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Coca-Cola is using the HeroX crowd-sourcing platform to hold a $1 million competition for a new sugar substitute:
"Sugar is now the number one item that consumers want to avoid in their diets," says Darren Seifer, a food and beverage industry analyst with the NPD Group. The message to consume less is coming from health experts around the globe.
It's a challenge for the beverage industry, as is the fact that many consumers don't like the idea of artificial sweeteners found in diet drinks. So, the search for new, alternative sweeteners that can appeal to consumers' changing tastes is in full swing. And Coca-Cola has turned to crowd-sourcing.
The company has launched a competition on the crowd-sourcing platform HeroX. According to this description on Coca-Cola's corporate website, Coke is seeking "a naturally sourced, safe, low- or no-calorie compound that creates the taste sensation of sugar when used in beverages." The company says, "one grand prize winner will be awarded $1 million in October 2018."
So, can scientists come up with this kind of sweetener? "Well, this is a hundred-million dollar question, because it's so difficult and so potentially lucrative," says Paul Breslin, a professor in the nutritional sciences department at Rutgers University and a member of the Monell Chemical Senses Center.
Hang on, is it a one million dollar question or a hundred-million dollar question? Maybe I should get Silicon Valley to fund my sugar substitute instead of Coca-Cola.
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(Score: 2) by ledow on Friday September 08 2017, @03:56PM (1 child)
"enzyme"
things ending in -ase
and things ending in -saccharides
are in no way indicative of a non-natural source or process.
(Score: 2) by meustrus on Friday September 08 2017, @05:06PM
The process, which uses biological agents derived from nature, is by definition artificial. "Natural" syrups and sugars only exist at far lower purities. Sugarcane goes through an artificial process to become refined white sugar, though this process is more primitive than the HFCS chemistry. Even maple syrup, which is derived from natural tree sap, is technically artificial because of the process of boiling it down.
When it comes down to it, every sugar in our food today comes from an artificial process. Which means we did not evolve to process sugar in these high concentrations.
Artificial [dictionary.com]: made by human skill; produced by humans (opposed to natural )
Natural [dictionary.com]: existing in or formed by nature (opposed to artificial )
If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?