Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Beverage or beverage concentrate
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-08
2001-07-24
Weier, Anthony J. (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Products per se, or processes of preparing or treating...
Beverage or beverage concentrate
C426S548000, C426S598000, C426S658000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06265012
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to beverage compositions having minimal lingering sweet aftertastes and to methods of making such beverage compositions. More particularly, the present invention relates to the use of tannic acid to reduce the lingering sweet aftertaste in beverage compositions that have been sweetened with sucralose.
2. Description of the Related Art
Artificial sweeteners are common ingredients in beverage compositions. Unfortunately, artificial sweeteners often negatively affect taste. Various approaches have been explored in the past to overcome such negative effects.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,647,483 issued to Eisenstadt discloses that glucono delta lactone, sodium gluconate and cream of tartar powder may be used to eliminate the bitter aftertaste conventionally associated with the artificial sweetener saccharine. U.S. Pat. No. 4,219,579 issued to Pampiano, on the other hand, provides that an aqueous extract of Gentiana Lutea may be used to reduce or eliminate the bitter aftertaste of saccharine. U.S. Pat. No. 4,254,155 issued to Dwivedi teaches that the lingering bitter aftertaste associated with the use of the artificial sweetener neohesperidin dihydrochalcone may be overcome by adding a taste modifier such as glycine, maltol, ethyl maltol, monosodium glutamate, disodium 5′-inosinate, sodium acetate, calcium sulfate or calcium chloride. U.S. Pat. No. 3,510,310 issued to Breck woldt provides that one may eliminate the problems with the taste, mouthfeel and texture of beverage mixes pre-sweetened with the artificial sweetener N-cyclohexylsulfamic acid by adding adipic, citric, fumaric, malic, lactic, tartaric, or succinic acid, or mixtures thereof. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,106,632 issued to Wong, which relates to sweetening compositions containing at least potassium chloride, one or more food grade additives, and the artificial sweetener acesulfame-K, discloses that fumaric, adipic, succinic, citric, butyric, capric, tartaric and malic acid, or mixtures thereof, may be added to the disclosed compositions to impart a taste or sensation of sourness.
In each of the patents mentioned above, the respective food-grade acids were used to overcome the negative effects on taste associated with the particular artificial sweetener employed. Food-grade acids also have been used, however, to affect properties of artificially-sweetened beverages other than those directly associated with taste. For example, U.S Pat. No. 4,292,336 issued to Latymer relates to a heat-stable sweetening composition containing a peptide sweetener such as thaumatin, and provides that the pH of such a composition can be adjusted by adding citric, malic, fumaric or mucie (galactaric) acids. Dwivedi, discussed above, teaches that certain acidulants may be added to compositions sweetened with the artificial sweetener neohesperidin dihydrochalcone to overcome discoloration problems associated with this particular sweetener.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The prior art has failed to address, however, the problem of reducing the lingering sweet aftertaste present in beverage compositions that have been artificially sweetened with sucralose. Because sucralose is a promising artificial sweetener for beverages such as colas, coffees, teas, dairy beverages, fruit juice drinks, and other flavored beverages such as orange and lemon-lime drinks, there is a need in the art for sucralose-sweetened compositions having reduced lingering sweet aftertastes and for methods for reducing the lingering sweet aftertaste typically associated with sucralose-sweetened beverage compositions.
The present invention meets this need in the art by providing sucralose-sweetened beverage compositions that have been modified through the addition of a relatively low amount of one or more tannic acid compounds so as to produce compositions possessing minimal or no lingering sweet aftertaste. The present invention further relates to methods for reducing the lingering sweet aftertaste of sucralose-sweetened beverage compositions by adding a stoichiometrically effective amount of one or more tannic acid compounds to such sucralose-sweetened beverage compositions. The present invention additionally provides methods of making beverage compositions having minimal or no lingering sweet aftertastes which involve blending sucralose with one or more tannic acid compounds.
Additional aspects and advantages of the present invention are set forth in part in, or will be apparent from, the detailed description of exemplary embodiments which follows, or may be learned through routine practice of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Sucralose is an artificial sweetener often used in beverage compositions, either alone or in combination with other high-intensity artificial sweeteners such as acesulfame-K, cyclamate and alitame. In a water solution, sucralose in about 600 times sweeter than sugar and possesses a clean taste profile. Unfortunately, sucralose exhibits a prolonged lingering sweet aftertaste in certain beverage compositions, especially cola beverage compositions. Consumers consider this lingering sweet aftertaste to be undersirable.
In accordance with the present invention, it has been discovered that the use of a relatively low amount of one or more tannic acid compounds compared to the amount of sucralose present significantly reduces or eliminates the lingering sweet aftertaste associated with sucralose. Thus, the aftertaste of sucralose-sweetened beverage compositions (both carbonated and non-carbonated) can be brought closer to that of “regular” products, i.e. products sweetened with sucrose or high fructose corn syrup (“HFCS”), by the addition of one or more tannic acid compounds.
For purposes of the present invention, the terminology “tannic acid compound” refers to the group of natural, plant-derived phenolic compounds known as tannins as well as structural equivalents and derivatives thereof, including but not limited to both hydrolyzable tannins and condensed tannins. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the one or more tannic acid compounds used to reduce the lingering sweet aftertaste of sucralose are those having molecular weights of between from about 200 to about 1900, and more preferably between from about 400 to about 900. Gallotannins of the general formula C
19,n
H
13,n
O
12,n
, known as polygalloylesters of glucose-guinic acid, are particularly useful for reducing or eliminating the lingering sweetness of sucralose-sweetened beverage compositions. Such tannic acid compounds are commercially available. For example, OmniChem Products supplies a variety of gallotannin compounds under the Tanal, Tanex, Floctan, Textan, Oenotan, Biograde and Brewtan designations.
In general, the one or more tannic acid compounds are added to the beverage composition according to the present invention in an amount effective to reduce or eliminate the lingering sweet aftertaste associated with the sucralose component of the composition. The amount required depends on the amount of sucralose present.
According to a preferred embodiment, the amount of the one or more tannic acid compounds effective to reduce or eliminate the lingering sweet aftertaste of sucralose is a stoichiometric amount of tannic acid relative to sucralose of approximately 10±1 ppm tannic acid to 220 ppm sucralose. In other words, a beverage composition containing 220 ppm sucralose preferably contains 10±1 ppm tannic acid, whereas a beverage composition containing only 100 ppm sucralose preferably contains only 5 ppm tannic acid.
Higher levels of tannic acid beyond the stoichiometric amount noted above typically will not provide any further beneficial effects with respect to aftertaste. However, an excess of tannic acid may be used in accordance with the present invention as long as there is no resulting adverse effect on taste or any other sensory property of the beverage composition. Thus, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, the tannic ac
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
PepsiCo Inc.
Weier Anthony J.
LandOfFree
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