New Sweetness Enhancer May Put Extra Sweet in Your Sweetener

In the battle against childhood obesity a new food additive may be on the way that can preserve the sweetness of favorite treats while still reducing calories up to 25 percent.

Reb-C, as it's called, is a sweetness enhancer, not a sweetener in its own right. However, with its apparent ability to magnify the sweetness of foods, it may be easier to minimize the use of sugar, corn syrups, and other sweeteners while maintaining the same flavor loved by kids (and grown-ups!) around the world in their cereals and baked goods.

Reb-C is a derivative of the stevia plant, the same one that produces the "natural" sweetener of the same name that has recently gained public attention. In the quest to provide us with sweet foods that are somehow tasty, low-calorie, and "natural," stevia is the newest contender.

However, Reb-C and it's flavorful uses aren't limited to sugar and stevia itself. According to The Food Navigator in it's recent article on artificial sweeteners, Reb-C shows promising results when combined with sucralose and aspartame.

This means that when combined with Reb-C popular food items could rely less on artificial sweeteners altogether.

However, food distributors and manufacturers will still have to wait awhile before they can enhance the power of their sweets with Reb-C; it's still in the testing phase, and though it's creators are excited to get it on the market "very quickly" there's still a lot of work to be done before Americans will find Reb-C on their list of food ingredients at the market.