High-maltose corn syrup is a

food additive Food additives are substances added to food to preserve Taste, flavor or enhance taste, appearance, or other sensory qualities. Some additives have been used for centuries as part of an effort to preserve food, for example vinegar (pickling), sal ...

used as a

sweetener {{Wiktionary, sweetener A sweetener is a substance added to food or drink to impart the flavor of sweetness, either because it contains a type of sugar, or because it contains a sweet-tasting sugar substitute. Many artificial sweeteners have been ...

and

preservative A preservative is a substance or a chemical that is added to products such as food products, beverages, pharmaceutical drugs, paints, biological samples, cosmetics, wood, and many other products to prevent decomposition by microbial growth or b ...

. The majority sugar is

maltose } Maltose ( or ), also known as maltobiose or malt sugar, is a disaccharide formed from two units of glucose joined with an α(1→4) bond. In the isomer isomaltose, the two glucose molecules are joined with an α(1→6) bond. Maltose is the tw ...

. It is less sweet than

high-fructose corn syrup High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), also known as glucose–fructose, isoglucose and glucose–fructose syrup, is a sweetener made from corn starch. As in the production of conventional corn syrup, the starch is broken down into glucose by enzy ...

and contains little to no fructose. It is sweet enough to be useful as a sweetener in commercial food production, however. To be given the label "high", the syrup must contain at least 50% maltose. Typically, it contains 40–50% maltose, though some have as high as 70%. By using

β-amylase β-Amylase (EC 3.2.1.2 , saccharogen amylase, glycogenase) is an enzyme with the systematic name ''4-α-D-glucan maltohydrolase''. It catalyses the following reaction: : Hydrolysis of (1→4)-α-D-glucosidic linkages in polysaccharides so as to ...

or fungal

α-amylase α-Amylase is an enzyme (EC 3.2.1.1; systematic name 4-α-D-glucan glucanohydrolase) that hydrolyses α bonds of large, α-linked polysaccharides, such as starch and glycogen, yielding shorter chains thereof, dextrins, and maltose: :Endohyd ...

, glucose syrups containing over 50% maltose, or even over 70% maltose (extra-high-maltose syrup) can be produced.^p. 465 This is possible because these enzymes remove two glucose units, that is, one maltose molecule at a time from the end of the starch molecule.

Uses

High-maltose corn syrup is used as a substitute for normal glucose syrup in the production of hard candy: at a given moisture level and temperature, a maltose solution has a lower viscosity than a glucose solution, but will still set to a hard product. Maltose is also less

humectant A humectant is a hygroscopic (water-absorbing) substance used to keep things moist. They are used in many products, including food, cosmetics, medicines and pesticides. When used as a food additive, a humectant has the effect of keeping moistur ...

than glucose, so that candy produced with high-maltose syrup will not become sticky as easily as candy produced with a standard glucose syrup.^p. 81 Since maltose has a low freezing point, HMCS is useful in frozen desserts. It is also used in

brewing Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with yeast. It may be done in a brewery by a commercial brewer ...

, because it has a balanced fermentability, can be added at high concentrations to the

wort kettle Wort () is the liquid extracted from the mashing process during the brewing of beer or whisky. Wort contains the sugars, the most important being maltose and maltotriose, that will be fermented by the brewing yeast to produce alcohol. Wort also ...

, increasing throughput, and reduces haze caused by varying malt quality. Another of HMCS's uses is to preserve food. According to the

Center for Science in the Public Interest The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit watchdog and consumer advocacy group that advocates for safer and healthier foods. History and funding CSPI is a consumer advocacy organization. Its ...

, HMCS preserves food by inhibiting fermentation and bacterial growth.

Health effects

In recent years, HMCS has seen an increase in use as a food additive due to the negative reputation of HFCS, as well as the absence of fructose, which is the source of the concern about the health effects of high fructose corn syrup. High-maltose syrups produced from

corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The ...

are gluten-free, but certain syrups produced from wheat or barley may contain small amounts of gluten. It is unclear whether this can have significant effects in

celiac disease Coeliac disease (British English) or celiac disease (American English) is a long-term autoimmune disorder, primarily affecting the small intestine, where individuals develop intolerance to gluten, present in foods such as wheat, rye and barle ...

References

{{Sugar Corn-based sweeteners

Uses

Health effects

See also

References