NEW GENERATION NON-NUTRITIVE SWEETENERS-WHAT IS THE FATE OF SUGAR?

The non-nutritive sweetener market can never be the same after the run away success of Stevia sugars which are to day marketed as a natural low calorie/ no calorie sweetener globally. The dominance of synthetic sweeteners like Aspartame till the arrival of Stevia offered no choice to consumers with diabetes or those wanting to cut down on calories in their diet but Stevia changed all that and to day it is overwhelmingly being accepted by the consumer with least reservation. Probably attraction to every thing that is natural by the present day consumer society is pulling in more and players intent to develop sweeteners like Stevia. Recent arrival of Monk fruit sugar being made popular among low calories adherents is another attempt to tap this rich market. Like Stevia which has complex steviosides that contribute to sweetness, Monk fruit contains migrosides which have 300 times the sweetening power compared to sucrose. Hot on the heels are others like sweeteners made from the fruits of Oubli grown in West Africa. Here is a take on this emerging development which may have far reaching future implications in the low calorie sweetener market. 

Hot on the heels of the stevia and monk fruit revolution is asweetener derived from the West African fruit of the climbing plant Oubli, Pentadiplandra brazzeana Baillon. Oubli has been long recognized by natives of the Gabon Republic, a sovereign state on the west coast of Central Africa, and Cameroon for its sweetness. The sweet compound is called brazzein, and is an extracellular protein found in the pulp surrounding the seeds of the berry. First isolated as an enzyme by researchers at the University of Wisconsin in 1994, the super-sweet protein is now expressed in bacteria in order to lower the cost of production and eliminate the need for farming. After sequencing the DNA that codes for brazzein, researchers could use bacteria as little cellular factories that churn out the highly sweet protein. The newly formulated final product will be marketed under the name Cweet by Natur Research Ingredients, Los Angeles. Boasting a sweetening power 1,000 times that of sucrose, Cweet is promoted as a natural, easily dissolved and heat-stable sweetener that leaves no aftertaste. Stability at high temperatures makes the sweetener appropriate for baked applications as well as beverages. Since it's a protein, it weighs in at 4 calories per gram, but with a 1,000:1 replacement value for sucrose, it is essentially zero calories. 

How far this sweetener will compete with established non-sugar sweeteners is is matter of speculation right now though it does have the potential to become a significant player provided this plant is taken up for cultivation in an organized way. The economics also can pose challenges and the ultimate commercial viability will very much depend on the consumer cost. Though the process of extracting the sweet fraction is rather simple as it is concentrated in the pulp portion that surrounds the berry, still as it becomes popular questions regarding the safety of the product for long term use in humans are bound to be raised. The biggest advantage is that it is the most intense sweetener known so far with a 1 to 1000 sweetness ratio compared to sucrose though it cannot be categorized as a zero calorie sweetener in the strict sense as it does yield about calories per gm but as the quantity required to impart required sweetness in food products is so minuscule that it will not contribute any significant calories to the products consumed. It is necessary that the quest for unveiling many such low calorie sweeteners from natural sources with as high sweetness intensity as possible be continued since sugar cane cultivation is increasingly becoming unsustainable and the population requiring sugarless products for managing obesity and diabetes is expanding rapidly.  

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

NON-NUTRITIONAL SWEETENERS-SOME NEW INSIGHT

The inevitability of avoiding sugar intake by those afflicted by diabetes or obesity had spawned an entirely new industry which provides non-sugar sweeteners to satisfy the weakness for sweet taste among such consumers. Also cutting down on natural sugar is now recommended as a desirable practice and there are extensive campaigns to pressure food industry to offer products containing lower levels of sugar. Artificial sweeteners like Saccharine, Aspartame, Sucralose etc have been ruling the roost at some time or the other though their absolute safety has never been established unequivocally till to date. From time to time such safety questions get focused and here is another such commentary on these non-sugar sweeteners offering some valuable insight.

"Most people who receive e-mails will have seen the "Aspartame e-mail" which links this non-nutritive sweetener to every ill known to mankind. Most people will have dismissed this as scare mongering, but there have been legitimate concerns that aspartame may have behavioural effects or be linked to nervous system damage. These concerns were based on the fact that aspartame contains 2 amino acids (phenylalanine and aspartyl) and a so-called methyl ester. When aspartame is metabolised, the compound is broken down into phenylalanine, aspartate and methanol. Phenylalanine and aspartate are found in large quantities in all protein foods, so unless an individual suffers from phenylketonuria (a genetic disorder in which the body cannot process part of a protein called phenylalanine), no harm should be caused by these two common amino acids. It is, however, the methanol which is formed from the methyl ester mentioned above, that has come under suspicion and had been held responsible for damage to the nervous system and aberrant behaviour. Dr Magnuson (2012) pointed out that methanol is also formed in the human body from a variety of standard foods such as fruits and vegetables, something most people probably never take into consideration. For example 1 medium banana produces 21 mg of methanol in the human body, while a 340 ml glass of orange juice is responsible for 23 mg of methanol, both of which compare well with the 18 mg of methanol which our bodies produce if we drink 340 ml of a cold drink that has been sweetened with aspartame. The basic chemical evidence, therefore, does not support the theory that the methanol produced from aspartame will cause nervous system damage or change human behaviour".

It is interesting to read the logical argument that helps a common man understand the complexities involved in assessing the safety of a sweetener like Aspartame and probably the commentator above has valid basis to counter the scare mongering that goes around in the name of this ingredient. What is forgotten in these discussions is that there is nothing in the world which can be considered as absolutely safe and even water can be toxic under certain circumstances! Therefore modern man living in an environment mostly created by himself for comfort and convenience must be prepared for the risk that comes along with such paraphernalia. Life must go on in spite of such hiccups.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

AN ARTIFICIAL 'TONGUE'?-DEVICE FOR INSTANT 'SENSING'!

The type of sweetener used in a food is becoming increasingly a matter of concern to many consumers because of conflicting reports regarding the bad effect of some of them on human health. White sugar or sucrose has already become a villain of demonic proportions and it is implicated in practically every disease man can think of! Added to this fructose sugar has been linked to obesity and liver disorders, though the conclusion is still tentative. Wide spread prevalence of Type 2 diabetes amongst the populations world over, calls for an entirely different kind of sweeteners that does not load on the pancreas. Weight watchers also look for zero calorie foods to reduce calorie intake as much as possible. In such an environment consumers are a worried lot regarding their ability to choose really sugar free products from the isles of the super markets.

Innovation in the form of a simple device containing appropriate sensors, to detect the type of sweetener used in foods being talked about, will be a boon to such sugar sensitive consumers. "Similar to middle-school litmus paper tests, the sensor uses color-coded dots to show what sweeteners are used in a product. Until now, a similar test took about 30 minutes, and now is accomplished in two minutes. The sensor is being presented as a quality-control device for manufacturers to tell how sweet a product is, but they also mention developing sensors for the other basic tastes, such as sour and bitterness".

If the small hand held device as being developed is found to be really reliable, one can hope for other such devices for taste notes like sourness, bitterness, saltiness etc. Food industry probably will have to be weary about this development as consumers are going to be much smarter than expected and more discerning in their selection. It may be good for the consumer as well as the industry in the long run!

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://vhpotty.foodtechupdates.blogspot.com