eli5: Why do companies combine several types of sweeteners instead of increasing the amount of one?
In: Chemistry
1. Different sweeteners have different side effects. Some affect the viscosity, mouth feel, and after taste. They try to balance all that by using different kinds of sweeteners.
2. Cost. Some sweeteners are expensive, some are cheap. Again, they balance that out to a certain target price point.
As well as the aftertaste comment, another reason is if you use just one sweetener, or even just plain old sugar, it will be one of first ingredients listed on the packed (maybe even the top ingredient). However if you use three different sweeteners, they each will appear much further down the list, giving the impression that it is healthier/more natural.
All sweeteners come with more than sweetness alone. Sugar is the most common sweetener but is also known to have unwanted side-effects. Some sweeteners have a unwanted aftertaste when consumed in higher quantities. Others have a bad reputation because we don’t know that much about their side-effects. So companies try to find ways to meet consumers demand.
Some sweeteners in large concentrations don’t have pleasant tastes, try a tablet of saccharine straight to the tongue. Is not good
If you put too much of one, you end up with a noticeable aftertaste depending on what you use. If you use a little bit of a few of them, you get the same sweetening effect without as much of an aftertaste.
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