2021, the 13,000-ton erythritol expansion project will be completed and reach production. This further meets the market demand for erythritol products. How to limit the amount of erythritol added to
?
As erythritol is widely used in drinks, many people on the Internet claim to have allergic symptoms after drinking erythritol drinks.
Interface News Incomplete statistics. Under the question "Are there any people allergic to Yuanqi Forest?" on Zhihu, 35 netizens who commented said that they felt unwell after drinking Yuanqi Forest. On Weibo, since 2019, at least 43 users have posted updates stating that they developed allergies after drinking Yuanqi Forest. Weibo user @小人kelsey said that after drinking Yuanqi Forest for the third time, he broke out in urticaria all over his body. "This proves that I am indeed allergic to Yuanqi Forest." Yuanqi Forest's official Weibo commented below: "It should be that I am allergic to erythritol. ?”
Another consumer, Ms. Ai, also told Jiemian News that she sought medical treatment three times after drinking the Yuanqi Forest sugar-free series of drinks. "Two times it was due to sparkling water, and the third time was due to oolong tea. I started to get pimples immediately after drinking it. It took about half an hour to get pimples all over my body from my scalp to my toes." Ms. Ai said, "But it subsided quickly. "After going to the hospital for injection and taking medicine, it subsided within 24 hours."
Liu Liping said that the tolerance of the digestive tract to erythritol is 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight, which is higher than xylose. alcohol, lactitol and maltitol. In addition, a large number of animal and clinical trials at home and abroad have proven that erythreitol has no teratogenic toxicity, does not affect reproduction and development, does not cause chromosomal changes, does not cause carcinogenesis, and does not stimulate tumor growth.
However, a paper titled "Study on the Gastrointestinal Tolerance of Erythritol and Xylitol" on the Nature website pointed out that when healthy volunteers consumed drinks containing 20 grams and 35 grams of erythritol, , no symptoms occurred; but when the intake reached 50 grams, the volunteers developed obvious symptoms of abdominal bloating and nausea.
Foreign studies have also shown that erythritol can cause allergic reactions in individual people. The article "Non-caloric Sweeteners in the Pediatric Era: Analysis of Scientific Evidence" published in the Mexican Journal of Pediatrics pointed out that in 2013, Sugiura et al. reported a case of erythritol allergy in an 8-year-old girl who consumed food containing erythritol. Several allergy attacks have occurred with alcohol as a sweetener in snack foods, chewing gum, milk, and milk tea. Prior to this, only four cases of erythritol allergy had been reported worldwide. These cases often present with symptoms of allergic urticaria, such as asthma, cough, rash, eyelid edema, oral discomfort, etc., which can be relieved after treatment.
Among the international standards that have been introduced, Australia and New Zealand require that when the content of sorbitol and erythritol in food is ≥25g/100g (25%), they need to be labeled "may cause diarrhea". In Canada, the upper limit of erythritol approved for use as a sweetener in some carbonated beverages is 1.5%. In October 2015, the European Union approved erythritol as a flavor enhancer for low-energy or no-added sugar flavored beverages, with a usage limit of 16,000 mg/kg.
In China, when erythritol is used as a food additive in the food industry, it must strictly comply with the requirements of national food safety regulations and national food safety standards. The relevant standards involving the food additive erythritol mainly include GB26404, GB2760 and GB5009 .279, both are mandatory national standards.
In the implementation of the "National Food Safety Standards for the Use of Food Additives" on May 24, 2015, the food additive erythritol, which functions as a sweetener, was classified into the appendix "Can be used in appropriate amounts in various foods according to production needs" In the "List of Food Additives", that is, when erythritol is used as a food additive in food, the column for the maximum usage amount is "use in appropriate amounts", and there is no numerical limit on the specific usage amount.
Allergen mandatory labeling regulations are to be issued
Since some people are allergic to erythritol, is the manufacturer obliged to make corresponding labels on the products?
Zheng Ying from the State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology of Nanchang University introduced to Jiemian News that when it comes to allergen labeling, China is now implementing the "General Standard for Food Labeling" formulated by the former Ministry of Health in 2011. This is China's first Standards proposing labeling requirements for allergens.
The foods that are likely to cause allergies listed in the "General Standard for Food Labeling" are: gluten-containing grains, crustaceans, fish, eggs, peanuts, soybeans, milk, nuts and processed foods containing these 8 categories of food products, and it is required that if one or more of these eight types of food are used as ingredients, an easily identifiable name should be used in the ingredient list, or a prompt should be provided near the ingredient list.
Zheng Ying said that the standard is only a recommended instruction and does not mandate allergy warnings. Only a few domestic food companies have added allergen warnings on food packaging. Currently, the National Food Safety Risk Assessment Center is promoting the mandatory labeling of allergen information, and the mandatory labeling of prepackaged food allergens is still in the research stage.
In addition, Zheng Ying said that for erythritol, if the number of allergic people is too small, it will not be included in the scope of mandatory labeling. Allergen labeling can only facilitate most allergic patients. Other allergic patients can learn from the ingredient list. Related Information.
Zheng Ying said that for mandatory labeling of prepackaged food allergens, the list of food allergens in China should be reasonably determined based on the data from a large-scale food allergy epidemiological survey in China. At the same time, the enforcement and supervision of labels should be based on accurate and efficient allergen detection. Labeling should neither be understated nor exaggerated, and the actual content should prevail.
"Consumers with food allergies should be cautious when choosing prepackaged foods at this stage. The situation will improve after the introduction of mandatory allergen labeling regulations." She said.
(At the request of the interviewee, Gao Hong is a pseudonym)
Source: Interface News
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