Sweeteners are food additives that impart sweetness to soft drinks. Sweeteners can be divided into nutritive sweeteners and non-nutritive sweeteners according to their nutritional value. According to its sweetness, it can be divided into low-sweetness sweeteners and high-sweetness sweeteners. According to its source, it can be divided into natural sweeteners and synthetic sweeteners.
Nutritious sweetener means that when a sweetener has the same sweetness as sucrose, its caloric value is more than 2% of that of sucrose. Non-nutritive sweeteners are defined as having a caloric value less than 2% of that of sucrose.
Natural non-nutritive sweeteners are getting more and more attention, which is the development trend of sweeteners. WHO points out that diabetic patients have reached more than 50 million, and more than a quarter of Americans require low-calorie food. Among the sucrose substitutes, aspartame is mainly used in the United States, accounting for more than 90%. Japan mainly uses steviol glycosides, while Europeans are more interested in acesulfame-K. All three non-nutritive sweeteners are available in China.
From the perspective of market demand and research on sweeteners, there are two main aspects to the development trend of sweeteners:
High Intensity Sweeteners
High-intensity sweeteners have the advantages of high sweetness, low calories, less caries, and high safety. Moreover, most of these sweeteners are non-sugar substances, which are not controlled by insulin in the metabolic process, and will not cause obesity and elevated blood pressure. They are suitable for diabetics and obese patients as sweet substitutes.
Functional Sweeteners
Functional sweeteners not only have the characteristics of low calorie, high stability, safety and non-toxicity, but also have the unique function of promoting the reproduction of probiotics and inhibiting the growth of harmful bacteria. The physiological functions of functional oligosaccharides currently confirmed mainly include the following aspects:
1. It is not easy to be absorbed by the body, and the calories provided are very low or not at all, and can be eaten by diabetics, obese patients and hyperglycemic patients.
2. Activate bifidobacteria in the intestine and promote their growth. Functional oligosaccharides are the proliferation factors of beneficial bacteria in the intestine, and the most obvious proliferation target is Bifidobacteria. Human experiments have proved that certain functional oligosaccharides, such as isomaltooligosaccharides, are used by bifidobacteria and some lactic acid bacteria in the large intestine after ingestion, while harmful intestinal bacteria such as Clostridium perfringens and Clostridium perfringens Bacteria cannot use it, because bifidobacteria have receptors for oligosaccharides on the cell surface, and many oligosaccharides are effective bifidofactors.
3. It will not cause dental caries, which is beneficial to maintain oral hygiene.
4. It has some physiological functions of dietary fiber, such as lowering serum cholesterol and preventing colon cancer.
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