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Sucralose is a non-caloric sweetener made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar. Its unique combination of sugar-like taste and excellent stability allows sucralose to be used as a replacement for sugar in virtually every type of food and beverage, including in most home cooking and baking recipes. |
Discovered in 1976, sucralose has been developed jointly by Tate & Lyle PLC and McNeil Nutritionals, LLC, a Johnson & Johnson company. Sucralose was approved for use in 15 food and beverage categories by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on April 3, 1998. This was the broadest initial approval ever granted by FDA for a food ingredient. The FDA expanded the uses for sucralose in 1999, approving it as a “general purpose” sweetener. Sucralose has also been approved for use in foods and beverages in nearly 80 countries including Canada, Australia and Mexico.
Sucralose is derived from sugar through a multi-step, patented manufacturing process that selectively substitutes three atoms of chlorine for three hydroxyl groups on the sugar molecule. Chlorine is present naturally in many of the foods and beverages that we eat and drink every day ranging from lettuce and mushrooms to table salt. This change produces a sweetener that has no calories, yet is 600 times sweeter than sucrose. Sucralose tastes like sugar. It has a clean, quickly perceptible, sweet taste that does not leave an unpleasant aftertaste.
Sucralose is not utilized for energy in the body because it is not broken down like sucrose. It passes rapidly through the body virtually unchanged. Sucralose has been extensively tested in more than 100 studies during a 20-year period and found to have an excellent safety profile and to be a remarkably inert ingredient. It can be used by all populations, including pregnant women, nursing mothers, and children of all ages. No population subgroup has been excluded from using sucralose. Sucralose is also suitable for individuals with diabetes because research demonstrates that sucralose has no effect on carbohydrate metabolism, short- or long-term blood glucose control, or insulin secretion.
Sucralose retains its sweetness over a wide range of temperature and storage conditions over time. Because of its stability, food manufacturers can use sucralose to create a number of great-tasting foods and beverages in categories such as canned fruit, low-calorie fruit drinks, baked goods and sauces and syrups. Sucralose also can be used as a sweetener in dietary supplements and medical foods.
Sucralose is available as an ingredient for use in a broad range of foods and beverages under the name SPLENDA® Sucralose. Currently, a range of products sweetened with SPLENDA® Sucralose are on supermarket shelves, such as carbonated soft drinks, low-calorie fruit drinks, yogurts, breakfast cereals, ice cream and dietary supplements. Many foods and beverages also display the “Sweetened with SPLENDA®” logo on their packaging. For more information on SPLENDA® Sucralose ingredient visit www.tateandlyle.com.
Sucralose is available at retail as a tabletop sweetener under the brand name SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener in two forms - granular and packets. The granular tabletop sweetener can be used as a spoon-for-spoon replacement for sugar. It pours and measures like sugar. The convenient packet form can be used to sweeten beverages and sprinkle on cereal or fruit.
New additions to the SPLENDA® Brand family of retail products are SPLENDA® Sugar Blend for Baking and SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend. SPLENDA® Sugar Blend for Baking is the only blend of pure sugar and SPLENDA® Sucralose. For the first time, consumers will be able to experience more of the taste and benefits of sugar when baking at home while cutting sugar in half.
SPLENDA® Sugar Blend for Baking contains sugar, which allows consumers to achieve baked goods that brown, rise and have great texture. Consumers only need to use half a cup of SPLENDA® Sugar Blend for Baking to replace the sweetness of a cup of sugar
SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend is a proprietary mix of brown sugar and SPLENDA® Sucralose. This product is designed to help cut back on calories from sugar, while still providing texture, moistness and flavor like brown sugar. In
SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend, part of the sweetness comes from brown sugar and part from no calorie sucralose - just ½ cup of SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend replaces a full cup of brown sugar in any recipe.
More information on these products is available at www.splenda.com
Benefits
• Tastes Like Sugar
Sucralose tastes like sugar and has no unpleasant aftertaste. In scientific taste tests conducted by independent research organizations, sucralose was found to have a taste profile very similar to sugar.
• Heat Stable
Sucralose is exceptionally heat stable, making it ideal for use in baking, canning, pasteurization, aseptic processing and other manufacturing processes that require high temperatures. In studies among a range of baked goods, canned fruits, syrups, and jams and jellies, no measurable loss of sucralose occurred during processing and throughout shelf life.
• Can Help Control Caloric Intake
Sucralose is not metabolized, thus it has no calories. It passes rapidly through the body virtually unchanged, is unaffected by the body's digestive process, and does not accumulate in the body. By replacing sucralose for sugar in foods and beverages, calories can be reduced substantially, and in many products, practically eliminated.
• Beneficial for People with Diabetes
Sucralose is not recognized as sugar or carbohydrate by the body. Thus, it has no effect on glucose utilization, carbohydrate metabolism, the secretion of insulin, or glucose and fructose absorption. Studies in persons with normal blood glucose levels and in persons with either Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes have confirmed that sucralose has no effect on short or long-term blood glucose control.
• Does Not Promote Tooth Decay
Scientific studies have shown that sucralose does not support the growth of the oral bacteria that promote tooth decay.
• Long Shelf Life
Sucralose combines a sugar-like taste with the heat, liquid and storage stability required for use in all types of foods and beverages. It is particularly stable in acidic products, such as carbonated soft drinks, and in other liquid based products (e.g., sauces, jelly, milk products, processed fruit drinks). Sucralose is also very stable in dry applications such, as powdered beverages, instant desserts, and tabletop sweeteners.
• Ingredient Compatibility
Sucralose has excellent solubility characteristics for use in food and beverage manufacturing and it is highly compatible with commonly used food ingredients, including flavors, seasonings, and preservatives.
Safety
The safety of sucralose is documented by one of the most extensive and thorough safety testing programs ever conducted on a new food additive. More than 100 studies conducted and evaluated over a 20-year period clearly demonstrate the safety of sucralose as a sweetening ingredient. The full array of safety studies was conducted in the areas of cancer, genetic effects, reproduction and fertility, birth defects, immunology, the central nervous system, metabolism and determined that there were no safety concerns in those areas.
Meeting Consumer Demand in the Future
Recent research from the Calorie Control Council Consumer survey shows that more than 180 million adult Americans areincorporating low-calorie, sugar-free foods and beverages into their meal plan as part of a healthy lifestyle. People will continue to demand a greater variety of low-calorie products as they strive to make healthier food choices. Sucralose can help meet this demand because of its unique combination of sugar-like taste and excellent stability. Sucralose can be used in a broad range of products, many of which have been previously unavailable in a reduced calorie, reduced sugar form because sucralose has the ability to withstand high heat and is ideal for cooking and baking.
Sucralose can be used to create whole new categories of food and beverage products, such as reduced-calorie cookies, cakes, ice cream toppings, and fruit and pie fillings. It also can be used to expand markets for existing low-calorie products, such as jams and jellies, chewing gum, and carbonated soft drinks. The availability of sucralose will expand the market by helping to provide products with improved taste, increased stability, and, ultimately, more choices for consumers.
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