Comparison of Taste Properties of Aspartame with Other Sweeteners

This chapter provides an overview of the taste properties of aspartame and to compare them with other sweeteners. The potency of aspartame relative to sucrose depends on the delivery system and concentrations used. In general, however, its relative potency at moderate sweetness intensity is 150 to 200 times that of sucrose. Traditional theories of taste have presumed that there are four primary tastes: sweet, sour, salty, and bitter; all other taste sensations were held to be combinations of these four. Aspartame is the artificial sweetener found to taste most similar to sugars. Sweeteners with long aftertastes such as monellin, thaumatin, and neohesperidin dihydrochalcone were perceived to deviate the most. Nonhomogeneous variability in human sensitivity found in the intensity-matching experiments, as well as threshold measurements for a range of compounds varying in chemical structure, suggests that there are several sweet receptor types.