Background

Obesity is a serious and growing problem worldwide. 11% of men and 15% of women are obese and 39% of the total population are overweight. The cost of obesity to the global economy in 2015 is estimated at about $ 2 trillion, or 2.8% of world GDP. Several alternative sweeteners are available to reduce calories: artificial ones such as aspartame, saccharin, sucralose and neotame, and those from natural sources such as stevia. However, there are problems with sweeteners for consumers. They do not taste like normal sugar and often have an unpleasant aftertaste. In addition, sweeteners have been reported to be addictive and to expose e.g. cancer and type II diabetes.