AU2004202670A1

AU2004202670A1 - Sweetener Composition

Info

Publication number: AU2004202670A1
Application number: AU2004202670A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Kim Friemann
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2003-06-20
Filing date: 2004-06-21
Publication date: 2005-01-13

Description

12054AU

ORIGINAL

Complete Specification Applicant: Kim Friemann Title: Sweetener Composition Address for Service: LESICAR PERRIN, 49 Wright Street, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us: Sweetener Composition FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a sweetener composition. In particular, the present invention relates to a sweetener composition that is useful as an aid to weight loss in reduced calorie intake diets.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The prevalence of obesity and adult onset diabetes in western society is well known.

Even where an individual is not obese, or does not desire to lose weight, it is often desirable to restrict caloric intake of foods that contain little or no nutritive value. This is one method of avoiding or limiting any undesirable weight gain. Sugar is a prime example of a product having high calorific value and being virtually devoid of nutritional content.

To this end, many people are keen to reduce the sugar in their daily diet. However, adhering to abstemious regimes can be hard and is not often successful. An alternative approach is to replace the sugar in their diet with a reduced calories sugar substitute.

A number of sugar substitutes have been proposed and are in widespread use throughout the world. These include saccharin and aspartame based artificial sweetening materials. These products appear in a wide range of prepared foods from chewing gum to soft drinks, and vitamins. In addition, the sweeteners are sold separately for use in cooking and for addition to drinks such as tea and coffee.

Although these products are sold successfully, they are not without their drawbacks.

Some artificial sweeteners have been linked to adverse health reactions and, more dangerously, to incidences of various cancers. Perhaps less dramatically, but nevertheless a source of irritation to user is the undesirable aftertaste left by many of these products. Further, aspartame-based sweeteners are not heat stable and are unsuitable for use in applications where heat is applied to a foodstuff such as baking.

A natural alternative to the known artificial sweeteners has been developed in the form of an extract from the Stevia Rebaudiana plant.

Stevia Rebaudiana is a herb in the Chrysanthemum family, which grows wild as a small shrub in parts of Paraguay and Brazil. The glycosides found in the leaves of the plant, including up to 10% stevioside, produce an extract of incredible sweetness, making it unique among the nearly 300 species of stevia plants.

Extracts of the stevia plant have thus found favour as sweeteners with those who prefer naturally derived products to artificially synthesized products and also those who have reservations concerning the advisability of long term use of products such as aspartame.

The challenge facing anyone wishing to use a sweetener based on a stevia extracts is one of formulation. Stevia extract is a potent sweetener and only a small amount of extract is needed in a table formulation. If a tablet is to be used in a liquid for example as a sweetener in tea or coffee it is important that the sweetener be rapidly and evenly distributed through the liquid otherwise pockets of excessive sweetness develop in the drink that is unacceptable to the consumer. Stevia extracts are not rapidly soluble. The use of a liquid extract avoids any difficulties associated with tablet dispersal but is less attractive to consumers.

The present invention provides the public with an alternative to stevia formulations currently available.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore according to a first aspect of the present invention there, although this need not be the broadest nor indeed the only form of the invention is provided a sweetener composition including an extract of the Stevia Rebaudiana plant together with one or more excipients at least one of said excipients being an effervescing excipient.

Preferably, said sweetener composition includes an effervescing excipient in the form of two reactant excipients that are stable in dry form and react together in liquid to form an effervescing material.

Preferably said reactive excipients are a bicarbonate salt with a salt of a mild acid.

More preferably still, the bicarbonate salt is sodium bicarbonate and the salt of a mild acid is a salt acceptable as a foodstuff, for example, citric acid.

The formulation may additionally include such other excipients as are commonly found in tablets, for example, lubricants, such as magnesium stearate and compression agents such as cross linked sodium carboxymethylcellulose (croscarmellose).

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The following detailed description of the invention refers to the best method of carrying out the invention presently known to the applicant. Although the description includes this exemplary embodiments, it must be realised other embodiments of the invention are possible, and changes may be made to the embodiments described without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

A typical formulation according to the present invention involves the use of commercially available extracts of Stevia Rebaudiana. Such extracts are made according to a variety of known techniques; see for example, the method disclosed in US patent no 5,9721,20. The person skilled in the art will readily appreciate the fact that extracts produced in different ways have differing levels of sweetness. In any formulation where it is desired to achieve consistent levels of sweetness between batches, this will be taken into account and a standard extract technique will be used.

It is also clear that the level of any stevia extract in a formulation can be varied without departing from the scope of the invention.

Formulation Active Ingredients Amount Stevia leaf Extract 12:1 30.00 Equiv. Stevia Leaf extract (360) Excipient Ingredients Sodium Bicarbonate 33.75 Citric Acid Anhydrous 19.80 Croscarmellose 3.00 Maltodextrin 63.30 Magnesium Stearate 0.15 Further advantages and improvements may very well be made to the present invention without deviating from its scope. Although the invention has been shown and described in what is conceived to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is recognized that departures may be made therefrom within the scope and spirit of the invention, which is not to be limited to the details disclosed herein but is to be accorded the full scope of the claims so as to embrace any and all equivalent devices and apparatus.

In any claims that follow and in the summary of the invention, except where the context requires otherwise due to express language or necessary implication, the word "comprising" is used in the sense of "including", i.e. the features specified may be associated with further features in various embodiments of the invention.

Claims

1. A sweetener composition including an extract of the Stevia Rebaudiana plant together with one or more excipients at least one of said excipients being an effervescing excipient.

2. A sweetener composition according to claim 1, wherein said sweetener composition includes an effervescing excipient in the form of two reactant excipients that are stable in dry form and react together in liquid to form an effervescing material.

3. A sweetener composition according to claim 2, wherein said reactive excipients are a bicarbonate salt with a salt of a mild acid.

4. A sweetener composition according to claim 3, wherein said bicarbonate salt is sodium bicarbonate and the salt of a mild acid is a salt acceptable as a foodstuff, A sweetener composition according to claim 3 or claim 4, wherein said salt of a mild acid is citric acid.

6. A sweetener composition according to any one of the preceding claims additionally including a lubricant

7. A sweetener composition according to claim 6 wherein said lubricant tis magnesium stearate.

8. A sweetener composition according to any one of the preceding claims additionally including, a compression agent

9. A sweetener composition according to claim8, wherein said compression agent is such s cross-linked sodium carboxymethylcellulose. A sweetener composition including an extract of the Stevia Rebaudiana plant together with sodium bicarbonate, anhydrous citric acid, cross-linked sodium carboxymethylcellulose, maltodextrin, and magnesium stearate. 7

11. A sweetener composition as defined in claim 1 substantially as hereinbefore described. Dated: 21/06/04 Kim Friemann By her Patent Attorneys Lesicar Perrin