Sweet foods, such as this strawberry shortcake, are often eaten for dessert. Dessert is a course that typically comes at the end of a meal usually consisting of sweet Food but sometimes of a strongly-flavored one such as some Cheeses The

Sweet is one of the five basic tastes and is almost universally regarded as a pleasurable experience. Taste (or more formally gustation) is a form of direct Chemoreception and is one of the traditional five Senses Pleasure is commonly conceptualized as a positive experience Happiness, Entertainment, Enjoyment, ecstasy, and euphoria, but is hard Foods rich in simple carbohydrates such as sugar are those most commonly associated with sweetness, although there are other natural and artificial compounds that are much sweeter, some of which have been used as sugar substitutes for those with a sweet tooth. Carbohydrates (from ' Hydrates of Carbon ' or saccharides ( Greek σάκχαρον meaning " Sugar " are the most Sugar is a class of edible Crystalline substances mainly Sucrose, Lactose, and Fructose. Other compounds may alter perception of sweetness itself.

The chemosensory basis for detecting sweetness, which varies among both individuals and species, has only been teased apart in recent years. A chemosensor, also known as chemoreceptor, is a Sensory receptor that transduces a chemical signal into an Action potential. The current theoretical model is the multipoint attachment theory, which involves multiple binding sites between sweetness receptor and the sweet substance itself. The word theory has many distinct meanings in different fields of Knowledge, depending on their methodologies and the context of discussion.

Examples of sweet substances

Further information: Sugar substitute

A great diversity of chemical compounds, such as aldehydes and ketones are sweet. A chemical compound is a substance consisting of two or more different elements chemically bonded together in a fixed proportion by Mass. An aldehyde is an organic compound containing a terminal Carbonyl group. A ketone (pronounced as key tone) is either the Functional group characterized by a Carbonyl group (O=C linked to two other Carbon atoms or Among common biological substances, all of the simple carbohydrates are sweet to at least some degree. Carbohydrates (from ' Hydrates of Carbon ' or saccharides ( Greek σάκχαρον meaning " Sugar " are the most Sucrose (table sugar) is the prototypical example of a sweet substance, although another sugar, fructose, is somewhat sweeter. Solubility of Pure SucroseTemperature(Cg Fructose (also levulose or laevulose) is a simple reducing Sugar ( Monosaccharide) found in many foods and is one of the three Some of the amino acids are mildly sweet: alanine, glycine, and serine are the sweetest. In Chemistry, an amino acid is a Molecule containing both Amine and Carboxyl Functional groups In Biochemistry, this Alanine (abbreviated as Ala or A) is an α- Amino acid with the Chemical formula HO2CCH(NH2CH3 Glycine (abbreviated as Gly or G) is the Organic compound with the formula NH2CH2COOH Serine (abbreviated as Ser or S) is an Organic compound with the formula H[[oxygen O]]2 CCH NH sub>2CH2OH Some other amino acids are perceived as both sweet and bitter. Taste (or more formally gustation) is a form of direct Chemoreception and is one of the traditional five Senses

A number of plant species produce glycosides that are many times sweeter than sugar. Sugar is a class of edible Crystalline substances mainly Sucrose, Lactose, and Fructose. The most well-known example is glycyrrhizin, the sweet component of licorice root, which is about 30 times sweeter than sucrose. Glycyrrhizin is the active principle of Liquorice root It is a powerful Sweetener, 30&ndash50 times as potent as Sucrose ( Table sugar) Liquorice (UK or licorice (US (see spelling differences;, or) is the root of Glycyrrhiza glabra, from which a sweet flavour can be extracted Another commercially important example is stevioside, from the South American shrub Stevia rebaudiana. The steviol glycosides are responsible for the sweet taste of the leaves of the Stevia plant ( Stevia South America is a Continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a Stevia is a Genus of about 240 Species of herbs and Shrubs in the sunflower family ( Asteraceae) native to Subtropical It is roughly 250 times sweeter than sucrose. Another class of potent natural sweeteners are the sweet proteins such as thaumatin, found in the West African katemfe fruit. Thaumatin is a low-calorie (virtually calorie-free protein sweetener and flavour modifier West Africa or Western Africa is the Westernmost Region of the African Continent. Hen egg lysozyme, an antibiotic protein found in chicken eggs, is also sweet. Lysozyme is a family of Enzymes ( which damage bacterial cell walls by catalyzing Hydrolysis of 14-beta-linkages between N-acetylmuramic acid and In modern usage an antibiotic is a Chemotherapeutic agent with activity against Microorganisms such as Bacteria, fungi or Protozoa An egg is a round or oval body laid by the female of many animals consisting of an Ovum surrounded by layers of Membranes and an outer casing which acts to nourish

