Sweetening the Sweetener Pot

The pot of sweeteners for food and beverages is expanding with new approved sweeteners, as well as sweetener blending of high-intensity sweeteners with either other high-intensity sweeteners or traditional ingredients, such as high-fructose corn syrup, to achieve taste parity with caloric and cost savings.

High-intensity sweetenersEveryone is familiar with the oldest high-intensity sweetener on the market — saccharin. Despite a bitter, metallic aftertaste and a cancer-warning label statement that was required until 2000, saccharin tabletop sweeteners remain popular with consumers. However, when aspartame, with its clean, sugar-like taste, was introduced in 1981, most food and beverage manufacturers switched, and aspartame soon became the gold standard for high-intensity sweeteners.

Approximately 200 times sweeter than sugar, and approved for general use in the United States and more than 100 countries, aspartame’s main liability is that its stability is affected by moisture, pH and temperature. Its many forms — powder, granular, liquid and aspartame-acesulfame salt — meet most solubility and manufacturing requirements. Noncariogenic and well-tolerated by diabetics, it is widely used in sugar-reduced and sugar-free products as well as calorie-reduced and low-calorie ones.

Acesulfame-K, from Nutrinova, Somerset, NJ, was the next sweetener to win FDA approval. This white, crystalline powder is also approximately 200 times sweeter than sugar and is approved for use in beverages, confectionery, dairy products, tabletop sweeteners, baked goods and pharmaceuticals. It has an intense, sweet taste with early onset, but an off-taste at high levels that is easily overcome by blending with synergistic sweeteners, such as aspartame. It has excellent solubility and stability, and is approved in more than 100 countries. It is noncariogenic and suitable for use by diabetics.

Nutrinova advocates blending high-intensity sweeteners to mimic sugar’s taste profile. According to Rudi VanMol, vice president, Nutrinova, “Ace-K alone does not work well as the sole high-intensity sweetener in a diet beverage — we recommend Ace-K and aspartame or sucralose.” He adds that with acesulfame-K alone, a sugar and caloric reduction of 30% can be achieved, but when combined with other high-intensity sweeteners, this can go to 70% to 80%. Recently, focus has shifted to blending high-intensity sweeteners with sugar or other sweeteners, such as high-fructose corn syrup. “Right now we are looking at calorie acceptability — it seems the consumer will accept the different calorie levels and reductions in different categories,” he says.

Sucralose, from McNeil Nutritionals, Fort Washington, PA, is made from cane sugar with three hydrogen-oxygen groups selectively replaced by three chlorine atoms. The molecule becomes 600 times sweeter than sugar, but the body no longer recognizes it as a carbohydrate. It cannot be digested and metabolized, so it yields no calories and is safe for diabetics. Its taste profile is similar to sugar, with no unpleasant aftertaste. After years of study and review, FDA approved it in 15 food and beverage categories in 1998 and then as a general-purpose sweetener in all foods and beverages in 1999. It now has approval in more than 50 countries.

Highly soluble, sucralose has excellent stability in high temperatures and across all pH ranges, so it works in all types of products and manufacturing conditions, and has a long shelf life. It is available as a clear, colorless, highly soluble liquid concentrate that is approximately 150 times sweeter than sugar; or as a white to off-white, practical odorless, crystalline powder that is approximately 600 times sweeter than sugar. Sucralose has been used in carbonated soft drinks, juices and other still beverages; gelatins, puddings and fillings; sauces, toppings and syrups; processed fruits; chewing gum; powdered mixes; baked goods; dairy products; confectionery; and nutritional products. It can replace all or part of a product’s nutritive sweetener. However, products that rely on sugar for volume require bulking agents.

Anne Rewey, franchise director, Splenda, McNeil Nutritionals, says: “When Splenda® brand sucralose is blended with nutritive sweeteners, such as high-fructose corn syrup, consumers can get the same great ‘regular-tasting’ product, but with less sugar.” She adds that the product offers food and beverage manufacturers “an opportunity to reduce the sugar in their existing full sugar, ‘regular’ products or replace all of the sugar in their products for a no-sugar/no-calorie offering.” Besides being synergistic in quantity and quality with other sweeteners, Rewey notes, sucralose also offers heat and shelf stability — and a positive image.

Neotame, from the NutraSweet Co., Chicago, is derived from a dipeptide composed of phenylalanine and aspartic acid. Its configuration does not allow dipeptidases to break the peptide bond and therefore, yields no calories or phenylalanine during metabolism. This off-white crystalline powder is more readily soluble than aspartame in some food-system solvents. Its stability is similar to aspartame — excellent in dry, finished products, but subject to degradation in the presence of moisture — the rate is pH-, temperature- and time-dependent. It does, nonetheless, overcome some of aspartame’s stability shortcomings in baked goods, fermented products like yogurts, and certain flavoring systems.

