How advantame can be used
Advantame is mainly used to replace sugar and other bulk sweeteners. Tests show advantame can replace up to 40 percent of sugar without any effect on taste.
Advantames may be used in a variety of products.
What happens in the body?
On its way through the gastrointestinal tract, advantame undergoes hydrolysis and becomes a carboxylic acid and methanol. Formic acid, acetic acid, and butyric acid are examples of other carboxylic acids. The one formed during hydrolysis of advantame is called ANS9801-acid.
The body cannot absorb either advantame or the acid it forms. Everything comes out the natural way. Between 87 and 93 percent via faeces and the rest via urine.
The methanol that is formed is considered harmless due to its small amount.
Safety of advantame
So, is advantame safe?
The short answer is yes. Advantame has been extensively tested on everything from mice to humans without any adverse effects in either the short or long term.
But for safety’s sake, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has set 5 milligrams per kilogram of body weight and day as an acceptable daily intake (ADI). It is far below the doses of over 7,000 milligrams with which advantame has been tested.
It may seem to meagre with 5 mg/kg body weight and day. But the fact is that even large consumers of sweetened products can never get more than a few micrograms per kilogram of body weight and day. So the limit is abundant.
Advantages of advantame
With the risk of sounding like an advertising brochure for advantame (which definitely isn’t our intention), many of the benefits of the sweetener are listed below:
- 20,000 times sweeter than sugar and 100 times sweeter than aspartame.
- Has no off-flavour or undesirable aftertaste.
- The taste profile is very similar to aspartame.
- Is more stable than aspartame when heated and at higher pH values.
- Is completely stable in dry form.
- Gives no energy (adds 0 calories)
- Does not affect the blood sugar level (GI = 0)
- Cheap to manufacture
- No health problems
Disadvantages of advantame
It’s hard to find any negative to say about advantame – except it is artificial. There is only one thing you really should take into consideration:
- It takes a second before the taste buds register advantame, which means that you have to use another sweetener as a buffer.
Summary
Advantame is the result of a persistent search for a sugar-like high-intensity sweetener – far from chemists who lick their fingers and accidentally discover sweeteners, which history is otherwise full of.
Advantame is formed from aspartame and vanillin, which in turn are chemically produced ingredients. It is undeniably a high-intensity sweetener; it is 20,000 times sweeter than sugar. By comparison, aspartame is 100 times sweeter than sugar. Advantame is at least as stable as aspartame, and more stable during heating. It also has a longer sweet aftertaste.
Advantame is not dangerous for humans according to the studies that have been done. It can be used in a large number of foods to replace sugar and high-calorie sweeteners.