Scientific Opinion on the energy conversion factor of d‐tagatose for labelling purposes

The complex relationship between metabolic syndrome and sweeteners

Metabolic syndrome is a multifactorial disorder originating from central obesity through a high caloric intake and a sedentary lifestyle. Metabolic syndrome increases the risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D) disease, converting it to one of the costliest chronic diseases, which reduces life quality. A strategy proposed by the food industry to reduce this problem is the generation of low-caloric products using sweeteners, which are compounds that can substitute sucrose, given their sweet taste. For many years, it was assumed that sweeteners did not have a relevant interaction in metabolism. However, recent studies have demonstrated that sweeteners interact either with metabolism or with gut microbiota, in which sweet-taste receptors play an essential role. This review presents an overview of the industrial application of most commonly consumed sweeteners. In addition, the interaction of sweeteners within the body, including their absorption, distribution, metabolism, gut microbiota metabolism, and excretion is also reviewed. Furthermore, the complex relationship between metabolic syndrome and sweeteners is also discussed, presenting results from in vivo and clinical trials. Findings from this review indicate that, in order to formulate sugar-free or noncaloric food products for the metabolic syndrome market, several factors need to be considered, including the dose, proportions, human metabolism, and interaction of sweeteners with gut microbiota and sweet-taste receptors. More clinical studies, including the metabolic syndrome, are needed to better understand the interaction of sweeteners with the human body, as well as their possible effect on the generation of dysbiosis.

Rare mono- and disaccharides as healthy alternative for traditional sugars and sweeteners?

Obesity and type 2 diabetes are major health problems affecting hundreds of millions of people. Caloric overfeeding with calorie-dense food ingredients like sugars may contribute to these chronic diseases. Sugar research has also identified mechanisms via which conventional sugars like sucrose and fructose can adversely influence metabolic health. To replace these sugars, numerous sugar replacers including artificial sweeteners and sugar alcohols have been developed. Rare sugars became new candidates to replace conventional sugars and their health effects are already reported in individual studies, but overviews and critical appraisals of their health effects are missing. This is the first paper to provide a detailed review of the metabolic health effects of rare sugars as a group. Especially allulose has a wide range of health effects. Tagatose and isomaltulose have several health effects as well, while other rare sugars mainly provide health benefits in mechanistic studies. Hardly any health claims have been approved for rare sugars due to a lack of evidence from human trials. Human trials with direct measures for disease risk factors are needed to allow a final appraisal of promising rare sugars. Mechanistic cell culture studies and animal models are required to enlarge our knowledge on understudied rare sugars.