High-Intensity Sweeteners

High-intensity sweeteners are substances used to produce a sweet taste at much lower amounts than table sugar, or sucrose, because they are many times sweeter. Their high sweetness potency means that only small quantities are needed in foods and beverages, so they generally contribute little or negligible energy in the amounts used for sweetening .¹

High-intensity sweeteners are not a single chemical class. They include compounds with very different structures and origins, including synthetic substances such as saccharin and sucralose and plant-derived compounds such as certain steviol glycosides. Despite their chemical diversity, many sweet-tasting compounds are detected through the T1R2/T1R3 sweet taste receptor .^1,2

The term high-intensity refers specifically to sweetness potency relative to sucrose. It does not by itself describe how a sweetener is produced or its chemical structure. High-intensity sweeteners are therefore distinct from sugars and many sugar alcohols, which generally require much larger quantities to provide comparable sweetness and can also contribute bulk to a food .^1,2

Individual high-intensity sweeteners differ substantially in sweetness intensity, taste profile, stability, metabolism, and permitted uses. Examples include aspartame, acesulfame potassium, saccharin, sucralose, neotame, advantame, and certain steviol glycosides. High-intensity sweetener is therefore best understood as a functional category based on sweetness potency rather than as a specific chemical class .^1,2