F3405/C FORM - 2 THE PATENTS ACT, 1970 (39 of 1970) & The Patents Rules, 2003 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION (See Section 10 and Rule 13) ICE CONFECTIONS HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LIMITED, a company incorporated under the Indian Companies Act, 1913 and having its registered office at Hindustan Lever House, 165/166, Backbay Reclamation, Mumbai -400 020, Maharashtra, India The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed WO 2007/068346 PCT/EP2006/011387 -1 - ICE CONFECTIONS Technical Field of the invention 5 The present invention relates to ice confections such as water ices, fruit ices, milk ices and the like. In particular, it relates to ice confections having low sugar contents. Background Ice confections, such as ice lollies, popsicles and the like are popular products, and 10 are especially enjoyed by children. These products are typically made from water ice, fruit ice or milk ice, rather than from ice cream, and therefore generally contain low levels of fat. However, they nonetheless contain relatively high amounts of sugar. Parents are concerned about damage to their children's teeth as a result of 15 consuming foods which contain sugars. Moreover, the incidence of obesity and the number of people considered overweight in countries where a so-called Western diet is adopted has drastically increased over the last decade. Since obesity and being overweight are generally known to be associated with a variety of diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension and arteriosclerosis, this increase is a 20 major health concern for the medical world and for individuals alike. Furthermore, being overweight is considered by the majority of the Western population as unattractive. This has led to an increasing interest by consumers in their health and has created a demand for products that help to reduce or control daily caloric intake. In particular, the importance of limiting the content of sugars in a healthy diet has 25 recently been highlighted by a Joint WHO/FOA Expert Committee (see "Diet, nutrition and the prevention of chronic diseases" - Report of a Joint WHO/FAO Expert Consultation, WHO Technical Report Series 916, WHO, Geneva, 2003). Lowering the sugar content of ice confections results in products that are not sweet. 30 They are also very hard as a result of the low level of freezing point depressants. This is especially so for quiescently frozen ice confections because quiescent freezing results in large ice crystals. There have been previous attempts to formulate water ices having reduced sugar content whilst retaining their palatability. US .4,626,441 discloses dietetic frozen desserts which have essentially all the sugar present in WO 2007/068346 PCT/EP2006/011387 -2- conventional products replaced by a non-saccharide sweeteners (e.g. aspartame and sugar alcohols) and bullking agents. Unfortunately, however, replacement of the sugars in ice confections with non-saccharide sweeteners results in products with an artificial or even unpleasant taste and/or aftertaste. Furthermore, certain non-5 saccharide sweeteners such as sugar alcohols can cause digestive discomfort in some individuals. Thus, there remains a need for palatable ice confections which contain reaucea amounts of sugars. Tests and Definitions 10 Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art (e.g. in frozen confectionery manufacture). Definitions and descriptions of various terms and techniques used in frozen confectionery manufacture are found in Ice Cream, 6th Edition, Robert T. Marshall, H. Douglas Goff and Richard W. Hartel (2003), Kluwer 15 Academic/Plenum Publishers. All percentages, unless otherwise stated, refer to the percentage by weight, with the exception of percentages cited in relation to the overrun. 20 Water ice As used herein, the term water ice refers to a sweet-tasting substantially fat and protein free fabricated foodstuff intended for consumption in the frozen state (i.e. under conditions wherein the temperature of the foodstuff is less than 0°C, and preferably under conditions wherein the foodstuff comprises significant amounts of 25 ice). By substantially fat and protein free it is meant that the fat content is less than 0.5 wt% and that the protein content is less than 0.5 wt%. Water ices may be unaerated or aerated, but are normally unaerated. Fruit ice 30 Fruit ices are water ices which contain at least 10% fruit. Fruit means edible part of fruit or the equivalent as juice, extracts, concentrated or dehydrated products and so on. Fruit, pu!p, juice or any other preparation may be used either fresh or preserved by any convenient technical process. WO Z0U7/U68346 PCJ7EP2006/011387 -3- Totaf sofids content The total solids content of an ice confection is the dry weight of the confection, i.e. the sum of the weights of all the ingredients other than water, expressed as a percentage of the total weight. It is measured as described in Ice Cream, 6th Edition, Marshall et 5 al. (2003) p296. Sugars As used herein the term "sugars" refers exclusively to digestible mono- and di-saccharides. The total sugar content of an ice confection is thus the sum of all of the 10 digestible mono- and di-saccharides present within the ice confection, including any sugars from fruits and lactose from milk solids. Complex saccharides As used herein, the term "complex saccharide" refers to oligosaccharides and 15 polysaccharides with a degree of polymerisation (DP) of at least three. Digestible and non-digestible saccharides Digestible saccharides are defined as those saccharides with a metabolisable energy content of at least 3 kcal (12.6 kj) per g of saccharide. Digestible complex 20 saccharides are usually derived from starch and/or comprise alpha glycosidic linkages. Non-digestible saccharides are defined as those saccharides with a metabolisable energy content of less than 3 kcal (12.6 kJ) per g of saccharide. Common non-25 digestible saccharides are non-starch complex saccharides but others include resistant starches and non-digestible di-saccharides. Non-saccharide sweetener Non-saccharide sweeteners as defined herein consist of: 30 • The intense sweeteners aspartame, saccharin, acesulfame K, alitame, thaumatin, cyclamate, glycyrrhizin, stevioside, neohesperidine, sucralose, monellin and neotame; and WO 2007/068346 PCT/EP2006/011387 -4- • The sugar alcohols HSH (hydrogenated starch hydrosylate - also known as polyglycitol), eythritol, arabitol, glycerol, xylitol, sorbitol, mannitol, lactitol, maltitol, isomalt, and palatinit. 5 Relative sweetness As defined herein, relative sweetness, R, refers to the sweetness of a substance relative to the sweetness of an equivalent weight of sucrose (i.e. sucrose has a relative sweetness of 1). The relative sweetness of the non-saccharide sweeteners is given in Table 1. 10 TABLE 1 Non-Saccharide Sweetener (i) Relative sweetness (R\) Aspartame 200 Saccharin 400 Acesulfame K 200 Alitame 2,000 Thaumatin 2,000 Cyclamate 35 Glycyrrhizin 50 Stevioside 100 Neohesperidine 1,500 Sucralose 500 Monellin 2,000 Neotame 10,000 HSH 0.7 Erythritol 0.7 Arabitol 0.5 Glycerol 0.8 Xylitol 1.0 Sorbitol 0.6 Mannitol 0.6 Lactitol 0.4 Maltitol 0.8 Isomalt 0.6 Palatinit 0.5 WO 2007/068346 PCT7EP2006/011387 . - 5 - For a mixture of non-saccharide sweeteners, the relative sweetness, R, is defined by Equation 1: I wherein m-, is the mass of non-saccharide sweetener i. 10 Brief description of the invention We have found that ice confections with low levels of sugars but with excellent palatability can be formulated even without the use of non-saccharide sweeteners by employing a sweetener system comprising sugars and digestible complex saccharides in specific amounts. 15 Accordingly, in a first aspect, the present invention provides an ice confection having a total solids content of from 15 to 30% by weight of the ice confection and total sugar in an amount of less than 17% by weight of the ice confection, characterised in that the ice confection comprises digestible complex saccharides in an amount of from 2 20 to 25% by weight of the ice confection; and non-saccharide sweeteners in a total amount d given by the following condition: CT