Carbohydrate and intense sweeteners

The profile of bulk and intense sweetener use in soft drinks has changed significantly over the last 10-15 years. Several reasons have caused this change in formulations  

High-fructose com syrups dominate the carbohydrate-sweetened soft drinks sector in some markets - notably in the United States. However, in other markets, for example, Europe, the use of high-fructose glucose syrups (HFGS) is restricted by production quotas, and a variety of carbohydrate products including sucrose, glucose syrups, fructose and fructose syrups are used. 

A number of carbohydrate sweeteners are used in soft drinks and they provide different attributes, including sweetness, mouthfeel, stability and, in some cases, colour. Table 4.1 summarises the properties of some carbohydrate sweeteners that are, or could be, used in soft drinks. 

Sucrose is regarded as the gold standard for a sweet taste. It is manufactured from cane or beet and available in crystalline or liquid form. Sucrose is a disaccharide with a molecular weight of 342.31. It is available in a very pure state and in a variety of physical forms. 

Juice extracted from cane or beet undergoes further purification steps, including precipitation, absorption, crystallisation and evaporation, which remove nonsugars and progressively concentrate the sucrose solution. The final step is crystallisation of sucrose from the syrup. This mixture of sucrose and liquor, known as the massecuite , is then centrifuged, and the crystals are washed and dried to a moisture content of 0.02% w/w and stored (Beesley, 1990). 

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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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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