Natural Products in Food, Spices, and Beverages - Natural Products Chemistry: Sources, Separations, and Structures - page 145

13 Natural Products in Food,

Spices, and Beverages

13.1 SWEETENERS
Natural sweeteners are very popular as an alternative sweetening agent to sugarcane
or fructose corn syrup. Sugarcane is the granulated regular table sugar, obtained
from a tropical grass, by pressing to extract the juice, then boiling, cooling, and
allowing it to crystallize into granules. The chemistry of alternative sweeteners is
extensive: from simple sugars to other chemicals. Examples include honey, brown
rice syrup, maple syrup, molasses, xylitol, aspartame, sucralose, stevia, and agave.

13.2 XYLITOL
Xylitol (CHOH) 3 (CH 2 OH) 2 (Figure 13.1) is used as a diabetic sweetener and is seen
as beneficial for dental health by reducing caries to a third in regular use. It is found
in the fibers of fruits and vegetables. On a commercial scale, xylitol is obtained as a
hydrolysis product of hemicellulose from corncobs.

13.3 ASPARTAME
In contrast, aspartame (Figure 13.2) is an artificial sweetener. It is a methyl ester of
the aspartic acid/phenylalanine dipeptide.

13.4 SUCRALOSE
Sucralose (Figure 13.3) is also an artificial sweetener. However, its structure is very
similar to sucrose (see Figure 5.4) with the addition of two substituted chlorine
atoms. It is approximately 1000 times sweeter than sucrose.

13.5 STEVIA
Stevia (Figure 13.4) is derived from a perennial shrub and the leaves are 30 times
sweeter than sugar. Since the active ingredient possesses zero calories, this plant
may be useful for people with diabetes, hypoglycemia, or suffering from candida
fungal infections as a low-carbohydrate, low-sugar food alternative.
The genus stevia contains about 240 species of herbs and shrubs in the sunflower
family (Asteraceae) and is native to subtropical and tropical regions from west-
ern North America to South America. The species Stevia rebaudiana , commonly

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