Aspartame relative sweetness

Salt of aspartame and acesulfame. A salt of aspartame and acesul-fame is now available. The product is a chemical combination of aspartame and acesulfame in a ratio of 64 36 on a weight basis. This product was given 2 years temporary national approval in the United Kingdom (Statutory Instrument 2003 number 1182). It also has temporary approval in The Netherlands (Staatscourant, 17 July 2002), and it can be used in the United States, Canada, China, Mexico and Russia. In 2004, amendment of the EU Sweetener Regulation saw extension of the approval to all EU markets. In solution, the salt breaks up to form aspartame and acesulfame. The relative sweetness is 350 (HSC, 2003). 

With the general name of cyclohexylsulphamate, this sweetener was discovered in 1937 by Michael Sveda at the University of Illinois. The sodium salt is the most commonly used form. It is a white crystalline salt with good solubility. The relative sweetness of cyclamate is comparatively low, at approximately 35, in most food systems (Bakal, 1983). The taste quality of cyclamate as a sole sweetener has a slow onset time and can have a sweet/sour aftertaste at high concentrations (Franta et al., 1986). Sweetness quality is greatly unproved in combination with other sweeteners. Cyclamate is synergistic with acesulfame K (Von Rymon Lipinsky, 1985), aspartame (Searle, 1971), saccharin (Von Rymon Lipinsky, 1987) and sucralose (Tate Lyle Pic, 2002). 

It has been reported to be synergistic with intense sweeteners such as aspartame and acesulfame K and, when used at low levels (0.2%), improves certain flavour profiles (Eriknauer, 2003 LFRA, 2001). The relative sweetness of tagatose is 0.92. On ingestion, 20% of tagatose is absorbed in the small intestine and the rest is metabolised by the microflora of the colon. Dose-response studies indicate a prebiotic effect at 10 g/day (Eriknauer, 2003). 

Acquiring Information In a reference book, find a table comparing the relative sweetness of various sugars and artificial sweeteners. How do the following artificial sweeteners compare in sweetness with sucrose (table sugar) sucralose, aspartame, saccharin, and acesulfame-K ... 

The sweetness of fmctose is enhanced by synergistic combiaations with sucrose (12) and high iatensity sweeteners (13), eg, aspartame, sacchatin, acesulfame K, and sucralose. Information on food appHcation is available (14,15). Fmctose also reduces the starch gelatinization temperature relative to sucrose ia baking appHcations (16—18). 

Sweet Taste. The mechanism of sweetness perception has been extensively studied because of its commercial importance. Many substances that vary in chemical structure have been discovered which are similar to the taste of sucrose. Commercial sweeteners include sucralose, acesulfame-K, saccharin, aspartame, cyclamate (Canada) and the protein thaumatin 4), Each sweetener is unique in its perceived sensation because of the time to the onset of sweetness and to maximum sweetness, ability to mask other sensations, persistence, aftertaste and intensity relative to sucrose [TABLE IT. For example, the saccharides, sorbitol and... 

Hydrolyzed starch products, such as maltodextrins, are produced by the partial hydrolysis of cereal (e.g., com) or root (such as potato) base starches and are commercially available in spray dried, particulate form. As manufactured it has a relatively low sweetness level and, if used alone as a sweetener, the food product can not be characterized as 100% artificially sweetened, a characterization that is often desired from a marketing standpoint. However, maltodextrins can be used as a bulking agent or carrier for synthetic sweeteners, such as aspartame, and then, the resulting product can be characterized as 100% artificially sweetened. 

Aspartame is a relatively new sweetener which is readily available and known commercially as Canderel. It is the methyl ester of the dipeptide L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine and has a natural sugar-like taste. It is about 200 times as sweet as sucrose and, in addition, has flavour-enhancing... 

The following examples show that R should be relatively large and R relatively small L-Asp-L-Phe-OMe (aspartame, R —CH2C6H5, R3 = COOMe) is almost as sweet (fsac,g(l) = 180) as L-Asp-D-Ala-OPr (fsac,g(0 6) = 170), while L-Asp-D-Phe-OMe has a bitter taste. 

Since the accidental discovery of aspartame in 1965, much effort has been focused on development of an understanding of the biochemical mechanism of sweet taste with the expectation that such knowledge would facilitate the rational design of novel sweeteners with increased stability and potency relative to that of aspartame. To date, although a great deal of inferential data suggests that sweetener receptors are members of the G-protein coupled receptor super family, no sweetener receptor has been isolated or characterized. As a consequence, many sweetener receptor and pharmacophore models have been developed based on the structure-activity relationships (SAR) among known sweeteners. 

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