Even some inorganic compounds are sweet, including beryllium chloride and lead acetate. Cyclamate is an Artificial sweetener that was discovered in 1937 at the University of Illinois by graduate student Michael Sveda A sulfonate ion is an ion that contains the -S(=O2-O&minus Functional group. Aspartame (or APM) (ˈæspɚteɪm or /əˈspɑrteɪm/ is the name for an artificial non- Saccharide Sweetener, aspartyl-phenylalanine-1-methyl Saccharin is an Artificial sweetener. The basic substance Benzoic sulfinide, has effectively no Food energy and is about 300 times as sweet as A sulfonyl group is an organic radical or Functional group obtained from a Sulfonic acid by the removal of the Hydroxyl group Traditionally inorganic compounds are considered to be of mineral not biological origin Beryllium chloride is the Chemical compound with the formula BeCl2 Lead(II acetate is a Chemical compound, a white crystalline substance with a Sweetish taste The latter may have contributed to lead poisoning among the ancient Roman aristocracy: the Roman delicacy sapa was prepared by boiling soured wine (containing acetic acid) in lead pots. Lead poisoning (also known as saturnism, plumbism, or painter's colic) is a medical condition caused by increased levels of the metal Lead in Ancient Rome was a Civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC Wine is an Alcoholic beverage made from the fermentation of Grape juice Acetic acid, also known as ethanoic acid, is an organic chemical compound, giving Vinegar its sour taste

Hundreds of synthetic organic compounds are known to be sweet. The number of these that are legally permitted as food additives is, however, much smaller. For example, chloroform, nitrobenzene, and Ethylene glycol are sweet, but also toxic. Chloroform, also known as trichloromethane and methyl trichloride, is a Chemical compound with formula C[[Hydrogen H]] Cl Nitrobenzene, also known as nitrobenzol or oil of mirbane, is an Organic compound with the Chemical formula C 6 Ethylene glycol ( monoethylene glycol ( MEG) 12-ethanediol, IUPAC name: ethane-12-diol) is an Alcohol with two -OH As of 2005, seven artificial sweeteners are in widespread use: saccharin, cyclamate, aspartame, acesulfame potassium, sucralose, alitame, and neotame. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Saccharin is an Artificial sweetener. The basic substance Benzoic sulfinide, has effectively no Food energy and is about 300 times as sweet as Cyclamate is an Artificial sweetener that was discovered in 1937 at the University of Illinois by graduate student Michael Sveda Aspartame (or APM) (ˈæspɚteɪm or /əˈspɑrteɪm/ is the name for an artificial non- Saccharide Sweetener, aspartyl-phenylalanine-1-methyl Acesulfame potassium is a Calorie -free Artificial sweetener, also known as Acesulfame K or Ace K ( K being the symbol for Sucralose is an artificial sweetener originally sold under the trade name Splenda, and now also supplied as SucraPlus. Alitame is an artificial Sweetener developed by Pfizer in the early 1980s and currently marketed in some countries under the brand name Aclame. Neotame is an Artificial sweetener made by NutraSweet that is between 8000 and 13000 times sweeter than Sucrose (table sugar Cyclamate was banned for a short period in the US, and a similar situation occurred in Canada with saccharin. ^[1]

Sweetness modifiers

The Miracle fruit, origin of Miraculin

A few substances alter the way sweet taste is perceived. The Miracle Fruit plant ( Synsepalum dulcificum) produces berries that when eaten cause Bitter and Sour foods (such as Lemons and One class of these inhibits the perception of sweet tastes, whether from sugars or from highly potent sweeteners. Commercially, the most important of these is lactisole^[3], a compound produced by Domino Sugar. Lactisole is a Carboxylic acid salt, like Gymnemic acid‎, it is a sweet-inhibitor or taste-modifier Domino Foods Inc is a Company that produces various types of Sugar. It is used in some jellies and other fruit preserves to bring out their fruit flavors by suppressing their otherwise strong sweetness.