At 7,000 to 13,000 times sweeter than sugar, neotame is the most potent sweetener marketed today. Like aspartame, which can enhance certain fruit flavors, neotame functions as a flavor enhancer in some applications and certain flavor systems. Glenn Corliss, senior food scientist, NutraSweet Company, says: “Studies have shown that neotame modifies flavors at nonsweetening levels and that it works well to modify the taste of soy. In addition, it works well in combination with other sweeteners. There are a number of product applications for neotame — liquids, chewing gum — where it extends sweetness and flavor.” Product developers can capitalize on neotame’s flavor-enhancing and masking properties to reduce ingredient costs and create unique taste profiles.

The FDA approved neotame on July 9, 2002, as a general-use sweetener and flavor enhancer in foods and beverages, but currently, no commercial U.S. products exist. However, a number of beverages have recently been introduced in Australia and New Zealand where neotame received its first approval in August 2001. It is also approved in the People’s Republic of China, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Ecuador, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico and Costa Rica.

New carbohydrate sweetenersTrehalose, found naturally in honey, mushrooms, and other foods, is a nonreducing sugar with half of sugar’s sweetness. Commercially produced from cornstarch, using the Hayashibara-patented enzymatic conversion and crystallization method, Cargill Health and Food Technologies, Wayzata, MN, has exclusive rights to market it in North America. In May 2000, the FDA issued a “no objection” letter to the use of Hayashibara-method trehalose as a multipurpose food ingredient. Its functional classifications include coloring adjunct, flavor enhancer, humectant, nutritive sweetener, stabilizer, thickener and texturizer.

Trehalose possesses a number of significant functional attributes. Its mild sweetness has a rapid onset and a slightly longer temporal profile than sucrose. This white crystalline powder produces clear solutions, has chemical, acid and thermal stability, plus exceptionally low hygroscopicity and a high glass-transition temperature. As a nonreducing sugar, it does not react with amino acids or proteins and, therefore, does not exhibit Maillard browning. These characteristics can improve stability of flavors, color and moisture in food products and extend shelf life. It can also protect and preserve food’s cell structure, which can help maintain desired texture during freezing and thawing. Trehalose applications include confectionery; processed foods, such as dried vegetables and fruits; dairy; fruit products; and chewing gum.

A disaccharide with two glucose molecules, trehalose is fully digested and metabolized so it doesn’t offer caloric savings. However, studies have shown it to be less cariogenic than sucrose without the potential for a laxation effect. Another advantage, says Pam Stauffer, marketing programs manager, Cargill Health & Food Technologies, is that it “provides energy needed in sports drinks. And emerging studies indicate that consumption of trehalose-sweetened beverages result in a lower insulin response than glucose-sweetened beverages.” Last November, PacificHealth Laboratories, Inc., Woodbridge, NJ, announced the launch of a ready-to-drink form of its sports drink, Accelerade®, made with trehalose.

Tagatose, a monosaccharide derived from lactose, is present in dairy products and other natural sources in small quantities. Spherix Inc., Beltsville, MD, discovered that tagatose is an excellent low-calorie, full-bulk sweetener with a taste emulating that of table sugar, obtained patent protection on its use, and developed and patented a process for making tagatose from whey. Spherix licensed its technology for use of tagatose as a sweetener in foods to Arla Foods, Viby Jylland, Denmark. Tagatose was self-affirmed as GRAS in April 2001 and in October 2001, FDA finished its review and released a “no objection” letter on its use. The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) has also recommended its use as a food additive. Approval processes in a number of other countries have been initiated.

Tagatose, 92% as sweet as sucrose, provides the bulk of other carbohydrate sweeteners. It is highly soluble, about as hygroscopic as sucrose, stable at pHs from 3 to 7, Maillard reactive and caramelizes to fructose at low temperatures. Its melting point is relatively high (134ºC), but its glass-transition temperature is low. It is synergistic with other sweeteners and can improve texture and mouthfeel in reduced- and no-sugar formulas. Potential applications for tagatose include confectionery, ready-to-eat cereal, ice cream and baked goods. The Kellogg Company, Battle Creek, MI, received a patent for the use of tagatose alone or combined with nutritive sweeteners in ready-to-eat cereal and other foods. A beverage company has also obtained patents for the use of tagatose in diet beverages with sugar alcohols and non-nutritive sweeteners.

Tagatose is a ketohexose in which the fourth carbon array is chiral and a mirror image of that around the fourth carbon atom in fructose. Absorption of tagatose is incomplete, about 80% reaches the colon for fermentation by microflora. Tagatose has been approved for only 1.5 calories per gram, but there is evidence that it is considerably less. In addition to prebiotic properties, research has shown that it does not raise blood glucose or insulin levels and appears to blunt the rise in blood glucose after carbohydrate loading in diabetics. Last December, the FDA amended its regulation to allow a dental claim for tagatose based on studies showing low fermentation by oral bacteria and less acid production than table sugar.

Sugar and calorie reduction represents a growth opportunity for food and beverage manufacturers. But as everyone in the industry knows, taste trumps nutrition in the long run. With the expanding choice of sweeteners comes the prospect of meeting nutritional needs without compromising taste — a winning pair.

Angela M. Miraglio ([email protected]) is a registered dietitian and Fellow of the American Dietetic Association from Des Plaines, IL. Her firm, AMM Food & Nutrition Consulting, provides communications and technical support to food and beverage companies and associations.

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