Obesity is a major problem all over the world. People are becoming more and more interested in weight and health and strive to do so. The main target in diabetes management is blood sugar control. Therefore, in the food industry, alternative sweeteners have been found to give sweet taste without calories. Sugar substitution is a food additive that contains much less food energy than sugar-based sweeteners but provides a taste like sugar. Although these sugars have the desired sweetness, they are not metabolized in the human body and therefore do not cause caloric intake.
In fact, a sweetener is a food additive that mimics the sweet effect of sugar. The nutritional option provided by sweeteners generally helps in the treatment of obesity and diabetes.
Some sweeteners consist of substances with very intense sweet taste. Therefore, it is used in small amounts in order not to taste too much sugar. Saccharin, aspartame, neotam, sucralose and cyclamate are among such sweeteners.
As diabetes, obesity, hypertension and heart disease increase in the world, the amount of sugar in foods, sugars, soft drinks and other foodstuffs is of concern. However, there are concerns that sweeteners also cause other health problems. Therefore, while artificial sweeteners attract attention, researches on them continue. Controversy continues as to whether the use of artificial sweeteners creates health risks.
Research is continuing to produce sweeteners with the desired amount of sweetness, low calorie and least observed physiological effects. These studies naturally require many tests and analyzes.
The use of sweeteners in various foods and beverages is very popular in many countries. Extensive scientific research has confirmed the use of sweeteners called stevia, acesulfame-K, aspartame, neotam, saccharin and sucralose in foods in the US and European countries, and these six low-calorie sweeteners are safe.
Briefly, a sugar substitute is a food additive that enhances the effect of sugar taste, but generally has lower nutritional energy. Sweetened is about two hundred times sweeter than sugar. Some sugar substitutes are natural and some are synthetic. Non-natural sugar substitutes are commonly referred to as artificial sweeteners. Today, producers in the food industry are increasingly using sugar or corn syrup instead of artificial sweeteners. However, artificial sweeteners create a very high profit margin for the companies producing them.
Meanwhile, in the food industry, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is used in commercially prepared food products. In addition, corn syrup is a sugar extracted from corn and made into liquid form and is pure glucose. However, some of the glucose in HFCS was converted to fructose by chemical process. In this way, corn syrup is made much sweeter than normal table sugar. Corn syrup is derived from corn starch and is mainly glucose. It is used to increase aroma in food products, gain volume, prevent sugar crystallization and soften the texture.
Sweetener tests in advanced laboratories mainly comply with the following standards:
- TS EN 1376 Foodstuffs - Determination of saccharin in sweetening tablets used in table - Spectrometric method
- TS EN 1377 Foodstuffs - Spectrometric method for determination of acesulfame k in sweetener tablets used in table
- TS EN 1378 Foodstuffs - Determination of aspartame in sweetening tablets used in table - HPLC method
- TS EN 1379 Foodstuffs - Determination of cyclamate and saccharin in liquid sweeteners used in table - HPLC method
EUROLAB carries out additional sugar analyzes within the scope of numerous laboratory services. Thanks to these tests, enterprises receive more efficient, high performance and quality testing services and provide safe, fast and uninterrupted service to their customers.
In addition to additional sugar analysis within the scope of laboratory services, EUROLAB also provides other testing services.