Aytül HAMZALIOĞLU
Food and Health - 2026;12(4):387-398
Baby biscuits are one of the snack foods widely consumed by toddlers and children. Health authorities recommend limiting added sugars in infant and toddler food until age two. For this aim, added sugar sucrose is substituted with different natural sweeteners; however, this might increase the acrylamide risk in baby biscuits, while acrylamide exposure levels of toddlers and children are high through consumption of baby biscuits. This study investigated how the substitution of sucrose with commonly used natural sweeteners such as apple juice concentrate, molasses, and syrups impacts acrylamide formation in baby biscuits. The replacement of sucrose in the baby biscuit formulation with natural sweeteners resulted in increased acrylamide formation in baby biscuits. Acrylamide levels in baby biscuits made with sucrose were 26+/-0.5 ng/g, while they ranged from 6 ng/g to 572.6 ng/g in the baby biscuits made with natural sweeteners. The highest acrylamide formation was observed in the baby biscuits made with mulberry molasses. Natural sweeteners like molasses, characterized by higher reducing sugar, dicarbonyl, and HMF contents, showed a greater acrylamide-forming potential than refined sugar. Thermal degradation markers, like dicarbonyl compounds and HMF, in natural sweeteners should be considered when reducing added sugar levels in baby biscuit formulations.
