The determining factor for a product’s success on the market is taste. This also applies to low-calorie products, where consumers are increasingly unwilling to compromise on taste. Consequently, it is all the more important for manufacturers to take full advantage of every opportunity to improve taste.

Nutrinova has conducted a series of studies, the results of which show that for each flavour, certain sweetener combinations taste better than others. Since flavours and sweetening systems interact, optimizing both flavour and sweetening systems together can give powerful results.

Example: Flavor-sweetener interactions in Cola

The taste attributes ‘spicy’ and ‘lemon-lime’ were defined for cola flavour. An interesting aspect here is that different sweetening systems can particularly emphasise one or the other of these two taste attributes: The blend Sunett®/aspartame/cyclamate/saccharine (15/15/20/50) brings out the lemony taste particularly well. A spicier flavour can best be achieved with the combinations Sunett®/aspartame/cyclamate (35/35/30) and Sunett®/sugar (30/70), as they bring out this taste especially well. Basically, good results can be achieved for the criterion ‘cola’ when the spicy and lemon taste attributes are balanced or the spicy flavour is slightly stronger. All the sugar-free systems push cola towards the artificial side taste when compared to sugar. The combination Sunett®/sugar (30/70) comes closest to sugar. One of the systems with the strongest artificial flavour is sucralose. Combining sucralose with Sunett® (60/40) considerably reduced the bitter attribute and improved the sweetness profile.