Cweet

Cweet for the Sweet-Toothed If you’re hankering for an alternative to artificial sweeteners such as aspartame and sucralose, keep watching supermarket shelves. Within 12 to 18 months, you could be satisfying your sweet tooth— calorie-free—with an African plant derivative called brazzein, marketed under the brand name Cweet. Although brazzein’s sweetening potential has long been known, until recently it wasn’t practical for mass production. Breakthroughs at the University of Wisconsin have solved that puzzle with a process now licensed to California-based Natur Research Ingredients. Ounce for ounce, brazzein is said to be 1,000 times sweeter than ordinary sugar, making it effectively zero calories, with no undesirable aftertaste. Heat-stable as well as water-soluble, brazzein is touted as suitable for everything from cookies to sodas. Once greenlighted by the FDA, brazzein is expected to be priced similarly to sucralose. from Tuft's University Health and Nutrition Letter Jan 2008