Currently, most foods and beverages use stevioside and mogroside as sweeteners. Several natural sweeteners have been discovered and may be more widely used in the future.

1. Sweet tea extract (Ruboside)

Sweet tea is a new variety of the genus Rubus in the Rosaceae family. It was discovered as a medicine in my country in the early 1980s. Sweet tea leaves have been used in folk medicine for a long time and are often used to replace sucrose in processed foods. They are used as folk medicine to nourish the kidneys and lower blood pressure. They are known as magic teas and are as famous as Monk fruit.

Rubusoside, which is rich in sweet tea, is a diterpene glycoside, which is similar to stevioside in chemical structure. They are both composed of the same aglycone. The only difference between the two is that there is one less glucose molecule on the tenth carbon in rubusoside. The sweetness of rubusoside is 300 times that of sucrose, while the calorific value is only 5% of sucrose. It is a natural sweetener with high sweetness and low calorie.

Rubusoside can activate human insulin and blood sugar, and has a good health care effect on patients with diabetes and kidney deficiency. Rubusoside extracted from sweet tea leaves has the best taste among sweet plants. Because of its green and natural nature, health care and low heat, it has shown good economic value in various industries such as food, beverages, cold food products, condiments, pharmaceutical industry, beauty cosmetics, etc.

It is worth mentioning that the National Health and Family Planning Commission’s website recently accepted sweet tea as a new food ingredient. After approval, this plant extract will have more room for development.

2. Licorice Extract (Glycyrrhizin)

Glycyrrhizin is a triterpenoid active ingredient extracted from the root and stem of the medicinal plant licorice. It has the characteristics of high sweetness, low calories, safety and non-toxicity, and has anti-inflammatory, antiviral, anti-allergic, and immunomodulatory effects. In recent years, glycyrrhizin has been widely used in the pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetic industries. With the gradual expansion of the artificial planting area of licorice, the extraction of glycyrrhizin from licorice as a natural sweetener and health food has attracted the attention of many domestic and foreign scholars.

Glycyrrhizic acid salt in glycyrrhizin plays the main role in sweetening. Among them, the sweetness of monopotassium glycyrrhizinate is 500 times that of sucrose, the sweetness of dipotassium and tripotassium glycyrrhizinate is 150 times that of sucrose, and the sweetness of ammonium glycyrrhizinate is 200 times that of sucrose. Generally, the sweetness of the mixture of glycyrrhizic acid and its salt extracted from licorice is 50 to 100 times that of sucrose. Compared with sweeteners such as sucrose, protein sugar, stevioside, and saccharin, the sweetness of glycyrrhizin is slow and lasts longer. When mixed with sucrose, it helps to exert sweetness and save sucrose; when mixed with stevioside, it has a synergistic effect on sweetness and can eliminate its unpleasant aftertaste. In addition, glycyrrhizin has a unique flavor. When used with salt, it can alleviate the taste of salt, enhance the seasoning effect, and produce a full and soft taste.

The caloric value of glycyrrhizin is almost zero, and it can be widely used as a sweetener for low-calorie foods. When mixed with other low-calorie sweeteners, it can replace sucrose to produce low-calorie health foods suitable for obesity and diabetes patients. In addition, glycyrrhizin is a natural compound extracted from plants and is listed as a "generally recognized safe substance" by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

3. Orange peel extract (neohesperidin)

Neohesperidin is a new natural nutritional sweetener extracted from Citrus aurantium. The hydrogenated neohesperidin dihydrochalcone is 1500-2000 times sweeter than sucrose and is widely used as a sweetener in fruit juice, wine, beverages, cakes and pharmaceutical formulations.

Neohesperidin combined with other sweeteners can produce a strong synergistic effect, which can increase sweetness, reduce the amount of sweeteners, reduce costs, and make the sweetness purer. Adding neomethyl hesperidin dihydrochalcone to carbonated beverages can improve the product's sourness, astringency, and bad aftertaste. At the same time, NHDC does not undergo heat conversion in the body and is a low-calorie sweetener with physiological activities such as lowering blood sugar, lowering cholesterol, and anti-oxidation. It is particularly suitable as a sugar substitute in functional foods, health products, dietary supplements and other healthy foods.