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Sugar Substitutes---Natural Sweeteners
Sugars are a category of important biomacromolecules that are widely found in food. They can be divided into edible sugars (sugar) and sweeteners. Sugar is mainly made from sugarcane, which is a major sugar crop both globally and in China. Sweeteners are substances that can provide sweetness when added in very small amounts to food. Their main characteristics are low usage, high sweetness, and low or even zero energy content.
Edible Sugar vs. Sweeteners
Edible sugar is digested and broken down into monosaccharides (glucose and fructose) in the human body, which can maintain bodily functions and ensure vitality. In contrast, sweeteners work through different metabolic mechanisms, producing no calories and not raising blood sugar levels. They are gradually becoming a better solution to address the health crises caused by excessive sugar intake.
Sugar Intake and Health
Excessive sugar intake is a major root of health hazards for residents. It increases the risk of dental caries, type II diabetes in adults, obesity, osteoporosis, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and accelerated skin aging.
The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies sugar into intrinsic sugar and free sugar. Intrinsic sugar refers to the sugar found in fruits and vegetables, which is digested more slowly and is basically harmless to human health. Free sugar refers to monosaccharides and disaccharides artificially added to food, as well as the naturally occurring sugars in honey, syrup, and fruit juice. Excessive intake of free sugar can cause dental caries, hyperglycemia, and other health problems. In the "sugar reduction trend, " the intake of free sugar needs to be reduced. According to WHO standards, the daily intake of free sugar for adults should not exceed 10% of the total daily caloric intake.
Metabolic Pathways of Several Representative Sweeteners
| Sweetener | Source | Characteristics |
| Aspartame | Synthetic | After being ingested by the human body, it is broken down into aspartic acid, methanol, and phenylalanine. These three products are safe for the general population, but individuals with a genetic disorder called phenylketonuria cannot metabolize phenylalanine. |
| Acesulfame | Synthetic | It is not metabolized or accumulated in the human body and is excreted 100% as the original substance. |
| Sucralose | Synthetic | After oral administration in humans, 78.3% is directly excreted through feces, and 14.5% is excreted through urine. The main form in urine is sucralose and a small amount of sucralose glucuronide. |
| Xylitol | Natural | After ingestion, 50-60% is converted to CO₂ and exhaled through the lungs, while 2-10% is excreted through urine and feces, respectively. Another 20-30% is converted into glycogen or other intermediate products stored in cells. Xylitol metabolism does not require insulin and can slightly promote insulin secretion from the pancreas. |
| Erythritol | Natural | With a small molecular weight, it is easily absorbed by the small intestine through passive diffusion. Most of it enters the bloodstream and cannot be digested and degraded by the body's enzyme system. It can only be filtered out of the blood by the kidneys. About 90% of the erythritol ingested by the body is excreted in urine. |
| Allulose | Natural | It is not metabolized by the human body and does not convert into calories within the body. It has a low fermentative utilization rate by gut microbiota. It does not cause gastrointestinal discomfort (which may be caused by excessive intake of sugar alcohols like xylitol), and it has physiological functions such as lowering blood sugar and lipids, inhibiting cancer transformation, and anti-inflammatory effects. |
Classification and Characteristics of Sweeteners
Artificial Sweeteners
Artificial sweeteners are sweeteners that do not exist in nature and are discovered and synthesized in laboratories. They are usually produced through chemical synthesis.
Natural Sweeteners
Natural sweeteners mainly come from two sources: one is natural extraction, such as steviol glycosides and mogrosides, which generally have high sweetness; the other is sugar alcohol fermentation, such as xylitol and erythritol, which are generally low-multiple sweeteners. Natural sweeteners are safer, but the sweetness-to-price ratio of functional sweeteners is relatively low. Among them, high-multiple sweeteners with a sweetness multiple of over 100 are used to enhance sweetness, while low-multiple sweeteners are used to enrich taste and balance the sweetness curve.
New Functional Sweeteners
New functional sweeteners combine the advantages of natural health and artificial sweetener alternatives. They not only have high sweetness and low calories but are also generally non-toxic and free of side effects, offering healthier and more natural benefits. Although natural functional sweeteners have many product items and strong non-standard attributes, some scarce and high-quality components are costly to extract or enzymatically convert and cannot achieve stable mass production. However, with the rapid development of synthetic biology, scarce components such as allulose, RebM*, and mogrosides have all realized mature technological routes and industrialization capabilities. This has opened up new growth opportunities for their flavor stability and customized production.
Need to know more about Natural Sweetener Products, contact us Bonnie. Xue@kennture. com.