SWEETNESS FLAVOR INTERACTIONS IN SOFT DRINKS

Sucrose can be substituted by intense sweeteners to lower the calorie content of soft drinks. Although the sweetness is kept at the same lev el as much as possible, the flavour of the product often changes. This change could be due to both the mechanism of sensory perception and i nteractive effects of the aroma compounds. Several types of interactio n and some techniques for measuring interactive effects are reviewed. An example of psychological interaction is the influence of colour on flavour. Interactions of flavour molecules with the receptor can be af fected by changes in their micro-environment. Molecular interactions p lay a role in the release of volatile compounds from aqueous solutions ; release is increased by sugars and salts, and decreased by lipids an d proteins. Intense sweeteners, such as aspartame and neohesperidine d ihydrochalcone, interact with volatile compounds and modify the intens ities of flavour attributes. The use of combinations of intense sweete ners can solve the flavour problems encountered with single sweetener applications. A quaternary model of Beidler's mixture equation was use d to describe the sweetness of a light blackcurrant soft drink, contai ning the intense sweeteners saccharin, cyclamate, aspartame and ace-su lfam-K. The perceived sweetness of the light soft drink was lower than the sweetness of the original sucrose-sweetened soft drink. A proport ional enhancement of the concentrations of the intense sweeteners was utilized to meet the sweetness of this classic soft drink. Consequentl y, the aroma attribute strawberry increased, while the currant and sou r related attributes decreased. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Lt d