The amount of added mono- or disaccharide in a fluid or solid food composition can be reduced by: incorporating a fraction of an amount of mono- or disaccharide that is recommended in a given recipe for the food composition resulting in a loss of sweetness, and incorporating carboxymethyl cellulose having a viscosity of up to 200 mPa·s, measured as a 2 weight percent aqueous solution at 20° C. using a Haake RS1 viscometer with a cylinder system Z34 DIN at 10.0 s&minus1, in the fluid or solid food composition as the only ingredient to compensate for the lost sweetness, with the proviso that the fluid food composition has a viscosity of at least 10 mPa·s, when measured in the absence of the carboxymethyl cellulose at 20° C.
