Sweeteners are a kind of food additives, which can give food a sweet taste with little or no energy and provide a variety of options for people who have sugar control needs. Due to their stable process performance and good safety, they have been widely used in food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics industries worldwide in the past 100 years. The safety of sweeteners is based on strict food safety risk assessment, which has been affirmed by many international organizations, national/regional food safety risk assessment agencies and food safety management authorities. The proper use of sweeteners can provide sweetness, be beneficial to control energy intake, reduce the risk of dental caries, and provide more food choices for people with hyperglycemia or diabetes.
Humans ; Consensus ; Dental Caries ; Food Additives ; Sweetening Agents ; Energy Intake

Traditional medicine systems around the globe, like Unani, Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine, include a number of sugar-based formulations, which contain a large amount of saccharide-containing sweetener, such as honey, sucrose or jaggery. With pervasive lifestyle disorders throughout the world, there have been discussions to consider alternative sweetening agents. Here, from the perspective of Unani medicine, we discuss how the saccharide-based sweeteners may be an essential component of these traditional preparations, like electuaries, which may be deprived of their bioactivities without these saccharides. With contemporary researches, it is known that apart from their own therapeutic effects, saccharides also form deep eutectic solvents which help in enhancing the bioactivity of other ingredients present in crude drugs. In addition, they provide energy for fermentation which is essential for biotransformation of compounds. Interestingly, the sugars also increase the shelf-life of these compound drugs and act as natural preservatives. On the basis of this review, we strongly believe that saccharide-based sweeteners are an essential component of traditional medicines and not merely an excipient.
Medicine, Ayurvedic ; Medicine, Traditional ; Medicine, Unani ; Sugars ; Sweetening Agents

Mogroside V, a component with high content and sweetness in mogrosides, has many pharmacological activities such as relieving cough, reducing sputum, anti-cancer, anti-oxidation, regulating blood sugar, making it a natural nonsugar sweetener with therapeutic functions, and showing a broad market prospect. However, the limited resources and high extraction costs have restricted its widespread use. The rapid development of synthetic biology has provided a new idea for the production of plant natural products. The low-cost and large-scale production will be realized through the construction of a microbial cell factory for mogroside V. Here, we briefly introduce the structure and pharmacological activity of mogroside V, and review progress in applying synthetic biology for its synthesis, and also discuss the challenges faced by the current research, to provide a reference for further studies on the biosynthesis of mogroside V.
Biological Products/chemistry* ; Sweetening Agents/chemical synthesis* ; Synthetic Biology ; Triterpenes/chemical synthesis*

PURPOSE: This study examined the nutrient intake and dietary habits based on breakfast consumption in Korean adolescents. METHODS: The data of the 2013 ~ 2015 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) were used in this study. The analysis included 1,281 adolescents aged 12 to 18 years. The subjects were divided into two groups (EBF: eating breakfast, n = 911; SBF: skipping breakfast, n = 370). RESULTS: The EBF group was significantly younger than the SBF group. In addition, the EBF group had a significantly lower frequency of skipping dinner than the SBF group. The EBF group consumed significantly higher levels of most nutrients except for vitamin A than the SBF group. The percent of nutrient intake under the EAR (estimated average requirements) in the EBF group were also significantly lower than that in the SBF group. Moreover, the NAR (nutrient adequacy ratio) and MAR (mean adequacy ratio) of the EBF group were significantly higher than those of the SBP group. The intake of cereal, sugars and sweeteners, vegetables, and eggs in the EBF group was significantly higher than that in the SBF group. CONCLUSION: The habit of skipping breakfast in adolescents leads to a decrease in the total nutrient intake and imbalanced dietary habits. Breakfast consumption in adolescence is very important. Therefore, more studies will be needed to develop nutrition education systematically in Korean adolescents.
Adolescent ; Breakfast ; Carbohydrates ; Ear ; Eating ; Edible Grain ; Education ; Eggs ; Food Habits ; Humans ; Korea ; Meals ; Nutrition Surveys ; Ovum ; Sweetening Agents ; Vegetables ; Vitamin A

