• Archives of Obesity and Metabolism
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.45-53
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• 2023

Despite the emergence of obesity as a significant public health concern, artificial sweeteners have made their way into various food products due to the perception, that they serve as substitutes for sugar. Artificial sweeteners are used to supposedly achieve weight management and health improvement. However, their efficacy and safety remain debatable. Commonly used artificial sweeteners include aspartame, acesulfame potassium, saccharin, and sucralose. This article discusses the effects of artificial sweetener consumption on weight loss, appetite regulation, blood glucose control, and gut microbiota. Research findings, concerning the consumption of artificial sweeteners and their association with body weight, have shown inconsistencies between randomized controlled trials and cohort studies. Studies, comparing artificial sweeteners to sugar, have reported no significant differences in satiety. Although artificial sweeteners have no calories, they can affect blood sugar levels through the cephalic phase insulin response. A recent study suggested that artificial sweeteners influenced the occurrence of diabetes. Due to limitations in the study design, excluding diabetes-influencing factors was not feasible. The evidence showed that artificial sweeteners harbored potential health risks, necessitating further investigation. According to recent studies, the consumption of artificial sweeteners was associated with gut microbiota changes and individual blood sugar responses. It is important to note that artificial sweeteners cannot be considered safe alternatives to sugar, and further research is required.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.25-30
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• 2017

Saccharin, the first artificial sweetener, was discovered in 1879 that do not have any calories and is approximately 200~700 times sweeter than sugar. Saccharin was the most common domestically produced sweetener in Korea in 2010, and it has been used as an alternative to sugar in many products. The interaction between artificial sweeteners and drugs may affect the drug metabolism in patients with diabetes, cancer, and liver damage, this interaction has not been clarified thus far. Here, we examined the effects of the potential saccharin-drug interaction on the activities of 5 cytochrome P450 (CYPs) in male ICR mice; further, we examined the effects of saccharin (4,000 mg/kg) on the pharmacokinetics of bupropion after pretreatment of mice with saccharin for 7 days and after concomitant administration of bupropion and saccharin. Our results showed saccharin did not have a significant effect on the 5 CYPs in the S9 fractions obtained from the liver of mice. In addition, we observed no differences in the pharmacokinetic parameters of bupropion between the control group and the groups pretreated with saccharin and that receiving concomitant administration of saccharin. Thus, our results showed that saccharin is safe and the risk of saccharin-drug interaction is very low.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 1992

The aspartame, $\alpha$-L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine methylester, is an artificial sweetener. Taking advantage of the fact that the aspartame is a derivative of dipeptide, synthesis of aspartame from the artificial polypeptide made by an artificial gene has been attempted. The artificial polypeptide (LAP32), a polymer of tripeptide (aspartyl-phenylalanyl-lysine), was purified from the E. coli cells harboring a recombinant plasmid containing the artificial gene. This polypeptide was then digested with trypsin and carboxypeptidase B to produce dipeptide (Asp-Phe). Using the esterase activity of $\alpha$-chymotrypsin, the dipeptide was directly converted into Asp-Phe methylester in a water-methanol system. When the methanol concentration in reaction mixture was 25%, 50% of dipeptide was converted to the dipeptide methylester without producing any by-products.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.205-218
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to provide informations on what middle school students know and think about food additives, and their purchase behavior of processed foods containing food additives. The data were gathered by questionaries from 360 students attending in the 3 randomly selected middle schools around Gyeonggi Province. The valid 340 out of 360 questionaries were analysed by SPSS/WIN 12.0. As a result, the middle school students showed low interest in 4 kinds of representative food additives such as synthetic seasoning, artificial sweetener, artificial dye, and synthetic preservative. They thought that the food additives is necessary but not improve the quality of food, and may have harmful effects on health. The students who has mother of university graduate, and taught by text book A showed the highest interest. Most students rarely checked the indication of food additives on the processed food package, and they hardly put any effort to avoid the processed foods containing food additives. According to the results of this study, the students were not aware and did not know about the food additives enough, and needs to be educated more and in detail in home economics class.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.385-390
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• 2009

