Sweetness-enhancing

Enhancers and Inducers. A sweetness enhancer is defined as a compound that imparts no taste per se, but when combined with a sweetener in small quantities, increases sweetness intensity. A tme sweetness enhancer has yet to be found. However, a good sweetness inducer, miraculin [143403-94-5] or [125267-18-7] (124), is known. Miraculin is a glycoprotein found in the fmit (called Miracle Fmit) of a West African shmb, chardella dulcifica. By itself, miraculin imparts no sweetness. When activated in the mouth by acidic substances, however, a sucrose-like sweetness is perceived. Thus, sour lemon, lime, grapefmit, rhubarb, and strawberry taste sweet when combined with miraculin. The taste conversion effect can last an hour or longer. 

Fig. 10.1. Synergistic sweetness enhancement in acesulfame K-aspartame blends.

Ottinger el al.2S6 have applied their comparative taste dilution analysis (cTDA) to examine the extractable products from heated aqueous D-glucose and L-alanine that were not solvent-extractable. One HPLC fraction proved to be a strong sweetness enhancer. It was isolated and submitted to LC-MS and NMR, both ID and 2D the results, together with its synthesis from HMF and alanine, unequivocally identified it as the inner salt of /V-( I -carboxycthyl)-6-(hydroxy-methyl)pyridinium-3-ol (alapyridaine, Structure 45). It has no taste on its own, which in many applications would be an advantage. Depending on the pH, it lowers the detection threshold of sweet sugars, amino acids, and aspartame, the... 

H. Ottinger, T. Soldo, and T. Hofmann, Discovery and structure determination of a novel Maillard-derived sweetness enhancer by application of the comparative taste dilution analysis (cTDA), J. Agric. Food Chem., 2003, 51, 1035-1041. 

The relative sweetness of invert sugar as compared to sucrose has been studied by Cameron (13, 14) and Miller (74) At concentrations of 10% they are equivalent in sweetness, at concentrations below 10% sucrose is sweeter, while above 10% invert is sweeter. However, because of the sweetness-enhancing power of sucrose, a solution of partly inverted sucrose will be sweeter than one completely inverted. 

Aimed at investigating taste enhancers in beef bouillon, taste activity-guided fractionation combined with the comparative taste dilution analysis led to the discovery of the presence of a sweet enhancing compound. Model Maillard reactions, spectroscopic and synthetic experiments revealed the previously unknown 1 - 1 -carboxyethyl)-5-hydroxy-2-... 

The comparative taste dilution analysis revealed a high TD factor of 16 for sweetness in fraction III (Figure 1). As this fraction showed no sweetness in the absence of sucrose, this fraction was assumed to contain a reaction product enhancing the sweetness of the sucrose solution by a factor of eight. Because sweetness enhancing compounds were not yet reported in beef bouillon, the following identification experiments were focused on the sapid taste modifier present in GPC fraction III (Figure 1). 

In order to further resolve GPC fraction III into distinct sensory active compounds and to rate them in their relative taste impacts, this fraction was then separated by RP-HPLC (Figure 2) into 16 subfractions. Application of the comparative taste dilution analysis using sucrose as the basic tastant revealed the highest TD factor for sweetness for fraction III-5, thus indicating the presence of a sweetness enhancing compound in that fraction. 

In order to study the influence of the pH value on the sweetness enhancing effect of the novel Maillard reaction product, binary mixtures of the tasteless alapyridaine and the sweet tasting compounds glucose, saccharose, or L-alanine were sensorially evaluated in a triangle test using water with pH 5.0, 7.0 and 9.0, and the sweet detection thresholds determined were compared to the threshold concentrations of aqueous solutions containing the sweet tastants alone (Table I). 

The newest frontier in sweetener research is the area of sweet enhancers. These substances, while tasteless themselves, cause sweetness receptors to respond more strongly to sweet substances. For example, the simple experimental molecule dubbed SE-2 enhances the sweetness of sucralose up to eightfold. It is thought that SE-2 and related structures bind to the Venus flytrap complex at a remote site from the sweetener itself, causing the trap to stay shut for longer periods of time. Sucrose and sucralose enhancers are beginning to be commercialized around the... 

Additive numbers 1-10 are protein hydrolysates number 11 is a sweetness enhancer number 12 is a nutritive sweetener. 

Important characteristics are sweetness and sweetness enhancement, nondigestibility by human and animal amylases, fermentable by intestinal Biftdus bacteria) and other microorganisms. 

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