Artificial Sweeteners

Sugar alcohol

A polyol is an alcohol containing multiple hydroxyl groups. In two technological disciplines the term "polyol" has a special meaning: food science and polymer chemistry.

Characteristics

• Commonly used in place of table sugar, like Xylitiol which is similar to sucrose.
• A type of carbohydrates.
• General formula: H(HCHO)nHCO
• Other names: Polyol, polyhydric alcohol, polyalcohol, glycitol.
• Found in many processed foods.
• Kcal. per gram: 1,5 - 3 kcal/g.
• The are not as sweet as sucrose, so they provide fewer calores than sucrose because they are converted to glucose more slowly, require little or no insulin to be metabolized and do not cause sudden increases in blood sugar.

Food additives

• Sucrose             100%
• Erythritol            70%
• Naltitol syrup     75%
• HSH                  33%
• Isomalt               55%
• Lactitol              35%
• Maltitol              75%
• Mannitol            60%
• Sorbitol              60%
• Xylitol              100%

Artificial non-nutritive sweeteners

Characteristics

• They do not have nutritional value (no carbohydrates) and are non-nutritive.
• The have little to no calories.

Types

• Sucrose: The only derived from sugar. It is a chlorinated form of sucrose. It is more than 500 times sweeter than sugar.
• Neotame: Made from aspartic acid and phenylalanine. It is at least 7000 times sweeter than sugar.
• Aspartame: Made from the organic, amino acids, aspartic and phenylalanine. It is 150 to 200 times sweeter than sugar.
• Acesulfame-K: Derived from a type of potassium salt. It is 200 times sweeter than sugar.
• Saccharine: Derived from benzoin. It is 300 times sweeter than sugar.

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