The subject of the invention is a process for preparing a food product with reduced calorific value, comprising the step consisting in replacing all or part of the high-calorie substances of the food with an effective quantity, in terms of the reduction of the calorific value, of branched maltodextrins having between 15 and 35% of 1.fwdarw.6 glucoside linkages, a reducing sugar content less than 20%, a polymolecularity index of less than 5 and a number-average molecular mass Mn at most equal to 4500 g/mol.