Two natural products have been documented to have similar sweetness-inhibiting properties: gymnemic acid, extracted from the leaves of the Indian vine Gymnema sylvestre and ziziphin, from the leaves of the Chinese jujube (Ziziphus jujuba). Gymnemic acids are Glycosides isolated from the leaves of Gymnema sylvestre ( Asclepiadaceae) India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country Gymnema sylvestre RBr is a Herb native to the Tropical forests of southern and central India where it has been used as a Naturopathic Ziziphin, a triterpene Glycoside which exhibits taste-modifying property has been isolated from the leaves of Ziziphus jujuba ( Rhamnaceae Ziziphus zizyphus (from Greek ζίζυφον - zizuphon, syn Z ^[4] Gymnemic acid has been widely promoted within herbal medicine as a treatment for sugar cravings and diabetes mellitus. Herbalism is a traditional Medicinal or Folk medicine practice based on the use of Plants and Plant extracts Herbalism is also known as Diabetes mellitus (ˌdaɪəˈbiːtiːz or /ˌdaɪəˈbiːtəs/ /məˈlaɪtəs/ or /ˈmɛlətəs/ often referred to simply as diabetes ( Ancient Greek: grc

On the other hand, two plant proteins, miraculin^[5] and curculin^[6], cause sour foods to taste sweet. Miraculin is a Glycoprotein extracted from the Miracle fruit plant a shrub native to West Africa ( Synsepalum dulcificum or Curculin is a sweet Protein that was discovered and isolated in 1990 from the fruit of Curculigo latifolia ( Hypoxidaceae) a plant from Taste (or more formally gustation) is a form of direct Chemoreception and is one of the traditional five Senses Once the tongue has been exposed to either of these proteins, sourness is perceived as sweetness for up to an hour afterwards. While curculin has some innate sweet taste of its own, miraculin is by itself quite tasteless.

The sweetness receptor

Sweetness is perceived by the taste buds.

Despite the wide variety of chemical substances known to be sweet, and knowledge that the ability to perceive sweet taste must reside in taste buds on the tongue, the biomolecular mechanism of sweet taste was sufficiently elusive that as recently as the 1990s, there was some doubt whether any single "sweetness receptor" actually exists. Taste buds are small structures on the upper surface of the Tongue, Soft palate, upper Esophagus and Epiglottis that provide information about The tongue is the large bundle of Skeletal muscles on the floor of the Mouth that manipulates Food for chewing and swallowing (deglutition The 1990s collectively refers to the years between and including 1990 and 1999

The breakthrough for the present understanding of sweetness occurred in 2001, when experiments with laboratory mice showed that mice possessing different versions of the gene T1R3 prefer sweet foods to different extents. The House Mouse ( Mus musculus) is one of the most numerous species of the genus Mus commonly termed a Mouse. History See also History of genetics The existence of genes was first suggested by Gregor Mendel (1822-1884 who in the 1860s studied inheritance Subsequent research has shown that the T1R3 protein forms a complex with a related protein, called T1R2, to form a G-protein coupled receptor that is the sweetness receptor in mammals. G protein-coupled receptors ( GPCRs) also known as seven transmembrane domain receptors, 7TM receptors, heptahelical receptors, and ^[7]

Sweetness perception may differ between species significantly. For example, even amongst the primates sweetness is quite variable. A primate is a member of the biological order Primates ( Latin: "prime first rank" the group that contains Lemurs the Aye-aye New World monkeys do not find aspartame sweet, while Old World monkeys, apes and humans all do. The New World monkeys are the four families of Primates that are found in Central and South America: Cebidae, Aotidae, Pitheciidae The Old World monkeys or Cercopithecidae are a group of Primates falling in the Superfamily Cercopithecoidea in the Clade ^[8] Felidae like cats cannot perceive sweetness at all. Felidae is the biological family of the cats a member of this family is called a felid. WikipediaManual of Style (spelling, articles should conform to one overall spelling style of English typically the one most linked to the article topic (if it is geographic

Historical theories of sweetness

Lugduname is the sweetest chemical known.

