Title: Alternative Sweeteners

Mixed Sweetener Functionality 467
Table 1 Typical Effective Amounts of Sweeteners or
Sweetener Combinations in Tabletop Applications
Amount
Sweetener (mg) a
Sodium saccharin 30–40
Sodium cyclamate 150–200
Aspartame 35–45
Acesulfame-K 50–60
Sucralose 12–15
Sodium cyclamate/sodium saccharin 80/8
Aspartame/sodium saccharin 5/15
Acesulfame-K/aspartame 30/3
Aspartame/sodium saccharin/sodium cyclamate 10/4/30
a Effective amount required to provide the sweetness equivalency of two
teaspoons (10 g) of sugar to one cup (240 ml) of coffee.
Source: Refs. 1 and 12.
(10 g) of sugar to 1 cup (240 ml) of coffee is given in Table 1. This table clearly
illustrates the reduction in the level of sweetness ingested when a combination
of sweeteners is used. When a mixture of saccharin/cyclamate is used, the amount
of saccharin is reduced by a factor of 5 (i.e., 40 mg alone to 8 mg in combination),
and the amount of cyclamate by a factor of 2.5 (i.e., 200 mg alone to 80 mg in
combination) compared with the use of any one single sweetener. Similarly, in the
case of an aspartame/saccharin mixture, the level of aspartame may be reduced by
a factor of 10, and saccharin by a factor of 2.
Several patents and articles describe the synergism among aspartame, saccharin,
cyclamate, acesulfame-K, and other sweeteners. Scott described the use
of aspartame in combination with saccharin, cyclamate, or both to provide beverages
with improved taste and consumer acceptability (12, 13). In a 1973 patent,
Scott described the use of aspartame with saccharin in a ratio range of 15:1 to
1:15 (13). A patent issued to General Foods discloses a sweetening composition
containing aspartame, saccharin, and cyclamate (14). The inventors state that the
sweetness is intense and lacks the lingering or bitter aftertaste associated with
these sweeteners singly. A patent issued to E.R. Squibb proposes the use of ‘‘dipeptides’’
and saccharin, with the dipeptides masking the bitter aftertaste of saccharin
(15–17). The saccharin to dipeptide ratio is 48:1.
Taste panels conducted in our laboratories on tabletop preparations confirm
the superiority of a combination of aspartame with saccharin, cyclamate, or
acesulfame-K over any of these sweeteners singly. Panelists judged the taste qual-