Low calorie sweeteners

Enzymatic preparation of rare sugars as an alternative to traditional sweeteners is an effective strategy to achieve a low-calorie healthy diet. Ribose-5-phosphate isomerase B (RpiB) is a key enzyme in the non-oxidative branch of the catalytic pentose phosphate pathway. Here, we investigated the potential of Curtobacterium flaccumfaciens ZXL1 ( C. flaccumfaciens ZXL1) derived RpiB (CfRpiB) in D-allose preparation. The optimal reaction conditions for recombinant CfRpiB were found experimentally to be pH 7.0, 55 °C, and no metal ions...

Steviosides extracted from the leaves of the plant Stevia rebaudiana are increasingly used in the food industry as natural low-calorie sweeteners. Phthalates in food are often assumed to arise from food containers or packaging materials. Here, experiments were carried out to identify the potential sources of DMP, DBP, DIBP, and DEHP in the leaves of stevioside through investigation of their content in native stevioside tissues, soils, and associated agronomic materials. The results show that phthalate contamination was present in all the samples tested, and the influence of regional factors at the provincial level on the content of plasticizers in stevia leaves was not significant...

Mogrosides are low-calorie, biologically active sweeteners that face high production costs due to strict cultivation requirements and the low yield of monk fruit. The rapid advancement in synthetic biology holds the potential to overcome this challenge. This review presents mogrosides exhibiting antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, and liver protective activities, with their efficacy in diabetes treatment surpassing that of Xiaoke pills (a Chinese diabetes medication). It also discusses the latest elucidated biosynthesis pathways of mogrosides, highlighting the challenges and research gaps in this field...

Artificial sweeteners (ASs) have been widely added to food and beverages because of their properties of low calories and sweet taste. However, whether the consumption of ASs is causally associated with cancer risk is not clear. Here, we utilized the two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) method to study the potential causal association. Genetic variants like single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with exposure (AS consumption) were extracted from a genome-wide association study (GWAS) database including 64 949 Europeans and the influence of confounding was removed...

INTRODUCTION: Fiscal policies can shift relative food prices to encourage the purchase and consumption of minimally processed foods while discouraging the purchase and consumption of unhealthy ultraprocessed foods, high in calories and nutrients of concern (sodium, sugar, and saturated fats), especially for low-income households. METHODS: The 2017-2018 packaged food purchase data among U.S. households were used to derive household income- and composition-specific demand elasticities across 22 food and beverage categories...

Background: Coffee, tea, sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), and low- and no-calorie sweetened beverages (LNCSBs) are generally frequently consumed in the Nordic and Baltic countries. These beverages have also been related to potential health effects. This scoping review describes the evidence for the role of coffee, tea, SSBs, and LNCSBs for health-related outcomes as a basis for setting and updating food-based dietary guidelines. We used evidence from several qualified systematic reviews (i.e. World Cancer Research Fund, US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, European Food Safety Authority, and World Health Organization) and performed a search for additional systematic reviews...

Early-life stress and subsequent high-calorie diets during adolescence are known to be risk factors for developing metabolic and psychological disorders. Although non-nutritive sweeteners such as stevia and sucralose have been a useful alternative to reduce sugar consumption, the effects of prolonged consumption of these sweeteners on metabolism and behavior in adolescents remain unclear. Here, we evaluated the effects of early-stress followed by access to stevia or sucralose during adolescence on weight gain, glycemia, and anxiety-related behaviors in male and female rats...

D-allulose, an ideal low-calorie sweetener, is primarily produced through the isomerization of d-fructose using D-allulose 3-epimerase (DAE; EC 5.1.3.30). Addressing the gap in available immobilized DAE enzymes for scalable commercial D-allulose production, three core-shell structured organic-inorganic composite silica-based carriers were designed for efficient covalent immobilization of DAE. Natural inorganic diatomite was used as the core, while 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES), polyethyleneimine (PEI), and chitosan organic layers were coated as the shells, respectively...

Growing demand for the tasty and healthy food has driven the development of low-calorie sweeteners, sweet taste modulators, and bitter masking compounds originated from natural sources. With the discovery of human taste receptors, increasing numbers of sweet taste modulators have been identified through human taste response and molecular docking techniques. However, the discovery of novel taste-active molecules in nature can be accelerated by using advanced spectrometry technologies based on structure-activity relationships (SARs)...

A fruit leather (apple and acáchul berry) oriented toward women of reproductive age was developed. The snack was supplemented with an ingredient composed of folic acid (FA) and whey proteins (WPI) to ensure the required vitamin intake to prevent fetal neural tube defects. In order to generate a low-calorie snack, alternative sweeteners were used (stevia and maltitol). The fruit leather composition was determined. Also, an in vitro digestion process was carried out to evaluate the bioaccessibility of compounds with antioxidant capacity (AC), total polyphenols (TPCs), total monomeric anthocyanins (ACY), and FA...

