Ziziphin, a

triterpene Triterpenes are a class of terpenes composed of six isoprene units with the molecular formula C30H48; they may also be thought of as consisting of three terpene units. Animals, plants and fungi all produce triterpenes, including squalene, the pre ...

glycoside In chemistry, a glycoside is a molecule in which a sugar is bound to another functional group via a glycosidic bond. Glycosides play numerous important roles in living organisms. Many plants store chemicals in the form of inactive glycosides. ...

which exhibits taste-modifying properties, has been isolated from the leaves of ''

Ziziphus jujuba Jujube (UK ; US or ), sometimes jujuba, scientific name ''Ziziphus jujuba'', and also called red date, Chinese date, and Chinese jujube, is a species in the genus '' Ziziphus'' in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae. It is often confused wit ...

'' (''

Rhamnaceae The Rhamnaceae are a large Family (biology), family of flowering plants, mostly trees, shrubs, and some vines, commonly called the buckthorn family. Rhamnaceae is included in the order Rosales. The family contains about 55 genera and 950 specie ...

''). Among ziziphin's known homologues found in this plant, it is the most anti-sweet. However, its anti-sweet activity is less effective than gymnemic acid 1, another anti-sweet compound glycoside isolated from the leaves of ''

Gymnema sylvestre ''Gymnema sylvestre'' is a perennial woody vine native to Asia (including the Arabian Peninsula), Africa and Australia. It has been used in Ayurvedic medicine. Common names include gymnema, Australian cowplant, and Periploca of the woods, and t ...

'' (

Asclepiadaceae The Asclepiadoideae are a subfamily of plants in the family Apocynaceae. Formerly, it was treated as a separate family under the name Asclepiadaceae, e.g. by APG II, and known as the milkweed family. They form a group of perennial herbs, twinin ...

).Kinghorn, A.D. and Compadre, C.M. ''Alternative Sweeteners: Third Edition, Revised and Expanded'', Marcel Dekker ed., New York, 2001. Ziziphin reduces perceived sweetness of most of the carbohydrates (e.g.

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 ...

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 ...

), bulk sweeteners, intense sweeteners (natural:

steviol glycoside Steviol glycosides are the chemical compounds responsible for the sweet taste of the leaves of the South American plant ''Stevia rebaudiana'' (Asteraceae) and the main ingredients (or chemical precursor, precursors) of many sugar substitute, swee ...

– artificial: sodium saccharin and

aspartame Aspartame is an artificial non-saccharide sweetener commonly used as a sugar substitute in foods and beverages. 200 times sweeter than sucrose, it is a methyl ester of the aspartic acid/phenylalanine dipeptide with brand names NutraSwe ...

) and sweet amino acids (e.g.

glycine Glycine (symbol Gly or G; ) is an amino acid that has a single hydrogen atom as its side chain. It is the simplest stable amino acid. Glycine is one of the proteinogenic amino acids. It is encoded by all the codons starting with GG (G ...

). However, it has no effect on the perception of the other tastes, bitterness, sourness and saltiness.

References

{{Reflist Taste modifiers Saponins Triterpene glycosides Acetate esters

See also

References