Xylitol - sugar-free sweetener

Xylitol is a sugar-free sweetener added to some foods. It is a polyhydric alcohol having the formula C5H7(OH)5. It is presently used in chewing gum, mainly because of its noncariogenic property (it has not been found to cause tooth decay).

The FDA first approved it for use in the United States in 1963. The Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) then followed this decision in 1983.

Xylitol is categorized as a sugar alcohol which combine traits of sugar molecules and alcohol molecules. Their structure allows them to stimulate the taste receptors for sweetness on your tongue.

Xylitol’s intense and distinctive cooling effect in combination with its equal sweetness to sugar make it perfect ingredient for use in chewing gum especially sugar free chewing gums.

Some types of gum or oral care products, such as toothpaste and mouthwash, also contain xylitol. Mouth bacteria can't use xylitol as a source of energy, so it may help prevent tooth decay and the buildup of plaque.

Xylitol is a white crystalline substance that for all purpose looks and tastes like white sugar. It has a low GI value of 12, meaning it has little effect on blood sugar levels and insulin. It is therefore seen as a useful alternative for diabetics.

Because xylitol is slowly absorbed into blood stream and is only partially metabolized, it has a much lower caloric value about 40 percent lower than white sugar.

While it can be sourced from carbohydrate molecules (called polysaccharides) in the cell walls of birch and beech trees, rice, oat, wheat and cotton husks, the main source of xylitol for commercial use is corn cobs. It is produced by the hydrolysis of xylan (which is present to many plants), to xylose. Which is then hydrogenated to produce xylitol.

Xylitol is then purified and crystallized. Xylitol imparts a sweet taste, which also appears to have a cooling effect. As it is metabolized by many organisms, it is quite stable.
Xylitol - sugar-free sweetener

Properties of acesulfame K

Acesulfame K is a white, non-hygroscopic crystalline; at room temperature solubility (270 g/l) in water, poor in organic solvent, but increases in solvent water mixtures. Acesulfame K can be stored for many years in solid form without visible or analytical detectable changes.

It has no sharp melting point, but decomposes at about 225 degree C. Acesulfame K is extremely stable in the solid state and even in the low pH environment of soft drinks.

In aqueous media, acesulfame K is distinguished by very good stability. After several months of storage at room temperature, virtually no change in acesulfame K concentration was found in the pH range common for beverages.

Acesulfame K is similar on structure to saccharin, but about half as sweet. Acesulfame K is stable under heating conditions used in the processing of foods. Pasteurization or ultra temperature (UHT) treatment used for dairy products does not result in any loss of acesulfame K.

Acesulfame K is not metabolized by the body. It is absorbed by the intestinal tract and quickly and completely executed. Because acesulfame K is excreted completely unmetabolized, it does not have any caloric value.
Properties of acesulfame K

Acesulfame K

Acesulfame K is the generic name for the potassium salt of 6 methyl-1,2,3-oxathiazine-4(3H)-one-2.2.disoxide; it is a derivative of acetoacetic acid and was discovered by the German company in 1967.

It is a white crystalline, non-hygroscopic powder that decomposes at temperatures over 225 °C.

Acesulfame-K is available through Hoechst Ltd, under the brand name of Sunett or Sunette.

In 1967 the Hoechst researcher Karl ClauB was conducting a research program aimed at the evaluation of substance which had found only limited interest until then.

When he reacted butyne and fluorosulfonyl isocyanate, he found that the taste originating from his finger, which was not caused by any known sweet substance. The generic name initially chosen, acetosulfam, was change to acesulfame potassium salt, shortened to acesulfame-K.

The sweetness onset of acesulfame K is rapid, without unpleasant delay. It decreases slowly without unacceptable lingering taste, persisting longer than sucrose.
Acesulfame K

Fructose as a sweetener

Fructose is the sweetest monosaccharide and has a limited use as a specialty sweetener. Most fructose used to sweetened commercial products is obtained from corn, not squeezed from fruit a process that is impractical for mass production.
Fructose is so efficient in its sweetening power that is common in commercially prepared foods today as sucrose.

It is a sweetener that is found naturally in fresh fruit and honey. It cans sweeten with fewer calories than sugar, is easier on the teeth and enters the bloodstream less rapidly.

Fructose is a monosaccharide, with five carbon furanose ring structure rather than the six carbon pyranose ring structure of glucose. It sweetness ranges from 120 to 160, varying from solid through various concentrations in aqueous solution.

Increasing the fructose content reduces viscosity; the level of sweetness increases. High levels of fructose limit the crystallization risk of the syrups, because fructose crystallizes only with difficulty.

Major uses are as sweetener in carbonated soft drinks and as sweetener/ preservative/ phase stabilizer in canned and frozen foods and preserves.

Crystalline fructose, the most expensive sweetener, appears in reduced caloric formulations and dietetic foods because its sweetness/caloric ratio is higher than that of sucrose.

The sweetener in commercial products is usually not fructose alone but a combination of fructose, glucose and other sugar.

In the mid-1980s, 55% high fructose corn syrup was adopted by the carbonated beverage industry and became prominent sweetener in soft drink. It was developed thirty years ago as a cheap alternative to sucrose, or table sugar.

High fructose corn syrup of HFCS is a mixture of fructose and glucose. The two most common mixtures are HFCS-55, which contains 55% fructose and 42% glucose, and HFCS-42, which contains 42% fructose and 53% glucose.

It’s cheap to make, tastes sweeter than sugar so manufacturer can use less of it.
Fructose as a sweetener