Specialty Carbohydrates

Most of this category comes off the same starch hydrolysis line, and dextrose equivalent is the number that orders it. Maltodextrin at a low dextrose equivalent is bland, barely sweet and used for bulk, carrying and film forming, while at a higher value it grows sweeter, more soluble and more hygroscopic. Dextrose is the end point of that hydrolysis, sold anhydrous or as Dextrose Monohydrate, which carries about nine per cent water and therefore a different assay and dose.

The remainder are built for what they do not do. Resistant Dextrin and Polydextrose are deliberately branched so that they pass digestion and count as fibre, which makes declared fibre content and its test method more important than purity. Fructooligosaccharides are bought on the proportion of true oligosaccharide against residual sucrose and glucose. Isomaltulose is digested slowly and is around half as sweet as sucrose, and L-Arabinose is dosed at low levels against sucrose absorption.