{"id":2097,"date":"2020-04-17T15:51:04","date_gmt":"2020-04-17T19:51:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maltproducts.com\/?p=2097"},"modified":"2020-12-30T17:20:41","modified_gmt":"2020-12-30T17:20:41","slug":"malt-extract-can-do-it-all-for-clean-label-snacks-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maltproducts.com\/maltproducts\/2020\/04\/17\/malt-extract-can-do-it-all-for-clean-label-snacks-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Malt extract can do it all for clean label snacks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ideal for inclusion in snacks, malt extract is a sweetener unlike other toxic sugars and contains an abundance of nutrients.<\/h2>\n

Humans have consumed barley for more than 10,000 years. The barley grain, from which malt extract is derived, was a staple of Roman gladiators, called\u00a0hordearri<\/em>\u00a0or \u201cbarley-eaters.\u201d Hippocrates and Pliny referenced barley\u2019s health benefits, and its medicinal effects were recognized in African and Asian cultures.<\/p>\n

Much more recently, in the early 1900s, malt extract was sold in the U.S. as a tonic for pregnant mothers. In the ensuing decades, malt extract became nostalgically remembered as a cornerstone of American culinary culture, conjuring fond memories of vintage \u201cmalt shops,\u201d snacking on chocolate malted milk balls at the movies, and Ovaltine, which uses malt extract as its main ingredient. Today, malt extract is considered the secret to making authentic bagels and pretzels.<\/p>\n

However, malt\u2019s complete nutritional properties have only recently been appreciated by nutritional science.<\/p>\n

Despite recent pushes to reduce sugar in snacks, not all sugars are created equal. Amid growing scientific\u00a0consensus<\/a>,\u00a0one of the most common types of sugar, fructose, can be toxic to the liver. Maltose is a simple disaccharide sugar consisting of two bonded glucose molecules and contains less than 1% fructose. Many added sugars contain significant amounts of fructose; typical formulations of high fructose corn syrup contain upwards of 50%. Table sugar and even sweeteners that sound healthy, like organic cane syrup, also contain 50% fructose.<\/p>\n

Fructose has been implicated in several metabolic disorders due to the way the body processes it, in distinction to glucose.1<\/sup>\u00a0Unlike other sugars, fructose is processed in the liver. In addition to obesity, since 1980, concerns have grown about two new conditions linked to fructose consumption from added sugar:<\/p>\n