This survey was conducted to monitor the total sugar, sodium, and artificial sweetener contents of light meals from the school zone in Gwangju, from November, 2008 to April, 2009. A total of 100 samples were tested. HPLC/ELSD was used for the determination of total sugar contents and AAS for sodium contents. Total sugar amounts were the sum of both mono-and disaccharide according to nutritional information standard defined by the Korea Food and Drug Administration. The results were as follows by the form of total sugar content(sodium content): $5.7\;{\pm}\;1.9%$($4.6\;{\pm}\;1.6\;mg/g$) for Tteokbokki, $7.6\;{\pm}\;5.1%$($5.4\;{\pm}\;2.7\;mg/g$) for Chicken(skewed), $15.4\;{\pm}\;3.2%$($3.0\;{\pm}\;0.9\;mg/g$) for Bun(fish-shaped), $0.6\;{\pm}\;0.3%$($3.7\;{\pm}\;1.0\;mg/g$) for Sundae, $0.9\;{\pm}\;0.3%$($7.4\;{\pm}\;1.4\;mg/g$) for Oden(with broth), $20.5\;{\pm}\;6.2%$($2.9\;{\pm}\;0.6\;mg/g$) for Waffle, $6.8\;{\pm}\;2.2%$($4.7\;{\pm}\;1.0\;mg/g$) for Hotdog, $14.2\;{\pm}\;2.8%$($3.1\;{\pm}\;1.6\;mg/g$) for Hotteok, $6.6\;{\pm}\;2.1%$($3.9\;{\pm}\;0.6\;mg/g$) for Toast, $10.1\;{\pm}\;3.7%$($2.3\;{\pm}\;0.7\;mg/g$) for Fry(sweet potato), $1.6\;{\pm}\;0.7%$($4.0\;{\pm}\;0.7\;mg/g$) for Fry(etc), and $9.3\;{\pm}\;2.4%$($4.0\;{\pm}\;0.6\;mg/g$) for Doughnut. In addition, sodium saccharin, one of the artificial sweeteners, was tested. Among 60 samples from February to April, 2009, 11 samples had sodium saccharin(6.7~101.0 mg/kg).

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.142-148
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• 2008

We conducted this analysis to make consumers have useful information about consumed foods on the market by investigating the additives contained in food. Korean food additive code (2007) allowed 634 kinds of food additives to be used in domestic products. The food additives consisted of 426 kinds of synthetic additives, 201 kinds of natural additives and 7 kinds of mixture additives. We purchased total 117 kinds of samples; 94 items including sorts of nuts, vegetables and dried fishery products from local markets and discount marts, and 23 kinds of traditional liquors from March to November, 2007, and we researched for various food additives like artificial sweetener, tar pigments and sulfur dioxide. We detected 11.5 to 4,452.3 mg/kg of sulfur dioxide in 18 out of 94 samples except liquors, finding out some artificial sweetener of sodium saccharin in 2 out of 23 liquors, however, no tar pigments were detected from all of the samples. We found out that 2 cases of shredded jujube from china (2476.6 and 4,452.3 mg/kg) proved to exceed regulatory guidance (2000 mg/kg) in sulfur dioxide. Also, we found out that one dried cherry tomato from china contained 88.9 mg/kg and one domestic dried pumpkin 1653.7 mg/kg of sulfur dioxide which should not be detected in vegetables. In traditional liquors, 2 items out of all samples contained 0.4 and 11.1 mg/kg of sodium saccharin which is strictly prohibited to use in liquors.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.519-524
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• 2000

