Psychophysical characterization of new sweeteners of commercial importance for the EC food industry

Quantitative psychophysical information on the perceptual characteristics of sucrose (as reference), sodium cyclamate, aspartame, neohesperidin dihydrochalcone (NHDHC) and maltitol were established through the determination and the modelling of their concentration-response ( C-R) functions according to linear, Beidler or Hill equations, the recording of the time-intensity ( T-I) curves with the determination of the T-I parameters for each sweetener, and the establishment of the sensory profile of the sweetener solutions by the QDA technique. Bulk and intense sweeteners present dissimilar C-R functions. The C-R function observed for maltitol is linear while aspartame, cyclamate and NHDHC exhibit a saturation plateau around 10–13% sucrose equivalent. Temporal characteristics of aspartame and cyclamate are comparable to those of sucrose and maltitol, whereas the T-I characteristics of NHDHC contrast with those of the other sweeteners, essentially because of its long onset and persistence times. Bitter taste and bitter aftertaste are attributes that differentiate maltitol and sucrose from artificial sweeteners. Bitter and metallic are non-sweet aftertastes characteristic of cyclamate, while NHDHC is mainly defined by a liquorice-like and cooling/ menthol flavour. Caramel flavour is associated with nutritive sweeteners, and burnt sugar flavour is related to synthetic sweeteners, except cyclamate, which is characterized by both flavours.