Abstract

Artificial sweeteners have increasingly become an area of controversy in food and nutrition.  Consumers are often barraged with a number of contradictory opinions and reports regarding the safety and efficacy of sweeteners. Artificial sweeteners consumption may cause migraines, skin eruption, cancer, obesity, liver and kidney effects.

CHAPTER ONE

 INTRODUCTION

Taste plays a crucial role in determining the quality of a food irrespective of its nutritional merits. In humans, the taste has the additional value of contributing to the overall pleasure and enjoyment of food or drink. Within five basic tastes, sweet taste permits the identification of energy-rich nutrients (Jayaram et al., 2006).

Previous reports indicate that a liking for sweetness and a dislike for bitterness at birth are innate human traits. Sweetness, the traditional sensory indicator of both nutrients and calories, adds to the sensory appeal of a given food. In the fetus, taste buds are developed by the 16thweek of gestation and the newborn infant is able to respond favorably to the sweetened solution.

Thus, we can say the sweet story begins before birth. Sweeteners are the compounds that interact with taste buds that evoke a characteristic response and entrance the perception of sweet taste by making the taste of maternal in which it is added (Mehtani et al., 2003).

Artificial sweeteners or synthetic sweeteners are synthetic sugar substituents but may be derived from naturally occurring substances, including herbs or sugar itself. The development of synthetic sweeteners began in the biochemical industry during the late 19th century.

The first sweeteners synthesized for mass production was saccharin and it is one of the oldest synthetic sweeteners with 300-600 times sweeter than sucrose. Saccharin is available as acid saccharin, sodium saccharin, and calcium saccharin. Cyclamate, Aspartame, Alitame, Acesulfame potassium, and sucralose are other important artificial sweeteners available in the world market.

Ira Remsen, a chemist at Johns Hopkins University, is credited with the discovery of saccharin in 1879.  The invention was merely an accident though Ira Remsen was working in developing coal tar derivatives after testing the purity of a shipment of sugar.

One day during that period, he returned to his home to enjoy his meal as he did every day but failed to wash his hands. While he was eating a piece of bread, he noticed that the bite he just took was incredibly sweet.

Then realized that the sweetness of the bread came from chemicals that he spilled into his hands, he went back into the laboratory and tasted every chemical he had left on his desk until he landed on a beaker filled with sulfobenzoic acid, phosphorous chloride, and ammonia. This cocktail had baled over earlier in the day, creating saccharin, the first artificial sweetener ever created.

Artificial sweeteners are used in a food products for several reasons:

• To laser the calorie content of soda pop and other sweet treats as part of weight reduction and weight maintenance diets.
• To assist patients with diabetes in controlling blood sugar levels more effectively
• To laser the risk of tooth decay.

They are also added as excipients (inert substances) used to make drugs easier to take in tablets or liquid form to some prescription medications to disguise unpleasant tastes because they do not react with the active drug ingredients as natural sugars sometimes do.

In addition to adding a sweet flavour, artificial sweeteners are also used in the manufacture of baked goods, beverages, syrups, and other food products to improve texture, add bulk, retard spoilage, or as part of a fermentation process. The polyols in particular are used to retard spoilage because they do not support the growth of mold or bacteria to the same extend as natural sugars.

Artificial sweeteners have been of great used this past years because of the various problems we face.

• Weight control; one of the most appealing aspects of artificial sweeteners is that they are non-nutritive since they have virtually no calories.
• Diabetes; when suffering from diabetes artificial sweeteners may be a good alternative to sugar

Aim Of Research

The main aim of this review is to understand what artificial sweeteners are composed of, and their effects on humans.

Specific Objectives

1. Classification of artificial sweeteners
2. To review the synthesis of some artificial sweeteners from the laboratory
3. To review the effects of artificial sweeteners on humans.