Definition of sweeteners
Sweeteners are food additives that sweeten foods. At present, there are more than 20 kinds of sweeteners approved for use in China. Non-sugary sweeteners and sugar alcohols are generally regulated as food additives before being called sweeteners. Sweeteners, not sugar high sweetness, dosage is very few, calorific value is small, completely different from sucrose sugars, not involved in the metabolic process, often called the nutritional or low-calorie sweetener, also known as high sweetness sweetening agent or high sweetener (including: stevia glycoside, sucralose, aspartame, AK sugar, sweet, liquorice, glycyrrhizic acid potassium, three potassium, glycyrrhizic acid, ammonium glycyrrhetate, fructus momordicae sweet glycoside, saccharin, new sweet, sweet, Mr. Ma, sweet, sweet, etc.). Sugar alcohol sweeteners (including xylitol, sorbitol, erythritol, maltitol, mannitol, lactose alcohol, iso-maltol, etc.) are mostly synthesized artificially, and their sweetness is about the same as sucrose, or because of their low calorific value, or because of their different metabolic process with glucose, and they have some special USES.
At present, there are many sweeteners in use in the world, and there are different classification methods: according to their sources, they can be divided into natural sweeteners and synthetic sweeteners; According to its nutritional value, it can be divided into nutritive and non-nutritive sweeteners. According to its chemical structure and property classification can be divided into sugar and non-sugar sweet taste. Sugary sweet things such as sucrose, glucose, fructose, fructose syrup and so on all provide sweet taste, in our country is usually called sugar, and classified as food, in the world generally do not belong to food additives. In recent years, the oligosaccharides produced and applied at home and abroad, such as oligofructose and oligomaltose, have certain physiological activities in addition to some sweetness, which are mostly classified as food ingredients and generally not managed as food additives.