Title: Alternative Sweeteners

188 Goldsmith and Merkel
Deviations from sucrose become apparent when studying the rate of decline
in sweetness with individual high-potency sweeteners. Under the test conditions
used, sucralose and aspartame had a similar but slower rate of sweetness decay
than sucrose. It should be remembered that different temporal properties might
emerge as a result of the concentration of the sweetener used as well as other
formulation issues.
C. Taste Quality
The myriad of products around the world that are sweetened with sucralose demonstrate
the taste quality of sucralose. In addition, sucralose is available globally
in consumer tabletop forms (e.g., granular, tablet, packet), as a sugar replacement.
Scientifically, the flavor attributes of isosweet concentrations of sucralose and
sucrose in aqueous solution were identified and quantified using a sip and spit
procedure. The sweeteners were profiled at a moderate sweetness level of 5%.
The panelists evaluated a 10-ml sample by holding the sample in their mouth
for 5 seconds and then expectorating. During this time, intensity estimates were
made of several taste attributes using an unstructured line scale. Sweet and nonsweet
aftertastes were evaluated 60 seconds after expectoration. The experimental
series was repeated twice, and the scores averaged across replicates.
Several of the more important flavor attributes are presented in Fig. 3. This
comparison demonstrates that sucralose is a high-quality sweetener with a flavor
profile similar to that of its sugar origin. At a 90% confidence interval, no signifi-
Figure 3 Flavor attributes of sugar and sucralose.