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Tagatose is a
hexose In chemistry, a hexose is a monosaccharide (simple sugar) with six carbon atoms. The chemical formula for all hexoses is , and their molecular weight is 180.156 g/mol. Hexoses exist in two forms, open-chain or cyclic, that easily convert into ...
monosaccharide Monosaccharides (from Greek '' monos'': single, '' sacchar'': sugar), also called simple sugars, are the simplest forms of sugar and the most basic units (monomers) from which all carbohydrates are built. Chemically, monosaccharides are polyhy ...
. It is found in small quantities in a variety of foods, and has attracted attention as an alternative sweetener. It is often found in dairy products, because it is formed when milk is heated. It is similar in texture and appearance to
sucrose Sucrose, a disaccharide, is a sugar composed of glucose and fructose subunits. It is produced naturally in plants and is the main constituent of white sugar. It has the molecular formula . For human consumption, sucrose is extracted and refined ...
(
table sugar White sugar, also called table sugar, granulated sugar, or regular sugar, is a commonly used type of sugar, made either of beet sugar or cane sugar, which has undergone a refining process. It is nearly pure sucrose. Description The refining ...
):215 and is 92% as sweet,:198 but with only 38% of the
calorie The calorie is a unit of energy that originated from the caloric theory of heat. The large calorie, food calorie, dietary calorie, kilocalorie, or kilogram calorie is defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of one liter o ...
s.:209 Tagatose is
generally recognized as safe Generally recognized as safe (GRAS) is a United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) designation that a chemical or substance added to food is considered safe by experts under the conditions of its intended use. An ingredient with a GRAS d ...
by the
Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; . (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security. Its Latin motto, , translates ...
and the
World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...
, and has been since 2001. Since it is metabolized differently from sucrose, tagatose has a minimal effect on
blood glucose The blood sugar level, blood sugar concentration, blood glucose level, or glycemia is the measure of glucose concentrated in the blood. The body tightly blood sugar regulation, regulates blood glucose levels as a part of metabolic homeostasis ...
and
insulin Insulin (, from Latin ''insula'', 'island') is a peptide hormone produced by beta cells of the pancreatic islets encoded in humans by the insulin (''INS)'' gene. It is the main Anabolism, anabolic hormone of the body. It regulates the metabol ...
levels. Tagatose is also approved as a tooth-friendly ingredient for dental products. Consumption of more than about 30 grams of tagatose in a dose may cause gastric disturbance in some people, as it is mostly processed in the
large intestine The large intestine, also known as the large bowel, is the last part of the gastrointestinal tract and of the Digestion, digestive system in tetrapods. Water is absorbed here and the remaining waste material is stored in the rectum as feces befor ...
, similar to soluble fiber.:214


Production

Tagatose is a natural sweetener present in only small amounts in
fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...
s, cacao, and
dairy A dairy is a place where milk is stored and where butter, cheese, and other dairy products are made, or a place where those products are sold. It may be a room, a building, or a larger establishment. In the United States, the word may also des ...
products. Starting with
lactose Lactose is a disaccharide composed of galactose and glucose and has the molecular formula C12H22O11. Lactose makes up around 2–8% of milk (by mass). The name comes from (Genitive case, gen. ), the Latin word for milk, plus the suffix ''-o ...
, which is
hydrolyzed Hydrolysis (; ) is any chemical reaction in which a molecule of water breaks one or more chemical bonds. The term is used broadly for substitution, elimination, and solvation reactions in which water is the nucleophile. Biological hydrolysi ...
to
glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecular formula , which is often abbreviated as Glc. It is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. It is mainly made by plants and most algae d ...
and
galactose Galactose (, ''wikt:galacto-, galacto-'' + ''wikt:-ose#Suffix 2, -ose'', ), sometimes abbreviated Gal, is a monosaccharide sugar that is about as sweetness, sweet as glucose, and about 65% as sweet as sucrose. It is an aldohexose and a C-4 epime ...
, tagatose can then be produced commercially from the resulting galactose. The galactose is isomerized under alkaline conditions to D-tagatose by
calcium hydroxide Calcium hydroxide (traditionally called slaked lime) is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula Ca( OH)2. It is a colorless crystal or white powder and is produced when quicklime ( calcium oxide) is mixed with water. Annually, approxim ...
. Under conditions employed for a Meerwein-Ponndorf-Verley reduction, the tetra-O-benzyl galactose converts to tetra-''O''-benzyltagatose.
Hydrogenolysis Hydrogenolysis is a chemical reaction whereby a carbon–carbon or carbon–heteroatom single bond is cleaved or undergoes lysis (breakdown) by hydrogen.Ralph Connor, Homer Adkins. Hydrogenolysis Of Oxygenated Organic Compounds. J. Am. Chem. Soc. ...
removes the four
benzyl group In organic chemistry, benzyl is the substituent or molecular fragment possessing the structure . Benzyl features a benzene ring () attached to a methylene group (). Nomenclature In IUPAC nomenclature, the prefix benzyl refers to a substituent, ...
s, leaving tagatose. Tagatose also can be made from starch or maltodextrin via an enzymatic cascade reaction. The process to produce tagatose powder may soon involve
spray drying Spray drying is a method of forming a dry powder from a liquid or slurry by rapidly drying with a hot gas. This is the preferred method of drying of many thermally-sensitive materials such as foods and pharmaceuticals, or materials which may requ ...
.


