Relationship Between Sweetener Concentration and Quantitative Sweetness Perception

ABSTRACT Added sugars in processed foods are the main source of dietary sugar. Sugar reduction strategies can improve the health status of the population. Sugar reduction can cause changes in sensory characteristics, particularly the sweet taste. Understanding the perception of sweetness in sugar‐reduced products is essential for designing programs that encourage the industry to implement this reduction in different food categories. This study presents an approach based on Stevens' law model, allowing the relationship between sweetener concentration and quantitative sweetness perception to be established. The model was tested using sweetness perception data obtained from the magnitude estimation methodology for dairy foods sweetened with sucrose and non‐carbonated beverages sweetened with high fructose corn syrup. The sweetness of both foods increased with the addition of the sweetener. Stevens' law model fitted the sweetness perception data well, yielding a sweetness intensity curve within the linear relationship between these functions. It was possible to determine how much the perception of sweetness is affected when a sweetener is reduced in these foods.