Why the need for so many sweeteners in so much stuff?

[jas72]

i gave up fizzy pop in December I now drink fizzy water (can't go to flat yet it's just too boring) even ice cold water


So i'm slowly moving away from sweetners although i still take them in coffee

 

[XeNoN89]

Is this some sort of joke?

Because I've been drinking at least 2 cans of coke every day for the past 10 years and I'm only 6'1" and about 9.8 stone.

less than 10 stone and 6'1?


You need to eat more.

 

[Radiation]

Can anyone explain one possible reason for three different sweeteners though?

It contains Acesulfame K, Aspartame and Sodium Saccharin, plus real sugar and also fruit juices which probably has some natural sugars as well, i could perhaps understand they might add one sweetener like most stuff seems to these days but why go over the top and add an extra two other kinds, it doesn't make a lot of sense from a taste or profit point of view surely?

 

[Belmit]

Because, as already mentioned, any one of those sweeteners on its own may make the drink taste horrible. A careful blend of different ingredients make the drink taste completely different. Why do some baked goods have different types of flour in the same recipe?

 

[Tefal]

Can anyone explain one possible reason for three different sweeteners though?

It contains Acesulfame K, Aspartame and Sodium Saccharin, plus real sugar and also fruit juices which probably has some natural sugars as well, i could perhaps understand they might add one sweetener like most stuff seems to these days but why go over the top and add an extra two other kinds, it doesn't make a lot of sense from a taste or profit point of view surely?

Because it tastes better.


Simple answer they get groups of people and give them various versions of the recipe see which most people like (and what demographics they're in) then adjust it and so on till they get a good balance between taste/cost/lifespan etc.


Odds are a single artificial sweetener does not taste like sugar or very nice but a blend of them gives a fuller and overall nicer flavour.

If you really want to know email them or a food scientist.

 

[Radiation]

I don't buy it, aspartame alone is often enough and as far as i know sweet is sweet, there's already been a trend in adding these sweeteners to stuff that doesn't need it and now we are seeing multiple types used in one product, if there's any chance any of them cause negative health effects then they should be treated like they do other artificial ingredients nowadays, why do sweeteners get away with it?

 

[Tefal]

Go taste some aspartame it tastes nothing like sugar nor is it particularly pleasant on it's own.

I don't buy it,

right so the company does it why then?

Just for the hell of it?

Seriously go email them or a food science department at a university

 

[stiv121]

Because food tastes to good nowerdays and there trying to make it taste better

 

[Belmit]

Just one example from wiki:

"Saccharin is an artificial sweetener. The basic substance, benzoic sulfimide, has effectively no food energy and is much sweeter than sucrose, but has an unpleasant bitter or metallic aftertaste, especially at high concentrations."

So obviously you use something that compliments this and covers that bitter aftertaste. Maybe there are two other sweeteners that, when mixed, take away that aftertaste and enhance the main flavour of the saccharin. Just an example.

 

[Tefal]

Quick example go get yourself some fructose and some glucose syrup.


Two simple natural sugars but they taste considerably different.


Notice how honey a blend of those two and a few others has a very different taste to each on it's own.

 

[Radiation]

Just one example from wiki:

"Saccharin is an artificial sweetener. The basic substance, benzoic sulfimide, has effectively no food energy and is much sweeter than sucrose, but has an unpleasant bitter or metallic aftertaste, especially at high concentrations."

So obviously you use something that compliments this and covers that bitter aftertaste. Maybe there are two other sweeteners that, when mixed, take away that aftertaste and enhance the main flavour of the saccharin. Just an example.

It may add an extra bit of after taste etc but sweet is sweet, what did fanta used to taste like when it was natural sugar?

I've heard in the US many soft drinks like coke taste different to ours and not as nice because they use extra sweeteners or just sweeteners, or was thay corn syrup i forget, anyway normal sugar tastes pretty good in coke so i don't see why fanta or many other products need all these added sweeteners nowadays?

 

[Tefal]

It may add an extra bit of after taste etc but sweet is sweet

No it isn't.

Quick example go get yourself some fructose and some glucose syrup.


Two simple natural sugars but they taste considerably different.


Notice how honey a blend of those two and a few others has a very different taste to each on it's own.

Does honey taste the same as sugar to you?

Does artificial tea sweetener taste like either?

 

[Radiation]

No it isn't.

Does honey taste the same as sugar to you?

Does artificial tea sweetener taste like either?

You're thinking of smell taste, im talking about the tongue which sweetness is sensed by, sure other flavors may be picked up by the nose.

Anyway my argument is sweeteners make stuff taste worse if anything, adding more then would seem like a bad idea, especially if they also cause some headaches and have other negative health effects.

 

[Belmit]

It may add an extra bit of after taste etc but sweet is sweet, what did fanta used to taste like when it was natural sugar?

Again, we seem to be at odds over semantics. I agree that sweet is sweet. On a sliding scale, things have a different degree of sweetness. Sweeteners don't just sweeten. They have a taste, and these tastes combine to change the overall taste of the product.

 

[Tefal]

You're thinking of smell taste, im talking about the tongue which sweetness is sensed by, sure other flavors may be picked up by the nose.

So when you drink you're saying that somehow you only taste with your tongue?

Actually lets get knip in here, she's got anosmia iirc so we can see if she can tell the difference between honey and sugar by taste.

Anyway my argument is sweeteners make stuff taste worse if anything,

That's not what the millions of pounds these companies have spent of market research and product development have found.

 

[Radiation]

So when you drink you're saying that somehow you only taste with your tongue?

Actually lets get knip in here, she's got anosmia iirc so we can see if she can tell the difference between honey and sugar by taste.

Ok fair enough, how though is two extra sweeteners better than just adding some other ingredient to improve the taste, more sweeteners can only be a bad thing, when did normal sugar stop being enough anyway?

 

[Tefal]

Ok fair enough, how though is two extra sweeteners better than just adding some other ingredient to improve the taste,

Because those sweeteners will do the job better.

more sweeteners can only be a bad thing,

Why?

when did normal sugar stop being enough anyway?

When people wanted things to taste better.

 

[whitecrook]

It's much much cheaper to use sweeteners than sugar for many reasons.

Also, currently it's seen as A Good Thing to promte your product having, reduced sugar, or sugar free. This to me essentially means 'pumped full of sweeteners' so I don't buy them.

 

[platypus]

*goes back to his ice cold water*

Bad for your singing voice!

 

[Gob]

We need the sweetner to detract from the taste of the preservatives silly!