Caloric sweeteners

Glucose Isomeriza.tion, Enzymatic isomerization of glucose to fmctose provides a real alternative to sugar (sucrose) derived from sugarcane or sugarbeets. The commercial product obtained is known as high fmctose com symp (HECS). Two grades of the symp have become estabUshed on the world market, HECS-42 and HECS-55, which contain 42 and 55% fmctose on dry substance basis. These products account for over one-third of the caloric sweetener market ia the United States. 

Did you know the average American consumes the equivalent of 20 teaspoons of sugar each day The non-nutritive sweetener industry is described as a billion-dollar industry with projections of even more rapid expansion in the next few years. What do chemists look for in their search for an ideal sweetener Consumers seek good-tasting, nontoxic, low-caloric sweeteners. Chemists in the sweetener industry add further demands an inexpensive, easy-to-synthesize product that is readily soluble in water and resists degradation by heat and light is of prime importance. The chemical structure of sucralose keeps the sweetener intact as it passes through the acidic environment of the stomach. Thus, sucralose is not... 

A manufacturer seeks approval from the FDA for the marketing of a new non-caloric sweetening agent. The manufacturer has conducted extensive animal toxicity testing on this new food additive, and has also provided to the FDA information about the chemical s use rates in foods and the expected rate of intake consumers might experience. Is it possible to predict whether the new additive will pose a health risk to consumers if it were to be approved for use in food ... 

Although saccharin is no longer widely use as a non-caloric sweetening agent, it did enjoy a nearly 100-year run before evidence of its animal carcinogenicity appeared on the scene during the 1970s. As... 

As a result of the success of HFCS the types of caloric sweeteners consumed has changed considerably (Figme 4.3). If the impact of non-caloric high intensity sweeteners, principally aspartame, is taken into account the importance of sucrose is diminished more significantly. 

Figure 4.3 Per capita consumption of caloric sweeteners in the United States. (From Hacking, 1986. Economic Aspects of Biotechnology. Reproduced with kind permission from Cambridge University Press, UK).

Staff EDA Clears HoeclistN Non-Caloric Sweetener for Use in Dry Foods, Food Technology, 108 (October 1988). 

Until the late 1960s, sweeteners derived from starch accounted for less than 15% of the US total caloric sweetener market. By the mid-1980s, the starch-derived sweetener... 

Calendar year HFS Sweeteners Glucose syrup, b Dextrose Total Total caloric sweetenersb Starch-derived sweeteners share of total caloric sweeteners, %... 

Low sweetness sweeteners are of interest because they are generally metabolized in the body yet do not contribute to dental caries, and tend to have a lower effect on blood glucose in diabetics. Four examples are discussed here. Where sweetness equal to sucrose is desired, a high intensity sweetener can be mixed with it in most countries. However low sweetness caloric sweeteners are of particular interest for persons with kidney disease, where it is often difficult to get them to take enough calories. Use of glucose syrups to "stuff calories" with little water is often unacceptable to the patient because of the excessively sweet taste. Perhaps someone will develop a low sweetness metabolizable sweetener for these people. 

Another example of a protease-catalyzed commercial process, which in this case uses the enzyme in a synthetic mode, is the completely regio- and stereoselective production of the low-caloric sweetener aspartame developed by DSM-TOSOH [15] (Fig. 7.9). Aspartame is a dipeptide consisting of the amino acids phenylalanine and aspartic acid, which are coupled by the enzyme thermolysin from Bacillus thermoproteolyticus. For an efficient coupling, relatively high temperatures are required and the amount of water in the system must be kept low to drive the reaction in the desired direction. Thermolysin, which is a metallo-endoprotease, meets these two requirements. It is thermostable, and it works in an organic solvent, which is required to keep the water activity low. In practice, however, organic solvents were not necessary, since the product aspartame forms an insoluble complex with unreacted D-Phe-OMe, which crystallizes out of the aqueous medium. 

The available information on the nutritional properties of individual DFA isomers is limited to those representatives that can be produced by biotechnological processes, that is compounds 1 (DFA III), 10 (DFA I), and 15 (DFA IV). While the potential of DFAs as functional foods was soon realized, the initial reports of otherwise relevant results on their nutritional properties were included only in patents or published in national Japanese journals which are not always accessible. In all cases they are rated as low-caloric sweeteners DAF III, for instance, has half the sweetness of sucrose and is chemically highly stable, with lower degradability and Maillard reactivity under acidic conditions than sucrose [93]. Anticariogenic and anti-tooth decaying effects have also been claimed. Moreover, these DFAs promote in vitro growth of bifidobacteria. 

Choose and prepare foods and beverages with few added sugars or caloric sweeteners follow amounts suggested by the USDA Food Guide and the DASH Eating Plan. 

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