Title: Alternative Sweeteners

44 Butchko et al.
sweetened products with water or with milk at different temperatures, is the rate
of dry mix dissolution. Solubility is a function of both temperature and pH.
III. TASTE
The taste of aspartame is described as clean and sweet like sugar but without
the bitter chemical or metallic aftertaste often associated with some other highintensity
sweeteners. Comparisons of the sweetness of aspartame and sucrose
that use quantitative descriptive analyses reveal that the taste profile for aspartame
closely resembles that of sucrose. Food industry and university-based studies
have documented this sugarlike taste of aspartame (8, 12).
A. Flavor-Enhancing Property
Various food and beverage flavors are enhanced or extended by aspartame, especially
acid fruit flavors. Such flavor enhancements or flavor extensions are particularly
evident with naturally derived flavors (13). This flavor-enhancing property,
as evident in chewing gum, may extend flavor up to four times longer (14). Such
a characteristic is important in many food applications.
B. Sweetness Intensity
Depending on the food or beverage system, the intensity (i.e., potency) of aspartame
has been determined to be 160 to 220 times the sweetness of sucrose (10,
11). Generally, an inverse relationship exists between the intensity of aspartame
and the concentrations of sucrose being replaced. Overall, the relative sweetness
of aspartame may vary depending on the flavor system, the pH, and the amount
of sucrose or other sugars being replaced (10, 11, 15).
IV. FOOD AND BEVERAGE APPLICATIONS
Aspartame is approved for general use in foods (16), including carbonated soft
drinks, powdered soft drinks, yogurt, hard candy, and confectionery. The stability
of aspartame is excellent in dry-product applications (e.g., tabletop sweetener,
powdered drinks, dessert mixes). Aspartame can withstand the heat processing
used for dairy products and juices, aseptic processing and other processes in
which high-temperature short-time and ultra-high temperature conditions are
used. The potential for aspartame to hydrolyze or cyclize may, under some conditions
of excessive heat, limit some applications of aspartame.