Artificial sweeteners as sugar substitutes !

Many of the people enjoy sweet foods and drinks . So , artificial sweeteners are used to improve the taste , texture and colour of the foods . There are many artificial sweeteners that FDA have approved as non – sugar sweeteners that are sweeter than sugar but with little or no calorific value .

Artificial sweeteners are mostly used as an alternative to sugar . They are food additives that provides a sweet taste like that of sugar . They are attractive alternatives of sugar because they do not add any calories to your diet .Therefore , these are also known as sugar substitutes . These are also known as intense sweeteners / low calorie sweeteners / non nutritive sweeteners .

FDA approved artificial sweeteners :

5 Artificial sweeteners approved by FDA are : Aspartame , Acesulfame – K , Saccharin , Sucralose , Neotame .

ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS :

ACESULFAME – K (C4H4KNO4S) : ( E – 950 )

• Its a general purpose sweetener .
• White crystalline structure .
• It is 200 times sweeter than sucrose .
• Commonly known as SUNETT & SWEET ONE .

ASPARTAME (C14H18N2O5) : ( E – 951 )

• It is discovered in 1965 .
• It is a combination of phenylalanine ( 50%) + aspartic acid (40%) + methanol (10%) .
• It is 180 times more sweeter than sucrose .
• It is sold under the brand names NUTRASWEET , SUGAR TWIN & EQUAL .

SACCHARIN (C7H5NO3S) : ( E – 954 )

• It is discovered in 1879 .
• Oldest artificial sweetener still in use today .
• It is 300 times more sweeter than sucrose .
• Eventhough , it is not metabolized, FDA considers this sweetener safe .
• It is available as NECTA SWEET & SWEET TWIN .

SUCRALOSE (C12H19Cl3O8) : ( E – 955 )

• It is discovered in 1976 .
• Although it is made from table sugar , it adds no calories .
• It is 600 times more sweeter than sucrose .
• It is marketed under the brand name NATURA SWEET & SPLENDA .

NEOTAME (C20H30N2O5) : ( E – 961 )

• It is similar to aspartame .
• Chemical modification of it makes 30 – 40 times sweeter than aspartame .
• It is 7000 – 13000 times more sweeter than sucrose .
• It is used in beverages and soy based nutritionally fortified products .
• Ex : Newtame .

The commercial use of artificial sweeteners is : They are used as tabletop sweeteners , used extensively in beverage industries , used as bulking agents or diluents with many sweeteners etc., Thus , these are some of the facts related to artificial sweeteners.