Main description:

This handbook compiles comprehensive reference information on sweeteners for academic researchers and professionals. It discusses both natural as well as synthetic products, considering health-related and economical aspects. Renowned authors mostly from academia, but also from the industry, summarize information about the chemistry, biological and pharmacological aspects, as well as bioavailability and applications of sweeteners. The book introduces various substance classes of sweeteners, which are mainly plant-derived, including glycosidic and terpenoid sweeteners, peptidic sweeteners, sweet-tasting proteins and protein-derived sweeteners (e.g. stevioside, sucralose, aspartame, thaumatin, brazzein and many more). Chapters address topics such as the isolation and purification of the compounds, their physical, chemical and biological properties, pharmacological activities, and also critically discuss their applications in view of health and ecotoxicological aspects. A special emphasis is on low or no-calorie sweeteners, for which there is an increasing demand and intensified research activities currently.
This reference work hence provides the readers with key information and will serve the needs of graduate students and scholars, researchers and professionals working in the fields of chemistry, botany, biotechnology, or pharmacological or agricultural research, as well as in the food industry or the marketing of sweeteners.

Contents:

Part I Sweeteners - introduction and general aspects: Artificial sweeteners.- Non-Caloric Sweeteners, Sweetness Modulators, and Sweetener Enhancers.- Characterization of artificial sweeteners using raman spectroscopy.- HPLC-MS/MS analysis of nine artificial sweeteners.- Non-Nutritive sweeteners and their role in the gastrointestinal tract.- Biotechnological production of natural zero-calorie sweeteners.- Sweeteners/sweet proteins from plants.- Sweeteners: regulatory aspects.-

Part II Stevioside: Production and physicochemical assessment of new stevia amino acid sweeteners from the natural stevioside.- Analysing major steviol glycosides from Stevia rebaudiana leaves.- Effect of a natural sweetener (steviol glycoside) on cardiovascular risk factors.- Stevia rebaudiana antioxidant activities and cellular properties.- Somatic Embryogenesis of Stevia rebaudiana.- Stevia rebaudiana: optimal culture conditions.-

Part III Sucralose: Sucralose and the metabolic response.- Sucralose - An ecotoxicological challenger?.- Analytical methodologies for the detection of sucralose.- Is sucralose too good to be true?.- Potential use of isomaltulose to healthier candies.-

Part IV Mogrosides: Biosynthesis of mogrosides.- Bioactivities of mogrosides.- Biotransformation of mogrosides.- Phytochemical and pharmacological aspects of mogrosides.- Methods of isolation, purification of mogrosides from Siraitia grosvenorii.-

Part V Glycyrrhizin: Biological and pharmacological activities of Glycyrrhizin.- Production of glycyrrhizae radix.- Production of glycyrrhetic acid 3-O-mono- -d-glucuronide by whole-cell biocatalysis.-

Part VI Brazzein: Brazzein: A Natural Sweetener.- Designing brazzein by mutations.- Brazzein from the Yeast, Pichia pastoris.-Brazzein from Lactobacillus.-

Part V Aspartame: Aspartame and pharmacological effects.- Neurobehavioral Effects of Aspartame Consumption.- Aspartame and oxidative stress.-

Part VII Thaumatin: The sweet-tasting protein thaumatin: Physical and chemical properties.- Plant thaumatin-like proteins.- Transgenic plants as supersweet protein thaumatin II producers.-

Part VIII Mabinlin, Monatin, and Monellin: Recombinant expressions of sweet plant protein mabinlin II.- R,R-Monatin, a Naturally Occurring High-Potency Sweetener.- Monellin.- Monellin from transgenes.- Improving flavour and quality of fruits by monellin expression.