U.S. Food and Drug Administration has registered a new sugar substitute, which paved the way to the production and sale of this product. The sweetener was named Advanta.
Advanta is approved for use in the manufacturing of soft drinks, chewing gums, ice cream, frozen desserts, jams and jellies, fruit juices and syrups. The sweetener is reported to have zero-calorie content; it does not increase the glucose level in the body.
Advanta is very sweet: its chemical formula is close to another sweetener, aspartame, though the new substitute significantly exceeds it in flavor intensity. For this reason, smaller quantities of it are required to achieve the same sweetness. Due to the need to consume it in much smaller quantities, Advanta has another advantage over aspartame. The new sweetener is not dangerous for patients with phenylketonuria, a rare and serious genetic metabolism disease, associated with impaired metabolism of amino acids.
Due to its powder texture, Advanta is soluble in water and is chemically stable even at high temperatures, which makes it suitable for baking. It is the sixth sweetener in the list, officially approved in the United States. The list of sweeteners used to include aspartame, sucralose, saccharin, acesulfame potassium and neotame.