This study has been carried out to estimate the amount of the daily intake on artificial sweetener(aspartame and sodium saccharin) and antioxidants(propyl gallate, BHA, BHT and TBHQ) in food consumed by Korean. The mean daily intake for each food item were obtained from the report of National Nutrition Survey carried by Ministry of Health and Welfare in 1997. The contents of artificial sweetener and antioxidants have been analyzed by HPLC. Aspartame was detected on 22 of 239 samples in the range of $33.4{\sim}3308.0\;mg/kg$, sodium saccharin was detected on 6 of 115 samples in the range of $8.3{\sim}41.8\;mg/kg$. BHA(204.9 mg/kg) was detected in Chewing gum only. Total estimated daily intake(EDI) of each additives per capita per day are as follows; 2.336 mg/person/day for aspartame, 0.259 mg/person/day for sodium saccharin and 0.002 mg/person/day for BHT. These values were less than 1% of FAO/WHO's acceptable daily intake(ADI).

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.257-265
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• 2018

Sweetener is one of the additives that makes you feel sweet. Artificial sweeteners and sugar are typical examples, and sweetness proteins with sweetness characteristics have been widely studied. These studies elucidated the transformation lettuce cells with Agrobacterium method for stable production of natural sweet proteins, brazzein, thaumatin, and miraculin. In this paper, we report use of a plant expression system for production of sweet proteins. A synthetic gene encoding sweet proteins was placed under the control of constitutive promoters and transferred to lettuce. High and genetically stable expression of sweetener was confirmed in leaves by RT-PCR and Western blot analysis. Sweet proteins expressed in transgenic lettuce had sweetness-inducing activity. Results demonstrate recombinant sweet proteins correctly processed in transgenic lettuce plants, and that this production system could be a viable alternative to production from the native plant.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.314-320
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• 2017

This study was carried out to investigate and evaluate total sugar and artificial sweetener contents in health functional foods. In this study, HPLC with evaporative light scattering detector (ELSD) and HPLC-UV were used to determine the contents of total sugar and artificial sweetener in health functional foods. Sixty-six chewable products and sixty red ginseng products were collected from markets in Seoul. The average content of 126 samples per daily intake portion was 1.96 g ranging from not-detected (N.D.) to 12.61 g. The mean total sugar content per serving of chewable product was 1.26 g and N.D. to 10.39 g. The average amount of total sugar per daily intake of ginseng and red ginseng was 2.70 g and N.D. to 12.61 g. The average amount of sugar per daily intake of chewable products was 2.10 g for children, 1.43 g for nutrients, and 0.35 g for functional raw material. For children's products, the content of sugar per serving was ranged from 1.03 g to 5.33 g, from N.D. to 10.39 g for nutrients and from N.D. to 2.61 g for functional raw materials. The average content of sugar per daily intake of ginseng and red ginseng product was 4.25 g in liquid product, 1.51 g in concentrate product and 1.49 g in powder product. The contents of sugar per the daily intake of the liquid product ranged from N.D. to 10.80 g, from 0.01 g to 12.61 g for the concentrated product, and from 0.06 g to 5.64 g for the powdered product. Analysis of artificial sweeteners showed that artificial sweeteners were detected in three cases. No artificial sweeteners were detected in ginseng and red ginseng products. Two of the chewable products and one of the functional raw materials were detected. The detected artificial sweeteners were aspartame, 3.09 g/kg in nutrients and 1.09 g/kg in functional raw material.

• Journal of the Korean Professional Engineers Association
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.50-53
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• 2010

In order to reduce the obesity incidence, the development of sugarless, low calorie foods and ingredients are required, so normally quality substantially sugarless or fat free food composition comprising a flavoring amount of a low calorie sweeteners such as sugar alcohol, oligosaccharide and natural high sweeteners including stevia, aspartam, sucralose for food processing because of the malady of livelihood habit cause by the obesity. In as much as common sugar is high in calories and its sweetening effect can be obtained with relatively low calorie artificial sweeteners such as stevia, aspartame many products have been offered which are sugar-free, the sweetening effect being obtained with and artificial sweetener.