What if we told you that there is a ketchup, as good and tasty as a classic Ketchup – but with a third of the calories? It sounds like a joke, doesn’t it? But it exists for real and it’s our Ketchup without added sugar. Its secret? The erythritol!
What is erythritol
During the first lockdown, many Italians began to spend more time in the kitchen. While this led to the disappearance of yeast from the shelves, on the other hand, it instilled in many people the desire to experiment and try new ingredients such as erythritol.
Behind this sweetener, which has now become a real trend, hides a substance obtained from corn through a fermentation process similar to that of fruit ripening. The result is a polyhydric alcohol with the same flavor as sugar, but with almost zero calorie count.
Why erythritol: sugars in comparison
The energy value of erythritol, in fact, does not even reach 0.2 kcal per gram. If we compare this value with those of sugar and other polyhydric alcohols we obtain the following results.
As we can see from the graph, at the two ends of our analysis we find erythritol and sucrose, which is common table sugar. With an energy value of almost 4 kcal per gram, sugar ranks first in this “sweet” comparison.
Why we the
Why we removed sugar from our ketchup
Did you know that all ketchups on the market contain up to 35% sugar? This means that on average 100 g of product can contain up to 10 sugar cubes!
But why did we choose to remove sugar from ketchup? This is not a purely caloric factor. As it is well known, sugar is one of the main enemies to fight for our health since our first years of life.
Let’s have a look, for example, at the data on the rate of overweight and obesity among children: according to WHO sources, in 2016 the number of children and adolescents aged from 5 to 19 in a condition of obesity or overweight in the world exceeded 340 million. An alarming figure, especially when we consider that in 2019 there were 38.3 million obese or overweight children under the age of 5.
The Italian data are not much better. According to Okkio alla SALUTE, the surveillance system on overweight and obesity and related risk factors in children aged from 6 to 10, almost 30% of children were overweight or obese in 2019.
Given that obesity is one of the biggest risk factors for the onset of type 2 diabetes, these figures are very important. In general, these are the numbers related to the incidence of type 1 and 2 diabetes on the global and Italian population, respectively in 2014 and 2016:
So, tha is why we chose to use erythritol instead of sugar! Because erythritol has many health benefits:
- it has a zero glycemic and insulin index
- After its ingestion, there is no increase in blood glucose and insulin levels, making it particularly suitable for those suffering from diabetes;
- It has a unique metabolic profile: it is absorbed quickly and, unlike other polyhydric alcohols, does not cause gastrointestinal disorders
- It has an antioxidant action
- It contrasts the effects of hyperglycemia due to its anti-radical activity and its protective properties for cell membranes;
- It’s tooth-friendly. Erythritol is in fact resistant to bacteria present in the oral cavity, thus preventing the risk of caries.
These are the secrets of our new Ketchup without added sugar: an healthy, certified organic, gluten-free, but above all tasty ketchup! We can’t wait to try it and you?