BACKGROUND: Families participating in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) experienced barriers to accessing healthy food during the COVID-19 pandemic, but we do not yet understand how WIC participant food purchases shifted during the pandemic. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to describe the association between the initial shock of the pandemic in March 2020 and WIC shoppers' food purchases and changes in purchases before and during the pandemic at a top grocery chain and examine differences in these relationships by duration of WIC use...

Low-calorie sweeteners (LCSs) and LCS-containing beverages have been proposed as appropriate substitutes for caloric sugars in recent years. In this Perspective, we highlight the recent findings from observational and interventional studies, focusing on obesity, gut microbiome, and cardiometabolic health. We provide public health actors and health care professionals with an insightful overview of recent evidence to bridge the gap between research and practice.

Studies carried out in several species have demonstrated that detection of low-calorie sweeteners in the lumen of the intestine, by the sweet receptor, T1R2-T1R3, initiates a signaling pathway leading to enhanced expression and activity of intestinal Na+ /glucose cotransporter 1, SGLT1. This results in an increased gut capacity to absorb glucose, sodium chloride and water, the basis for oral rehydration therapy. Horses express T1R2, T1R3 and downstream signaling elements in the intestinal tissue. As such, the potential of sweetener-stimulation of T1R2-T1R3 leading to upregulation of SGLT1 allows the provision of more glucose (energy) and hydration for horses...

The quality of drinks affects the functioning of the liver. In recent decades, the variety of high-calorie and sweet drinks has increased. The objective of this study was to explore the association between Healthy Beverage Index (HBI) and the risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) among adults. We included 6,276 participants aged 35 to 65 from the Ravansar Non-Communicable Disease (RaNCD) cohort study at baseline. NAFLD is defined based on the fatty liver index (FLI), calculated using anthropometric measurements and non-invasive markers...

Artificial sweeteners are sugar substitutes that provide high sweetening power associated with low accompanied calories. In this study, we aim to review the data on the use, benefits, side effects, and cancer risks of artificial sweeteners. We reviewed data in the PubMed, MEDLINE, Google Scholar, Embase, and Scopus databases to search for studies about artificial sweeteners from the inception of the database to July 20, 2023, published in the English language. We discuss systematic reviews and meta-analyses, randomized clinical trials, and observational cohort studies that address the use of artificial sweeteners and their effect on health...

The consumption of artificial and low-calorie sweeteners (ASs, LCSs) is an important component of the Western diet. ASs play a role in the pathogenesis of metabolic syndrome, dysbiosis, inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), and various inflammatory conditions. Intestinal nutrient-sensing receptors act as a crosstalk between dietary components, the gut microbiota, and the regulation of immune, endocrinological, and neurological responses. This narrative review aimed to summarize the possible effects of ASs and LCSs on intestinal nutrient-sensing receptors and their related functions...

A novel and sensitive method for the simultaneous analysis of six low-calorie bulk sweeteners (D-allulose, D-tagatose, D-mannitol, mycose, palatinose, and erythritol) without derivatisation was developed using high-performance liquid chromatography-evaporative light scattering detector (HPLC-ELSD). Chromatographic separations were carried out on a Zorbax Original NH2 (5 μm particle size, 250 mm×4.60 mm id, 70 Å) column with flow rate gradient elution with acetonitrile: water (80:20, v/v). Drift tube temperature was set at 50 ℃, the nebuliser carrier gas flow rate was 1...

RESEARCH BACKGROUND: Soursop nectar contains antioxidants and is preserved by pasteurization. However, this technology impairs its physicochemical properties and bioactive compounds. An alternative is therefore thermoultrasound, which could counteract these effects. The thermosonicated nectar was compared with a pasteurized one and the in vitro bioaccessibility of antioxidants was estimated. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: The soursop nectar (25 %) was processed and the response surface methodology was used to determine the optimal conditions for thermoultrasound treatment (TUS)...

Entamoeba histolytica is a parasitic protozoan with roles in pathogenicity of intestinal amoebiasis. E. histolytica trophozoites lack functional mitochondria and their energy production depends mostly on glycolysis. D-Glucose has a pivotal role in this process and trophozoites store this sugar as glycogen in glycogen granules. Rare sugars, which are defined as sugars present in nature in limited amounts, are of interest as natural low-calorie sweeteners for improving physical conditions of humans. One such rare sugar, D-allose, can be absorbed by a sodium-dependent glucose cotransporter as a substitute for D-glucose, and some rare sugars are known to inhibit growth of cancer cells, Caenorhabditis elegans and Tritrichomonas foetus ...

Public health initiatives are currently aiming to lower free sugar intakes for health benefits, but attitudes towards sugars, their alternatives such as low/no-calorie sweeteners (LNCS), and towards sweet-tasting foods may be hampering efforts. This work investigated associations between attitudes towards and the reported intakes of sugars, LNCS and sweet-tasting foods, and identified latent attitude profiles in subpopulations of adults in the United Kingdom. A total of 581 adults completed a questionnaire assessing their usual intake of sugars, LNCS and sweet-tasting foods, attitudes towards these foods and various demographic characteristics...