Title: Alternative Sweeteners

Trehalose 457
4.89–12.43 g/kg/day, respectively. The range of consumption by female rats
(including premating, during gestation, and during lactation) was 1.06–5.46,
2.22–11.49, and 4.40–23.2 g/kg/day, respectively. No treatment effects were
observed on any variables of adult males and females, offspring, or reproduction.
XVIII. CONCLUSIONS
Trehalose is a relatively new entry to the food industry, but has had a long history
as a natural part of the human diet. Although trehalose consumption in particular
foods is not a large part of our modern diet, the total amount of trehalose consumed
can be substantial when the contribution of these trehalose-containing
foods is considered as a whole.
The ability to digest trehalose depends on the presence of the enzyme trehalase.
From available information, it appears that only a relatively small percentage
of people in a western population lack this enzyme. Intolerance to trehalose appears
to be far less common than intolerance to lactose, and both are believed
to have a genetic basis.
More than 30,000 metric tons of trehalose added to food products will be
consumed in the Japanese market by the end of 1999 without any known reports
of intolerance. In addition, symptoms of intolerance to trehalose are identical to
those observed in individuals with intolerances to other disaccharides. Safety
studies have demonstrated that there are no consistent untoward effects associated
with the consumption of trehalose.
From information presented in this chapter, it would appear that trehalose
has functional properties that may be of great interest to the food, cosmetic, and
pharmaceutical industries. Heretofore, the cost of trehalose precluded its use in
all but the highest value products. With the advent of the new enzymatic production
process invented by HBC, trehalose is now priced where its use in costsensitive
applications can by justified.
Trehalose is approved as a food additive in Japan and as a food ingredient
in Taiwan and Korea. It is approved as a novel food for use in the preservation
of freeze-dried products in the U.K. Recently JECFA approved trehalose with
no specified ADI, and the U.S. FDA had no objection to the GRAS notification
submitted by HBC. Regulatory approval in Europe is being sought.
REFERENCES
1. GG Birch. Trehalose. In: ML Wolfrom, RS Tyson, eds. Advances in Carbohydrate
Chemistry, vol. 18. New York: Academic Press, 1963, pp 201–225.
2. J Leibowitz. A new source of trehalose. Nature 152:414, 1943.