Sweeteners in General - Sweeteners: Nutritional Aspects, Applications, and Production Technology - page 3

maltitol syrups, isomalt, maltitol, lactitol, sorbitol and mannitol, and xylitol. Caloric alternatives
characterize the crystalline fructose, high fructose corn syrup, isomaltulose, and trehalose. Other
sweeteners characterize the brazzeine, glycyrrhizin, thaumatin, polydextrose, sucrose, polyols, dex-
trose, fructose, galactose, lactose, maltose, staidin, glucose, saccharoze, D-tagatose, thaumatin,
glycerol, and glycerizim.
Sweeteners that contribute calories to the diet are called caloric or nutritive sweeteners. All
common caloric sweeteners have the same composition: they contain fructose and glucose in essen-
tially equal proportions (Hanover and White 1993). All caloric sweeteners require processing to
produce a food-grade product. Common caloric sweeteners share the same general nutritional
characteristics:

• Each has roughly the same composition—equal proportions of the simple sugars fructose and

glucose.

• Each offers approximately the same sweetness on a per-gram basis; 1 g (dry basis) of each adds 4

calories to foods and beverages.

• Each is absorbed from the gut at about the same rate.

• Similar ratios of fructose and glucose arrive in the bloodstream after a meal, which are indistin-

guishable in the body.

Since caloric sweeteners are nutritionally equivalent, they are interchangeable in foods and bev-
erages with no measurable change in metabolism (Widdowson and McCance 1935).
Replacing one caloric sweetener with another provides no change in nutritional value. Removing
sweeteners entirely from their commonly used applications and replacing them with high-intensity
sweeteners would drastically alter product lavor and sweetness, require the use of chemical preser-
vatives to ensure product quality and freshness, result in a reduction in perceived food quality (bran
cereal with caloric sweeteners removed would have the consistency of sawdust), and likely require
the addition of bulking agents to provide the expected texture, mouth feel, or volume for most baked
goods (White 1992, 2008).
High-intensity sweeteners (also called nonnutritive sweeteners) can offer consumers a way to
enjoy the taste of sweetness with little or no energy intake or glycemic response, and they do not
support growth of oral cavity microorganisms. Therefore, they are principally aimed at consumers
in four areas of food and beverage markets: treatment of obesity, maintenance of body weight, man-
agement of diabetes, and prevention and reduction of dental caries. There are several different high-
intensity sweeteners. Some of the sweeteners are naturally occurring, whereas others are synthetic
(artiicial) or semisynthetic. Most of the more commonly available high-intensity sweeteners and/or
their metabolites are rapidly absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract. For example, acesulfame-K and
saccharin are not metabolized and are excreted unchanged by the kidney. Sucralose, stevioside, and
cyclamate undergo degrees of metabolism, and their metabolites are readily excreted. Acesulfame-K,
aspartame, and saccharin are permitted as intense sweeteners for use in food virtually worldwide.
In order to decrease cost and improve taste quality, high-intensity sweeteners are often used as mix-
tures of different, synergistically compatible sweeteners.
Bulk sweeteners , deined as those delivered, in solid or liquid form, for use in sweeteners per
se or in foods in quantities greater than 22.5 kg, are disaccharides and monosaccharides of plant
origin. Sucrose from sugarcane and sugar beet and starch-derived glucose and fructose from maize
(corn), potato, wheat, and cassava are the major sweeteners sold in bulk to food and beverage manu-
facturing industry or packers of small containers for retail sale.
Unreined sweeteners include all natural, unreined, or low-processed sweeteners. Sweeteners
are usually made with the fruit or sap of plants. But they can also be made from the whole plant or
any part of it, and some are also made from starch with the use of enzymes. Sweeteners made by
animals, especially insects, are put in their own section as they can come from more than one part
of plants.