Nutrition and Confectionery: What is Brix in Gummies?

October 1, 2025 •

4 min read

While the average Jell-O has a Brix of 15–20%, gummies typically require a much higher Brix of 70–80% for their signature chewiness. This metric is a key aspect of food science that directly impacts the nutrition of your favorite chewy sweets, and understanding what is brix in gummies can offer new insights into their sugar content.

Quick Summary

Brix quantifies the sugar and soluble solids concentration in gummies, directly influencing their essential texture, shelf life, and sweetness. This measurement is pivotal for manufacturers to ensure consistent product quality, especially when developing lower-sugar or healthier alternatives to traditional recipes.

Key Points

Brix is a Sugar Measurement: Degrees Brix (°Bx) quantifies the concentration of dissolved sugar and other soluble solids in a liquid, approximating the total sugar content.
Impacts Gummy Texture: A high Brix level, typically between 70-80°Bx, is essential for creating the firm, chewy, and elastic texture that defines traditional gummies.
Ensures Product Stability: Proper Brix control is crucial for managing crystallization during production, preventing a grainy texture, and extending the gummy's shelf life by inhibiting microbial growth.
Reflects Nutritional Content: A high Brix value in gummies signifies a high sugar concentration, a primary nutritional consideration for those following a health-conscious or low-sugar diet.
Enables Alternative Recipes: For low-sugar versions, food scientists use alternative gelling agents, like Low Methoxyl (LM) pectin, and sugar substitutes, which function differently from traditional high-Brix formulations.
Influences Flavor Balance: A product's overall flavor is a balance of sweetness and tartness. Manufacturers use the Brix-acid ratio to ensure a pleasing flavor profile alongside the target texture.
Measured with a Refractometer: This optical instrument measures the refractive index of the gummy mixture to determine the Brix value, a standard quality control practice in food manufacturing.

The Science Behind Brix: A Food Scientist's View

Brix, expressed in degrees Brix (°Bx), is a unit of measurement that quantifies the concentration of dissolved solids in a liquid, primarily sugar. One degree Brix represents 1 gram of sucrose per 100 grams of solution. In the context of gummies and other fruit-based products, the soluble solids are predominantly sugars, making Brix a reliable proxy for sugar content. The measurement is taken using a specialized instrument called a refractometer, which determines the refractive index of the solution to calculate the Brix value. By controlling the Brix level, manufacturers can precisely manage the amount of sugar, which is a critical factor for both the product's quality and nutritional profile.

The Role of Brix in Gummy Texture and Stability

The most important function of Brix in gummy manufacturing is its direct influence on the final product's texture and overall stability.

Achieving the Signature Chew: For traditional gummies, a high Brix level, typically between 70° and 80°Bx, is vital for achieving the desired chewiness and elasticity. This high concentration of sugar and other solids interacts with the gelling agent (such as gelatin or pectin) to form a robust, stable gel structure.
Controlling Crystallization: The high sugar content helps control the crystallization process during cooling. Without precise Brix control, the sugar could crystallize unevenly, resulting in a grainy or undesirably hard texture.
Extending Shelf Life: Sugar acts as a preservative by lowering the water activity ($a_w$) of the product. A high Brix level means less free water is available for microbial growth, significantly extending the gummy's shelf life and preventing spoilage.

Brix and Your Diet: Navigating Sweetness and Sugar Content

For anyone following a conscious nutrition diet, the Brix value of a gummy is directly related to its sugar content. Since gummies are made with a high concentration of sugar, they are a high-calorie, low-nutrient food. While delicious, this makes them less suitable for those monitoring their sugar intake or managing conditions like diabetes. The industry's response to the demand for healthier options has been to develop low-sugar alternatives, which involves significant changes to the standard Brix formulation.

Comparing Traditional and Low-Sugar Gummies

This table highlights the key differences between traditional and low-sugar gummies, focusing on the role of Brix.


Feature	Traditional Gummy	Low-Sugar Gummy
Target Brix	70-80°Bx	Varies, often lower (e.g., 73.5°Bx in one study)
Sweeteners	Sugar, glucose syrup, corn syrup	Sugar substitutes like erythritol, isomaltulose, stevia, or fruit juice concentrates
Gelling Agent	Gelatin or High Methoxyl (HM) Pectin	Low Methoxyl (LM) Pectin, requiring calcium to gel
Texture	Firm, elastic, and very chewy	Often softer or with a slightly different mouthfeel, depending on the formulation
Nutritional Impact	High in calories and sugar; limited nutritional value	Lower in calories and sugar; potentially fortified with vitamins or other nutrients

Exploring Lower-Brix Gummy Alternatives

Creating gummies with lower sugar content is a complex challenge for food scientists because Brix is so fundamental to the product's structure.

Alternative Gelling Agents: To produce low-sugar varieties, manufacturers often switch from standard gelatin or HM Pectin to Low Methoxyl (LM) Pectin. Unlike HM Pectin, LM Pectin does not rely on a high sugar concentration to gel, but rather requires the presence of calcium ions, providing flexibility for reduced-sugar recipes.
Sugar Substitutes: Instead of traditional sugar and corn syrup, alternatives like erythritol and isomaltulose are used. These ingredients affect the final Brix reading and the overall stability and texture of the gummy.
Impact on Texture and Flavor: The lower Brix and different chemical composition of sugar alternatives can change the final product's texture and mouthfeel. As such, advanced rheological tests are conducted to ensure the new formulation still meets consumer expectations for a chewy, satisfying product. The overall flavor profile also requires careful balancing, often managed using a Brix-acid ratio, to achieve the right level of sweetness and tartness.

Conclusion

Ultimately, Brix is a fundamental quality control measurement that governs the production of gummies. It is a food science metric that reveals the high sugar content of traditional chewy candies and explains how they achieve their characteristic texture and long shelf life. For the consumer, understanding what is brix in gummies is key to evaluating their place within a healthy nutrition diet. The shift toward healthier eating has challenged manufacturers to innovate, leading to the development of low-sugar, low-Brix alternatives using different gelling agents and sweeteners. This trend demonstrates how consumer dietary needs are driving significant evolution in the confectionery industry.

For more in-depth information on food science metrics like Brix, scientific journals are an excellent resource, such as those available through ScienceDirect.

Frequently Asked Questions

Brix directly impacts the texture of gummies by controlling the sugar concentration, which interacts with gelling agents like gelatin or pectin. A higher Brix level results in a firmer, chewier, and more elastic product.

For manufacturers, a high Brix level is desirable for producing the standard, chewy gummy texture and ensuring a long shelf life. However, from a nutritional perspective, a high Brix indicates a high sugar content, which may be undesirable for health-conscious consumers.

No, a low-sugar gummy by definition will have a lower Brix. Manufacturers compensate for the reduced sugar by using alternative sweeteners and gelling agents like LM Pectin that don't require high sugar concentrations to set.

The typical Brix range for traditional, chewy gummies is between 70° and 80°Bx. This high concentration is what gives them their specific texture and stability.

Brix is measured using a refractometer, a device that assesses the refractive index of the liquid candy mixture. This is done at multiple stages, including after initial mixing and cooking, to ensure consistency.

For most practical food applications involving sugar-based liquids like gummies, Brix is used as an estimate for total soluble solids. While other compounds can contribute, sugar is typically the most abundant soluble solid.

Yes, Brix is strongly correlated with sweetness and is a key component of flavor. However, the product's overall flavor profile is also influenced by other ingredients, such as acids, which manufacturers balance using the Brix-acid ratio.