Collaborating with Givaudan, food tech start-up Sweet Victory, Ltd has created a flavorful botanical-infused chewing gum for children. The prototype is designed to stop sugary treat cravings. Sweet Victory already designed the gum for adults but gum for kids set more challenges, and Givaudan helped the startup to create a supplement that fits kids’ taste buds. The product for kids is still in the prototype stage, but the company expects to launch it by the end of 2022.

Sweet Victory chewing gum works within two minutes by blocking the sugar receptors on the tongue, according to the company. The effect can last up to two hours, and during that time sweet foods or beverages that normally excite the senses will taste bland or even sour. The impulse for a sweets binge can be abated, lasting even longer than the physical effect—up to two hours. Sweet Victory gum was designed to help consumers to reduce sugar intake in an easy and fun way.

Development of a children’s version of the product turned out to be a massive process. The senior manager of product development at Givaudan and Sweet Victory’s development team took months to create a totally new product with a child-safe, tailored dosage of the active ingredient, Gymenma sylvestre. This traditional herb has been used for more than 2,000 years in Ayurvedic medicine. Receiving a modern twist in this new gum, the new product boasts a tutti-frutti flavor. The collaboration’s technology enabled creation of a functional, sugar-free chewing gum that kids love to chew.

The start-up already conducted trials with children to estimate the impact of this innovative gum on kids in Israel, U.S., and France. The results demonstrated that children enjoyed the gum but could not eat confectionery after chewing it due to the change in their receptors.

“The biggest challenge in developing this gum for kids was to create boldly fruit-flavored chewing gum to overcome the bitterness of the herb gymnema,” said Shimrit Lev, co-founder of Sweet Victory. “In the gum designed for adults we used strong mint, but in the kid’s product we had to come up with other solutions.”

“By producing a product so attractive to children that, regardless of its effect of blocking sweet taste, it can become a legitimate substitute for other sweets, simply because it’s delicious,” added Gitit Lahav, co-founder of Sweet Victory. “We turned to Givaudan to help us with that challenge. As a flavor expert, using advanced technologies, they helped us refine the product and develop a very flavorful, yet highly effective product—a sweet treat that can change eating behavior and help parents control their kids’ daily sugar consumption.”