The development of organic chemistry in the 19th century introduced many new chemical compounds and the means to determine their molecular structures. Organic chemistry is a discipline within Chemistry which involves the scientific study of the structure properties composition reactions, and preparation Molecular geometry or molecular structure is the three- Dimensional arrangement of the Atoms that constitute a Molecule. Early organic chemists tasted many of their products, either intentionally (as a means of characterization) or accidentally (due to poor laboratory hygiene). Hygiene refers to practices associated with ensuring good health and cleanliness One of the first attempts to draw systematic correlations between molecules' structures and their tastes was made by a German chemist, Georg Cohn, in 1914. He advanced the hypothesis that in order to evoke a certain taste, a molecule must contain some structural motif (called a sapophore) that produced that taste. With regard to sweetness, he noted that molecules containing multiple hydroxyl groups and those containing chlorine atoms are often sweet, and that among a series of structurally similar compounds, those with smaller molecular weights were often sweeter than the larger compounds. Hydroxyl in Chemistry stands for a molecule consisting of an Oxygen atom and a Hydrogen atom connected by a Covalent bond. Chlorine (ˈklɔriːn from the Greek word 'χλωρóς' ( khlôros, meaning 'pale green' is the Chemical element with Atomic number 17 and The molecular mass (abbreviated m of a substance, more commonly referred to as molecular weight and abbreviated as MW, is the Mass of one

In 1919, Oertly and Myers proposed a more elaborate theory based on a then-current theory of color in synthetic dyes. A dye can generally be described as a Colored substance that has an affinity to the substrate to which it is being applied They hypothesized that in order to be sweet, a compound must contain one each of two classes of structural motif, a glucophore and an auxogluc. Based on those compounds known to be sweet at the time, they proposed a list of six candidate glucophores and nine auxoglucs.

From these beginnings in the early 20th century, the theory of sweetness enjoyed little further academic attention until 1963, when Robert Shallenberger and Terry Acree proposed the AH-B theory of sweetness. Simply put, they proposed that in order to be sweet, a compound must contain a hydrogen bond donor (AH) and a Lewis base (B) separated by about 0. A hydrogen bond results from a Dipole-dipole force between an Electronegative atom and a Hydrogen atom bonded to Nitrogen, Oxygen An electron donor is a chemical entity that donates Electrons to another compound 3 nanometres. A nanometre ( American spelling: nanometer, symbol nm) ( Greek: νάνος nanos dwarf; μετρώ metrό count) is a According to this theory, the AH-B unit of a sweetener binds with a corresponding AH-B unit on the biological sweetness receptor to produce the sensation of sweetness.

A later refinement of this theory was the AH-B-X theory proposed by Lemont Kier in 1972. While previous researchers had noted that among some groups of compounds, there seemed to be a correlation between hydrophobicity and sweetness, this theory formalized these observations by proposing that in order to be sweet, a compound must have a third binding site (labeled X) that could interact with a hydrophobic site on the sweetness receptor via London dispersion forces. In Chemistry, hydrophobicity (from the combining form of water in Attic Greek hydro- and for fear phobos) refers to the physical property of The Van der Waals equation is an Equation of state that can be derived from a special form of the potential between a pair of molecules (hard-sphere repulsion Later researchers have statistically analyzed the distances between the presumed AH, B, and X sites in several families of sweet substances to estimate the distances between these interaction sites on the sweetness receptor.

The most elaborate theory of sweetness to date is the multipoint attachment theory (MPA) proposed by Jean-Marie Tinti and Claude Nofre in 1991. This theory involves a total of eight interaction sites between a sweetener and the sweetness receptor, although not all sweeteners interact with all eight sites. This model has successfully directed efforts aimed at finding highly potent sweeteners, including the most potent family of sweeteners known to date, the guanidine sweeteners. Guanidine is a Crystalline compound of strong Alkalinity formed by the Oxidation of Guanine. The most potent of these, lugduname, is about 225,000 times sweeter than sucrose. Lugduname is the most potent sweetening agent known to man Lugduname has been estimated to be between 220000 and 300000 times as sweet as Sucrose (table sugar with

References

Cited

General

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