OBJECTIVES: This research was conducted to identify the consumers' food choice factors that affect the consumers' replacement of soft drinks with carbonated water. METHODS: The present study used secondary data from a consumer panel survey conducted by the Rural Development Administration of Korea, and the data included the panel members' purchase records based on their monthly spending receipts. The survey asked the participants about their food choice factors and their personal responsibility for their health. This survey included independent variables for the consumers' food purchase factors. As a dependent variable, two types of groups were defined. The replacement group included those people who increased their purchase of carbonated water and decreased their purchase of soft drinks. The non-replacement group included those people who did not change their purchase patterns or they increased their purchase of soft drinks and they decreased their purchase of carbonated water. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine the consumers' food choice factors that were associated with replacing soft drinks with carbonated water. RESULTS: The replacement group was significantly associated with (1) a younger age (OR=0.953), (2) being a housewife (OR=2.03), (3) higher income (OR=1.001) and (4) less concern about price (OR=0.819) when purchasing food. This group also showed (5) higher enjoyment (OR=1.328) when choosing food and (6) they took greater responsibly for their personal health (OR=1.233). CONCLUSIONS: This research is the first study to mainly focus on soft drinks and carbonated water. The result of this research showed that young, health-conscious consumers with a higher income and who are more interested in food have more possibilities to replace soft drinks with carbonated water. These research findings may be applied to consumers who have characteristics that are similar to the young health-conscious consumers and the results can help to suggest ways to reduce sugar intake and improve public health. However, this research has a limitation due to the application of secondary data. Therefore, a future study is needed to develop detailed survey questions about food choice factors and to extend these factors to all beverages, including soft drinks made with sugar substitutes, so as to reflect the growth of alternative industries that use artificial sweeteners or different types of sugar to make commercially available drinks.
Beverages ; Carbon ; Carbonated Beverages ; Carbonated Water ; Consumer Behavior ; Humans ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Public Health ; Social Planning ; Sweetening Agents

PURPOSE: The objective of the study was to investigate the effects of xylobiose-sugar mixture intake on defecation frequency and constipation symptoms in 31 young women with constipation. METHODS: Thirty-one subjects were assigned to two groups, and subjects in each group were administered 10 g of a 7% xylobiose-sugar mixture (Experiment 1: XBS, n = 15) or 10 g of a 7% xylobiose-sugar mixture containing coffee mix (Experiment 2: XBS coffee mix, n = 16) twice per day for 6 weeks. During the study, clinical efficacy was assessed by a daily diary record. The subjects recorded their defecation frequency and fecal characteristics. RESULTS: During pretreatment week, mean defecation frequency of XBS subjects was 2.13 times/week, whereas that of XBS coffee mix subjects was 1.56 times/week. The mean defecation frequencies of XBS and XBS coffee mix subjects increased significantly to 3.73 times/week (p < 0.05) and 3.56 times/week by week 6 (p < 0.05), respectively. After treatment with either XBS or XBS coffee mix, patients presented significant improvements in their amounts of stool, feelings of residual stool leftness, and abdominal pain symptoms (p < 0.05). The total constipation scoring system (CSS) for diagnosing constipation symptoms significantly decreased in the XBS group (10.53 score vs 7.22 score) and in the XBS coffee mix group (10.75 score vs 6.51 score) after 6 weeks. Improvement due to intake of 7% xylobiose-containing sugar seemed to last during the experimental period. CONCLUSION: The addition of approximately 7% xylobiose to commercially available sweeteners has been shown to improve constipation.
Abdominal Pain ; Coffee ; Constipation* ; Defecation* ; Female ; Humans ; Sweetening Agents ; Treatment Outcome

Increased sugar consumption has been proposed to be a risk factor for obesity-related metabolic disorders. The objective of this study was to investigate the anti-inflammatory effect of turanose in Raw 264.7 macrophages. Turanose (3-O-α-D-glucosyl-D-fructose), an isomer of sucrose, naturally exists in honey. For these studies, macrophages were treated with total glucose (Glu), 50% Glu/50% turanose (T50), 25% Glu/75% turanose (T75), and 100% turanose (T100), each with a total concentration of 25 mM in cell media. Expressions of inflammatory enzymes and cytokines were analyzed. Cell viability was not affected in the turanose treated groups compared to the Glu group. Lipopolysaccharide and glucose-induced nitric oxide production, protein expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase, COX-2, and superoxide dismutase 2, and mRNA expression levels of interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-18 were significantly suppressed by turanose treatment. These results demonstrate that turanose exerts anti-inflammatory effects in vitro, and possesses potential to serve therapeutic functional sweetener for testing in vivo and in clinical trials.
Cell Survival ; Cytokines ; Glucose ; Honey ; In Vitro Techniques ; Inflammation* ; Interleukin-18 ; Interleukins ; Macrophages ; Nitric Oxide ; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II ; RAW 264.7 Cells* ; Risk Factors ; RNA, Messenger ; Sucrose* ; Superoxide Dismutase ; Sweetening Agents

