Sweetness Enhancers Reduce Sweetener Load
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current sweeteners, both natural and synthetic, face challenges such as high costs, environmental impact, and consumer demand for non-caloric alternatives, with existing low-caloric sweeteners being expensive and having a high carbon footprint, while natural sweeteners are caloric and costly to produce.
Innovation Solution
Combining natural sweeteners with specific sweetness enhancers like terpenes, flavonoids, amino acids, and polyols at levels below their sweetness detection threshold to enhance sweetness perception, reducing the amount of sweetener needed and potentially lowering calorie intake.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If natural sweeteners like sucrose, fructose, and glucose are used, then good taste is achieved, but caloric intake and production costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines natural sweeteners with sweetness enhancers (terpenes, flavonoids, amino acids, proteins, polyols, and other natural sweeteners) to create a synergistic effect that enhances sweetness perception. This merging allows achieving desired sweetness at lower sweetener concentrations, thereby reducing caloric intake while maintaining good taste.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention creates composite sweetener formulations by combining multiple components: natural sweeteners (sucrose, fructose, glucose) with various sweetness enhancers from different chemical classes. This composite approach optimizes both taste quality and caloric content by leveraging the enhancing properties of compounds like terpenes and flavonoids that amplify sweetness perception without adding significant calories.
2Quantity of substance
If non-caloric or low-caloric sweeteners are used, then calorie intake is reduced, but cost increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent identifies and utilizes multiple types of sweetness enhancers from different chemical classes (terpenes, flavonoids, amino acids, proteins, polyols) that can universally enhance the sweetness of various sweeteners. This multi-functionality allows the system to work with different sweetener combinations, providing cost-effective alternatives to expensive non-caloric sweeteners while maintaining low caloric content.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the concentration parameters of sweeteners and enhancers to optimize the balance between cost and performance. By carefully controlling the amounts of each component (with enhancers at or below sweetness detection threshold levels), the formulation achieves desired sweetness with lower costs compared to using expensive non-caloric sweeteners alone, while maintaining low caloric intake.
3Productivity
If carbohydrate sweetener production is increased, then sweetness supply is met, but carbon footprint increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the production parameters by reducing the overall quantity of carbohydrate sweeteners needed through the synergistic effect of sweetness enhancers. Since enhancers like terpenes, flavonoids, and other natural compounds amplify sweetness perception, fewer carbohydrate units are required to achieve the same sweetness level, thereby reducing the carbon footprint associated with carbohydrate sweetener production while maintaining adequate sweetness supply.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed herein are sweetener compositions comprising at least one sweetener and at least one sweetness enhancer chosen from terpenes (such as sesquiterpenes, diterpenes, and triterpenes), flavonoids, amino acids, proteins, polyols, other known natural sweeteners (such as cinnamaldehydes, selligueians, hematoxylins), secodammarane glycosides, and analogues thereof, wherein the at least one sweetness enhancer is present in the composition in an amount at or below the sweetness detection threshold level of the sweetness ehancer, and the at least one sweetener and the at least one sweetness enhancer are different. Also disclosed herein are methods for enhancing sweetness of a composition, comprising combining at least one sweetener and at least one sweetness enhancer chosen from terpenes (such as sesquiterpenes, diterpenes, and triterpenes), flavonoids, amino acids, proteins, polyols, other known natural sweeteners (such as cinnamaldehydes, selligueians, hematoxylins), secodammarane glycosides, and analogues thereof, wherein the at least one sweetness enhancer is present in the composition in an amount at or below the sweetness detection threshold level of the at least one sweetness enhancer, and the at least one sweetener and the at least one sweetness enhancer are different.