THE ESSENTIAL
- Sweeteners, also called substitute sugars or fake sugars, are food additives with a sweet taste.
- They are increasingly used in food products because they provide fewer calories than sugar.
While the reputation of sweeteners has been greatly tarnished by several studies because of the increased risk of developing certain health problems when consumed (cardiovascular illnesses or diabetes, in particular), new sugar substitutes have been discovered. Except that this time, they are natural! And therefore potentially much less harmful to health.
8 new sweeteners found in eleven citrus varieties
It was researchers from the University of Florida who made this discovery. Eight novel sweeteners or sweetness-enhancing compounds occur naturally in eleven citrus varieties. These cultivars (a variety obtained artificially, by selection, mutation or hybridization, in order to be cultivated for its qualities) included a grapefruit hybrid and sweet orange varieties, as well as certain mandarins with “unique and exceptional flavors”.
According to them, the results of their studypublished in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, open up the possibility for the food industry to start producing healthier foods and beverages with a much lower sugar and calorie content by simply using natural products, while retaining the sweet taste that consumers appreciate.
“We were able to identify a natural source of the artificial sweetener, oxime V, which had never been identified from any natural source before”said study supervisor Yu Wang, a professor of food science at the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, in a communiqué. “This creates broader opportunities for citrus growers and for cultivar selection to achieve higher yields of sweetening compounds.”
Are artificial sweeteners really equal to sugar?
There are many food products on store shelves that contain non-caloric artificial sweeteners such as saccharin, sucralose and aspartame to replace sugar. However, these substances can negatively impact flavor, usually producing a bitter or metallic followingtaste. In recent years, buyers have shown a clear preference for sweeteners of natural origin that are more like sugar. Yet many of today’s natural non-caloric sweeteners still have bitter followingtaste. Natural sweeteners derived specifically from fruit, on the other hand, have proven to be much more difficult to cultivate so far. But the results of this new study might be a game-changer.
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