“Even products claiming zero added sugar still house approximately 6% to 10% percent sugar from the fruit juice concentrates alone,” said Gali Yarom, co-founder and CEO of Better Juice. Sorbet’s glycemic index typically surpasses that of ice cream because it contains sugar from the fruits and no fat, leading to quicker absorption of sugars into the bloodstream, the company added.

To create sugar-reduced sorbets, the company successfully adapted its patent-protected technology to process fruit concentrates and purées, the core ingredient of sorbets. The start-up produced sorbets in a range of flavors, including apple, orange, and strawberry, reducing sugar content by 50% to-70% and calories by 40%.

Better Juice’s enzymatic technology is based on non-GMO microorganisms that naturally transform fruit juice’s composition of sucrose, glucose, and fructose into prebiotic oligosaccharides and other non-digestible fibers, without any impact on their natural complex of vitamins, fiber, and nutrients. The fruit juices are treated in continuous-flow columns that contain immobilized sugar-reducing beads.

“We succeeded in creating delicious sorbets with as little as 2% percent sugar,” noted Yarom. “Our treated sorbets possess a more gentle sweetness yet retain all their characteristic fruity notes and flavor. Yet they have fewer calories and a lower glycemic index.”