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Tagatose is a functional sweetener. It is a naturally occurring monosaccharide, specifically a hexose. It is often found in dairy products, and is very similar in shape and texture to sucrose (table sugar) and is 92% as sweet, but with only 38% of the calories.
Tagatose is Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) by the FAO/WHO and has been since 2001.
Since it is metabolized differently from sucrose, tagatose has a minimal effect on blood glucose and insulin levels.
How tagatose is made
Tagatose is present in only small amounts in dairy products. It can be produced commercially from lactose, which is first hydrolyzed to glucose and galactose. The galactose is isomerized under alkaline conditions to D-tagatose by calcium hydroxide. The resulting mixture can then be purified and solid tagatose produced by crystallization.
Development as a sweetener
Gilbert Levin upon learning about chirality, had the idea to search for a left-handed sugar. Cycling through the various left-handed sugars, he was accidentally sent D-tagatose, structurally similar to L-fructose. Even though Levin thought that his answer to a sweetener would be found in a left-handed sugar, it was the right-handed molecular form that proved to be a winner. FDA approved tagatose as a food additive in October,2003.
Tagatose delays
In 1996, MD/Arla Foods acquired the rights to production from Spherix, the American license holder. In the following years, no products were brought to market by MD/Arla Foods and so Spherix brought them before the US Court of Arbitration for showing insufficient interest in bringing the product to market. The companies settled, with MD/Arla Foods agreeing to pay longer term royalties to Spherix and Spherix agreeing to not take further action.
Products using tagatose
- 7-Eleven's Diet Pepsi flavored Slurpee
- Miada Chocolite
- Pasco Light & Tasty Juice
- Shugr by Swiss Diet
- SweetFiberby Dr. Murray Natural Living
- Therasweetby Living Fuel
Tagatose manufacturers
External links
"Tagatose"