Trilobatin is a natural dihydrochalcone type sweetener that occurs in the Chinese sweet tea plant Lithocarpus polystachyus, the leaves of which have been consumed as sweet tea in the south of China for centuries. It has also been found in the apple species Malus trilobata, and from this source the name trilobatin was derived. Trilobatin was first chemically synthesized in 1942 under the name p-phlorizin. Under the name prunin dihydrochalcone, U.S. Pat. No. 3,087,821 described its use as a sweetener in 1963.
Trilobatin has been used as a sweetener in concentrations well above its sweetness detection level.
Hesperetin dihydrochalcone 4″-beta-D-glucoside (HDG) is a known sweetener that can be synthesized from hesperidin, which is present in peels/fruit of Citrus sinensis L. (Rutaceae), commonly known as sweet orange and C. reticulata, commonly known as tangerine or mandarin. The synthesis of HDG may be performed by reduction of hesperidin in dilute alkali which yields hesperidin dihydrochalcone, followed by partial hydrolysis, either by acid or by a dissolved or immobilized enzyme, to form HDG, for example as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,429,873.
Again HDG is used in concentrations well above its sweetness detection level.
Applicant surprisingly found that compounds of formula (1) (trilobatin and HDG) are sweetness enhancers and can be used in a low concentration near their sweetness detection threshold in combination with certain sweeteners, including the sugars sucrose, fructose, glucose, high fructose corn syrup (containing fructose and glucose), xylose, arabinose, and rhamnose, the sugar alcohols erythritol, xylitol, mannitol, sorbitol, and inositol, and the artificial sweeteners AceK, aspartame, neotame, sucralose, and saccharine, to enhance the sweetness of said sweeteners.