Development as a sweetener

D-Tagatose was proposed as a sweetener by Gilbert Levin, after unsuccessful attempts to market L-glucose for that application. He patented an inexpensive method to make tagatose in 1988.. The low food calorie contents is due to its resemblance to L-fructose.


Safety and function

The United States
Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respo ...
approved tagatose as a food additive in October 2003 and designated it as
generally recognized as safe Generally recognized as safe (GRAS) is a United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) designation that a chemical or substance added to food is considered safe by experts under the conditions of its intended use. An ingredient with a GRAS d ...
. The Korea Food & Drug Administration approved tagatose as health
functional food A functional food is a food claimed to have an additional benefit beyond just nutrition (often one related to health promotion or disease prevention) by modifying the horticulture, cultivation of the native food or by food additive, adding ingr ...
for antihyperglycemic effect.
European Food Safety Authority The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is the agency of the European Union (EU) that provides independent scientific advice and communicates on existing and emerging risks associated with the food chain. EFSA was established in February 2002 ...
approved tagatose as
novel food A novel food is a type of food that does not have a significant history of consumption or is produced by a method that has not previously been used for food. Designer food Designer food is a type of novel food that has not existed on any regional ...
and novel food ingredient. New Zealand, and Australia have also approved tagatose for human consumption.


Characteristics


Functional characteristics


Low glycemic index

Tagatose has very similar sweetness to sugar while its
glycemic index The glycemic (glycaemic) index (GI; ) is a number from 0 to 100 assigned to a food, with pure glucose arbitrarily given the value of 100, which represents the relative rise in the blood glucose level two hours after consuming that food. The GI of ...
(GI 3) is very low. GI is a measure of the effects of
carbohydrate A carbohydrate () is a biomolecule composed of carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O) atoms. The typical hydrogen-to-oxygen atomic ratio is 2:1, analogous to that of water, and is represented by the empirical formula (where ''m'' and ''n'' ...
s in food on blood sugar levels. It estimates how much each gram of available carbohydrate (total carbohydrate minus
fiber Fiber (spelled fibre in British English; from ) is a natural or artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often inco ...
) in a food raises a person's blood glucose level following consumption of the food, relative to consumption of glucose. Glucose has a glycemic index of 100, by definition, and other foods have lower glycemic index.
Sucrose Sucrose, a disaccharide, is a sugar composed of glucose and fructose subunits. It is produced naturally in plants and is the main constituent of white sugar. It has the molecular formula . For human consumption, sucrose is extracted and refined ...
has a GI of 68,
fructose Fructose (), or fruit sugar, is a Ketose, ketonic monosaccharide, simple sugar found in many plants, where it is often bonded to glucose to form the disaccharide sucrose. It is one of the three dietary monosaccharides, along with glucose and gal ...
is 24, and tagatose has very low GI compared with other
sweetener A sweetener is a substance added to food or drink to impart the flavor of sweetness, either because it contains a type of sugar, or because it contains a sweet-tasting sugar substitute. Various natural non-sugar sweeteners (NSS) and artificial s ...
s. High blood glucose levels or repeated glycemic "spikes" following a meal may promote
type 2 diabetes Type 2 diabetes (T2D), formerly known as adult-onset diabetes, is a form of diabetes mellitus that is characterized by high blood sugar, insulin resistance, and relative lack of insulin. Common symptoms include increased thirst, frequent ...
by increasing systemic glycative stress other oxidative stress to the vasculature and also by the direct increase in
insulin Insulin (, from Latin ''insula'', 'island') is a peptide hormone produced by beta cells of the pancreatic islets encoded in humans by the insulin (''INS)'' gene. It is the main Anabolism, anabolic hormone of the body. It regulates the metabol ...
levels, while individuals who followed a low-GI diet over many years were at a significantly lower risk for developing both
type 2 diabetes Type 2 diabetes (T2D), formerly known as adult-onset diabetes, is a form of diabetes mellitus that is characterized by high blood sugar, insulin resistance, and relative lack of insulin. Common symptoms include increased thirst, frequent ...
,
coronary heart disease Coronary artery disease (CAD), also called coronary heart disease (CHD), or ischemic heart disease (IHD), is a type of cardiovascular disease, heart disease involving Ischemia, the reduction of blood flow to the cardiac muscle due to a build-up ...
, and age-related
macular degeneration Macular degeneration, also known as age-related macular degeneration (AMD or ARMD), is a medical condition which may result in blurred vision, blurred or vision loss, no vision in the center of the visual field. Early on there are often no sym ...
than others.