BACKGROUND: Rebaudioside A and erythritol are nonnutritive sweeteners. There have been several studies of their glycemic effects, but the outcomes remain controversial. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the glycemic effects of rebaudioside A and erythritol as a sweetener in people with glucose intolerance. METHODS: This trial evaluated the glycemic effect after 2 weeks of consumption of rebaudioside A and erythritol as sweeteners in a pre-diabetic population. The patients were evaluated for fructosamine, fasting plasma glucose, C-peptide, insulin, and 2-hour plasma glucose before and after consumption of sweetener. The primary outcome was a change in fructosamine levels from the baseline to the end of treatment. Secondary outcomes were the changes in levels of fasting plasma glucose and 2-hour plasma glucose. RESULTS: From the baseline to the end of experiment, the changes in fructosamine levels after consumption of rebaudioside A and erythritol, did not differ significantly (244.00±19.57 vs. 241.68±23.39 µmol/L, P=0.366). The change in levels from the baseline to end of the study for rebaudioside A and erythritol were fasting plasma glucose (102.56±10.72 vs. 101.32±9.20 mg/dL), 2-hour plasma glucose (154.92±54.53 vs. 141.92±42.22 mg/dL), insulin (7.56±4.29 vs. 7.20±5.12 IU/mL), and C-peptide (2.92±1.61 vs. 2.73±1.31 ng/mL), respectively, and also did not differ significantly (P>0.05 for all). CONCLUSION: Our study suggests that consumption of rebaudioside A and erythritol does not alter the glucose homeostasis in people with glucose intolerance.
Blood Glucose ; C-Peptide ; Erythritol* ; Fasting ; Fructosamine ; Glucose Intolerance* ; Glucose* ; Homeostasis ; Humans ; Insulin ; Sweetening Agents

Artificial sweeteners (AS) are ubiquitous in food and beverage products, yet little is known about their effects on the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, and whether they play a role in the development of GI symptoms, especially in patients with irritable bowel syndrome. Utilizing the PubMed and Embase databases, we conducted a search for articles on individual AS and each of these terms: fermentation, absorption, and GI tract. Standard protocols for a systematic review were followed. At the end of our search, we found a total of 617 eligible papers, 26 of which were included. Overall, there is limited medical literature available on this topic. The 2 main areas on which there is data to suggest that AS affect the GI tract include motility and the gut microbiome, though human data is lacking, and most of the currently available data is derived from in vivo studies. The effect on motility is mainly indirect via increased incretin secretion, though the clinical relevance of this finding is unknown as the downstream effect on motility was not studied. The specific effects of AS on the microbiome have been conflicting and the available studies have been heterogeneous in terms of the population studied and both the AS and doses evaluated. Further research is needed to assess whether AS could be a potential cause of GI symptoms. This is especially pertinent in patients with irritable bowel syndrome, a population in whom dietary interventions are routinely utilized as a management strategy.
Absorption ; Beverages ; Fermentation ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Humans ; Incretins ; Irritable Bowel Syndrome ; Microbiota ; Sweetening Agents*

OBJECTIVETo study the effect of extracellular DNA(eDNA) on the formation of Streptococcus mutans(Sm) biofilms during different growth periods in sucrose environment.

METHODSSm biofilms were established on smooth glass surfaces under the environment of 1% sucrose and cultured in the condition of 37 ℃, 5% O2, 85% N2 and 10% CO2. Samples were randomly divided into four groups based on fourculture time(6,12, 24 and 48 h), respectively. Each group was further divided into two subgroups: control group(without deoxyribonuclease Ⅰ[DNaseⅠ] treatment) and test group(with DNaseⅠtreatment). DNaseⅠ was added 1 h advance in the treatment group to a final concentration of 100 U/ml. Each sample was stained with mixed SYTO-9/PI fluorescent dye. Confocal laser scanning microscopy was used for biofilm observation and scanning. The total biomass, the thickness and the volume of red fluorescence of each biofilm sample were measured following three-dimensional reconstruction using the softwear of Imaris 7.2.3.

RESULTSUnder the environment of 1% sucrose, the Sm bacterial adhesion and distribution density increased over time, the quantity of eDNA and membrane-damaged bacteria which were indicated by red fluorescence also increased within 24 h but dropped later. The biofilm biomasses of Sm biofilm in 6, 12, 24 and 48 h DNaseⅠ treatment group reduced significantly(P<0.05) compared to those in the corresponding control groups by 81.3%, 85.0%, 90.1% and 12.4%, respectively. The biofilm thicknesses in each DNase Ⅰ treatment group (except 6 h group) also reduced significantly(P<0.05) compared to those in the corresponding control group by 34.4%, 45.6% and 23.6%, respectively. The quantities of eDNA and membrane-damaged bacteria reduced in each treatment group except 48 h group compared to that in the corresponding control group.

CONCLUSIONSUnder the environment of 1% sucrose, eDNA plays an important role in promoting the formation of Sm biofilm.

Bacterial Adhesion ; drug effects ; Biofilms ; growth & development ; DNA ; physiology ; Deoxyribonuclease I ; pharmacology ; Microscopy, Confocal ; Streptococcus mutans ; physiology ; Sucrose ; Sweetening Agents ; Temperature