Bulk sweeteners

Bulk separations Bulk sweeteners Bulk viscosity Bulletproof vests Bullet-resistant glass Bullets... 

Bulking sweeteners provide a bulking effect, along with some of the sweetness and functional properties of sugar. They may be used alone to replace sugar in appHcations that can tolerate some reduction in sweetness. Products that fall into this category include mannitol [69-65-8], a sugar alcohol... 

The synthesis of some commercially important bulk sweeteners such as isomaltulose (Palatinose), isomaltitol (Palatinit), and Actilight (formerly Neosugar) has been achieved by enzymatic transformations of sucrose. 

W. Dills, Sugar alcohols as bulk sweeteners, Annu. Rev. Nutr, 9, 161 (1989). 

It is possible to make biscuits where the sugars have been replaced by sugar-free bulk sweeteners. Isomalt is particularly successful as a sucrose replacer in this application. 

Sweetness free, or at least virtually free, from calories establishes the need for intense sweeteners while suitability for diabetics, absence of carcinogenicity with functionality similar to sucrose and related carbohydrates form the basis for application of bulk sweeteners. 

Because of their non-metabolism or insignificant contribution to the calorie content of a diet, intense sweeteners seem to be an ideal means to lower calorie intake in sweet-tasting foods and beverages. Such a simple approach, however, would not take into consideration that function and properties of bulk sweeteners determine characteristics of many sweet-tasting products, e.g. texture, appearance and shelf stability amongst others.3... 

Bulk sweeteners are distinguished by high stability at elevated temperatures. They do not undergo caramelisation reactions like sucrose. They do not react with common food constituents either. As a result products containing bulk sweeteners instead of carbohydrates may be more pale than sugar-based products and may have a slightly different flavour. Such differences can, however, be compensated for by slight modifications of recipes, if necessary. 

As some bulk sweeteners are hygroscopic, different packaging materials may be necessary for products containing these sweeteners. 

As bulk sweeteners provide the functionality of carbohydrate sweeteners they are mainly used in applications in which normally high amounts of sugar would... 

Intense sweeteners have low functionality besides their sweet taste. Therefore intense sweeteners cannot be used as the only sweetening agents whenever at least one of the mentioned functions is important for a product. Combinations of intense and bulk sweeteners will come close to sucrose and other sweet carbohydrates in functionality and taste, and can therefore be considered as an interesting alternative to sugar in applications requiring functional properties. They are often used in addition to bulk sweeteners in the typical application of these. 

Many sweet-tasting foods and beverages, however, do not require the functionality of sucrose and sweet carbohydrates. These products are the typical fields of application of intense sweeteners. As bulk sweeteners are used for taste reasons rather than functionality these products offer possibilities to reduce calories without sacrificing any important product characteristic. Intense sweeteners are used as the sole sweetening agents in beverages, table-top sweeteners like powder or tablets, desserts and dairy products besides a variety of further areas of lesser importance. 

A variety of bulk sweeteners is now available (Table 10.2). They belong to the class of sugar alcohols. Some monosaccharide alcohols have been used for decades, and disaccharide alcohols have broadened the range of available functional characteristics. 

Metabolism via normal metabolic pathways or fast excretion without metabolism are desirable characteristics. Some intense sweeteners are excreted unchanged while others are metabolised. Bulk sweetener absorption is lower and slower than for carbohydrates and results in reduced caloric availability which is partly due to metabolites formed by intestinal bacteria. Such metabolites and osmotic effects of not fully absorbed bulk sweeteners can cause laxative effects. Generally, the calorific value of bulk sweeteners is lower than for carbohydrates. Intense and bulk sweeteners are, as far as they are metabolised, not dependent on insulin. They are therefore acceptable for diabetics as part of a suitable diet. 

As bulk sweeteners have not specified ADI values, a similar range of intake studies is not available, and laxative properties more or less exclude excessive intake. 

An important step and for some countries even a prerequisite before food additive approval is endorsement for food use by international scientific bodies like the JECFA or the European SCF. These committees evaluate the safety data, identify a no-observed-effect level and allocate an ADI, usually by applying a safety factor of 100 to the ADI. While numerical values have been allocated for all intense sweeteners, the ADIs for bulk sweeteners are normally not specified as any numerical limitation would not be reasonable for these substances. 

In the USA the available bulk sweeteners are listed under different provisions, like food additive, interim status, GRAS (Generally Recognised As Safe) or GRAS by self-determination or self-affirmation of the manufacturers. Intense sweeteners require food additive approval which includes a listing of the approved fields of use or may be a listing as a general purpose sweetener.32... 

Beyond national approvals the Codex Alimentarius is developing a General Standard for Food Additives which will be the applicable basis for international trade. All and only sweeteners endorsed for food use by JECFA are/or will be listed in this standard. For bulk sweeteners the standard has progressed to permanent while the part dealing with intense sweeteners is still under discussion. 

For bulk sweeteners, which are often an important and sometimes the most important ingredient, any limitation would be unreasonable and often even render their use impossible. In the EU consumers are alerted of potential laxative effects by labelling of products containing more than 10% by weight of sugar alcohols. 

While the market for intense sweeteners is substantial it seems questionable whether a newcomer could expand the total market size instead of cannibalising markets of existing sweeteners. Similar considerations apply for bulk sweeteners with their specific fields of applications and higher cost than carbohydrates. Any new development would have to compete with the established sweeteners and new products would have to earn the substantial cost of development first which would be very difficult. It seems therefore unlikely that more than very few new developments, if any more than those mentioned before, will be seen in the foreseeable future. 

Intense and bulk sweeteners are endorsed by international agencies and approved in a large number of countries. Acesulfame K, aspartame and saccharin are available as sweeteners in the EU and Europe while sucralose is approved in the USA and due for approval in Europe and cyclamate, neohesperidin dihydrochalcone and thaumatin are available in Europe. As bulk sweeteners isomalt, lactitol, maltitol, mannitol, sorbitol and xylitol are commonly available. 

Bulking Agents and Bulking Sweeteners. Bulking agents are substances that add bulk to food products while contributing fewer calories than the ingredients they replace. 

Isomalt. Developed in Germany, isomalt is described as an energy-reduced bulk sweetener and marketed in Europe under the tradename Pak2tinit mark. The compound is produced from sucrose in a two-step process, as shown in Fig. 1. 

Sweeteners can be classified into two categories, bulk and intense. The bulk sweeteners are used in the food industry both as sweeteners and as bulking agents. They also offer preservative and bodying effect. They are metabolized by the body and provide calories. They include glucose, fructose, maltose, products hydrolyzed from starch, and sugar alcohols. These sweeteners vary in sweetness over a narrow range from 0.3 to 1.2 times the sweetness of sucrose. The bulk sweeteners are permitted in a number of specified foodstuffs at quantum satis—as much as needed (2,6,8-10). 

Trehalose is a relatively new bulk sweetener with potential for use in soft drinks. It is a di-glucose sugar and it occurs in nature in shellfish and mushrooms, where it confers a degree of protection to plant and animal cells in conditions causing dehydration. This led to its use as a cryoprotectant in freeze-drying systems in the pharmaceutical industry. In food markets, its potential use is as a bulk sweetener. It is manufactured using the Hayashibara patented process using starch as a raw material. The process involves enzymatic conversion and crystallisation to the trehalose dehydrate crystal (LFRA, 2001). 

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