Antihyperglycemic effect

The Korea Food & Drug Administration approved the safety and function of tagatose for controlling
postprandial Prandial relates to a meal. Postprandial (from post prandium) means after eating a meal, while preprandial is before a meal. Usages of postprandial The term ''postprandial'' is used in multiple contexts. Gastronomic or social Refers to activiti ...
blood glucose level. Tagatose reduces blood glucose level in the liver by promoting
glucokinase Glucokinase () is an enzyme that facilitates phosphorylation of glucose to glucose-6-phosphate. Glucokinase is expressed in cells of the liver and pancreas of humans and most other vertebrates. In each of these organs it plays an important ro ...
activity which promotes transfer of glucose to glycogen. It also inhibits digestive
enzymes An enzyme () is a protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as pro ...
and degradation of carbohydrates in small intestine which result in inhibition of carbohydrate absorption in the body. Antihyperglycemic function is important for those with both
type 1 diabetes mellitus Type 1 diabetes (T1D), formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune disease that occurs when the body's immune system destroys pancreatic cells (beta cells). In healthy persons, beta cells produce insulin. Insulin is a hormone required ...
and
type 2 diabetes mellitus Type 2 diabetes (T2D), formerly known as adult-onset diabetes, is a form of diabetes mellitus that is characterized by high blood sugar, insulin resistance, and relative lack of insulin. Common symptoms include increased thirst, frequent ur ...
especially because diabetes is continuously growing and spreading to the younger generation. US$92 billion was spent for diabetes medication in 2008 in the US, and US$50 billion is paid in China per year.


Physical characteristics

Tagatose is a white crystalline powder with a
molecular formula A chemical formula is a way of presenting information about the chemical proportions of atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound or molecule, using chemical element symbols, numbers, and sometimes also other symbols, such as paren ...
of C6H12O6 with a
molecular weight A molecule is a group of two or more atoms that are held together by Force, attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions that satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemi ...
of 180.16g/mol. Active maillard reaction of tagatose enhances flavor and brown coloring performance and is usually used for baking, cooking and with high-intensity sweeteners to mask their bitter aftertaste.


Marketing

In 1996, MD/
Arla Foods Arla Foods is a Danish-Swedish multinational co-operative based in Viby, Denmark. It is the fifth biggest dairy company in the world and the largest producer of dairy products in Scandinavia and United Kingdom. Arla Foods was formed as the re ...
acquired the rights to production from Spherix, the American license holder. In the following years, no products were brought to market by MD/Arla Foods, so Spherix brought them before a US Court of Arbitration for showing insufficient interest in bringing the product to market. The companies settled, with MD/Arla Foods agreeing to pay longer-term royalties to Spherix and Spherix agreeing to not take further action. In March 2006, SweetGredients (a joint venture company of Arla Foods and Nordzucker AG) decided to shelve the tagatose project. SweetGredients was the only worldwide producer of tagatose. While progress had been made in creating a market for this innovative sweetener, it had not been possible to identify a large enough potential to justify continued investments, and SweetGredients decided to close down the manufacturing of tagatose in Nordstemmen, Germany. In 2006, the Belgian company Nutrilab NV took over the Arla (SweetGredients) stocks and project, and set up an 800-tons-per-year production site in Italy with an enzymatic process from
whey Whey is the liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained. It is a byproduct of the manufacturing of cheese or casein and has several commercial uses. Sweet whey is a byproduct resulting from the manufacture of rennet types of hard c ...
for D-tagatose with the brand name Nutrilatose. This process was said to be considerably cheaper than the chemical process previously used by Arla. In 2007 Damhert N.V., the mother company of Nutrilab, released the tagatose-based sweetener Tagatesse under its own brand name, along with some other products (jams and some chocolate-based products) using tagatose in the
Benelux The Benelux Union (; ; ; ) or Benelux is a politico-economic union, alliance and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighbouring states in Western Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The name is a portma ...
and France. Damhert's marketing strategy was to gradually build up the market for tagatose by introducing it to small and medium-sized companies. In 2013, 30% of the profits of Damhert were reported to come from tagatose, and they were preparing to scale up their production capacity to 2,500 tons per year.Goodwin, Diana (20 February 2013
The sweet taste of success
Flanders Today, Retrieved 27 February 2013
It was also reported in February 2013 that
PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase, New York, Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the f ...
and
Yoplait Yoplait ( , ) is a French dessert company and the world's largest franchise brand of yogurt. It is fully owned by the French dairy cooperative Sodiaal since 2021. In North America, the Canadian subsidiary was taken over by Sodiaal in 2025. Th ...
were interested in using tagatose. Damhert were considering in the longer term building a 10,000-tons-per-annum tagatose plant in Belgium but needed to find the capital to build such a plant. One of the major producers for D-tagatose was CJ Cheiljedang, located in South Korea, under the brand name "Baeksul Tagatose". In 2011, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved CJ Cheiljedang's enzyme conversion tagatose production as a food additive and designated it as generally recognized as safe.


References


External links


Food and Agriculture Organization and World Health Organization recommendation


��consumer info from artificial sweetener manufacturers organization
MD/Arla Foods settlement with Spherix
{{Carbohydrates Sugar substitutes Ketohexoses