Dear all,
We know about sugars and it gives sweet taste in our food stuffs. Sugars are used in our everyday life. There are wide variety of sugar brands we know. In this post we are going to discuss about sweeteners.
What are sugars?
Sugars are carbohydrates, found naturally in most plants. It is composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. All green plants make sugar through photosynthesis, the process plants use to transform the sun’s energy into food.
Where do we get sugars?
The most common sugar is sucrose in sugarcane and sugar beets.
malt syrup is derived by breaking down the starches in cooked rice.
Lactose is the naturally occurring form of sugar in milk products.
Fructose, a sugar found in fruits and honey.
What makes sugar sweet?
The sweetness of sugar comes from a chemical interaction between sugar molecules and sweet taste receptor cells, which are found in our taste buds of our tongue. Different types of sugars can have varying levels of sweetness. Fructose is the sweetest of all naturally occurring sugars.
Artificial Sweeteners:
Artificial sweeteners are chemically synthesized substances that are used instead of sucrose (natural sugar) to sweeten foods and beverages. They are many times sweeter than sugar and much smaller amounts (200 to 20,000 times less) are needed to create the same level of sweetness. The caloric content of sweeteners is very small, so it is described as nonnutritive.
It can be used directly in processed food such as puddings, dairy products, candy, soft drinks, baked goods, jams and many other foods and beverages.
Below is the list of some common artificial sweeteners commonly used.
1. Saccharin:
It was discovered in 1879 and is considered the oldest non-nutritive sweetener. It is about 300 times more sweet than sucrose, but it has a bitter aftertaste. It cannot be used in products where baking of food is necessary as it becomes unstable when it is heated. But it can be used to sweeten candies, drinks, and toothpaste.
Structure:
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| sodium ortho benzenesulphonamide |
2. Aspartame:
In 1879 Aspartame was discovered and it was found that it is approximately 200 times sweeter than sugar. It is commonly used as a tabletop sweetener and is also used in a variety of foods. When it is heated it breaks down into amino acids and loses its sweetness, so it cannot be used for baked foods. It is only used in soft drinks and cold foods.
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| 3-amino-N-(α-carboxyphenethyl)succinamic acid N-methyl ester |
3. Cyclamate:
Cyclamate is an artificial sweetener and is about 30–50 times sweeter than sucrose (table sugar). It is the least potent of the commercially used artificial sweeteners. Hence, it is often used with other artificial sweeteners, especially saccharin. It is stable under heating.
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| cyclohexylsulfamate |
Advantages of Artificial Sweeteners
Weight Control:
If we want to lose weight, then we should use an artificial sweetening agent as virtually it carries zero calories. One gram of sugar carries 4 calories, and one teaspoon of sugar contains about 4 grams of sugar. So by eating 1 teaspoon also we gain 16 calories. So in the case of weight control, an artificial sweetening agent is the best option.
Diabetes:
It also helps in controlling diabetes as it does not raise the blood sugar levels because it does not contain the carbohydrates in it.
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