thaumatin tagged posts

A new study by the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich shows for the first time that bitter tasting protein fragments (peptides) are produced in the stomach during the digestion of the natural sweetener thaumatin. In a cellular test system, the peptides are able to stimulate the acid secretion of human stomach cells and influence inflammatory reactions. “Our research helps to elucidate the health effects of the plant protein, which is widely used as a sweetener,” says Veronika Somoza, head of the study and director of the Leibniz Institute.

Veronika Somoza’s team is researching, among other things, how bitter-tasting food compounds influence the metabolism of s...

Japanese researchers have made a sweeter version of thaumatin, a natural sweetener widely used in “diet” beverages, gummies, and jelly candies. Credit: Eiri Ono/Kyoto University

Researchers have made a sweeter version of thaumatin, a natural sweetener commonly used in ‘diet’ beverages, gummy, and jelly candies. Thaumatin, a protein derived from the fruit of an African tropical plant, is the sweetener of choice when it comes to “diet” beverages and gummy and jelly candies boasting natural ingredients. Thaumatin also masks bitterness and helps enhance flavor.

Only humans and primates taste sweetness from thaumatin. Masuda and colleagues have analyzed its structure with X-rays to determine which parts of the protein make it taste sweet to us...