Abstract ▼ AI-Helper

The study tried to measure the relative sweetness of alternative sweeteners using a standard and solid sensory analysis protocol so that the results can be utilized to predict the concentration level of a target sweetener to be applied to the real system. Additionally, the change of sensory quality ...

The study tried to measure the relative sweetness of alternative sweeteners using a standard and solid sensory analysis protocol so that the results can be utilized to predict the concentration level of a target sweetener to be applied to the real system. Additionally, the change of sensory quality when substituting the sweetener was investigated. The objectives were 1) to measure the relative sweetness of various sweeteners using 2 alternative forced choice(2-AFC) method; 2) to validate the relative sweetness of the same sweeteners using descrtipive analysis; 3) to characterized the sensory qualities of these sweeteners at equi-sweetness of 5% sucrose solution; 4) to measure and model the concentration-response curve of each sweeteners; 5) to investigate the synergistic effects of sweetener mixture at equi-sweetness level of 10% sucrose solution. A total of 9 types of sweeteners were samples of interest: fructose, high-fructose corn syrup;HFCS, psicose, xylose, fructooligosaccharide;FOS, tagatose, erythritol, xylitol, maltitol, aspartame, sucralose, stevia, and RA97. 2-AFC method was used to measure the relative sweetness of sweeteners at 5% sucrose solution. The relative sweetness of sweeteners when compared to sucrose are as follows: fructose 1.05, HFCS 0.71, psicose 0.49, xylose 0.63, FOS 0.38, tagatose 0.85, erythritol 0.53, xylitol 0.83, maltitol 0.67, aspartame 111, sucralose 500, stevia 64. The relative sweetness of RA97 could not be measured using 2-AFC method. Generic descriptive analysis was conducted to validated the relative sweetness identified by 2-AFC and to characterize the sensory quality of various sweetener solution. The concentration level of each sweetener was the equi-sweetness level of that of 5% sucrose solution. The sensory attributes developed for the experiment were 9 taste/flavor attributes(sweetness, bitterness, MSG flavor, caramel flavor, honey flavor, metallic flavor, artificiality sweetness, menthol flavor, astringent), 2 aftertaste attributes(bitterness, metallic flavor), 2 taste lingering attributes(maximum intensity of sweetness, overall taste intensity). The samples were served using Williams Latin Square design, and the evaluation was replicated 3 times. Results showed that xylitol, maltitol, fructose, HFCS, tagatose, and aspartame elicited similar sweetness quality to that of sucrose. These sweeteners were characterized as having lower intensities of bitterness, artificial sweetness, metallic, astringency and lingering duration compared to other sweeteners. Concentration-response curve of each sweetener was measured using equi-sweetness level of 2%, 3.5%, 5%, 7%, 10% sucrose solution. When concentration-response curve was modeled for predicting the sweetness intensity of various concentration range, bulk sweeteners and aspartame showed linear regression model where as other intense sweeteners showed logarithmic regressions model. Thus, for intense sweeteners, the relative sweetness will change at the concentration range above the sweetness level of 5% sucrose solution. When synergisms of sweetener mixtures were investigated, sucralose-FOS, RA-FOS, stevia-FOS, sucralose-maltitol show sweetness synergy as well as eliciting good sweetness quality compared to other sweetener combinations. Sucralose containing mixtures tend to show synergistic effect and masking negative sensory qualities. Bulk sweeteners such as maltitol and xylitol showed similar sensory qualities to that of sucrose. Since intense sweeteners often carries off flavor, using bulk sweeteners along with intense sweeteners will overcome this weakness.

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