Some methods for examining the additivity of sweeteners and their synergy in mixtures depend upon setting component concentrations on the basis of sweetness equivalence, usually to a sucrose reference. These methods may under- or over-predict the sweetness of a mixture, leading to spurious claims of synergy or mixture suppression. This paper points out one problem with one such popular method, in that the method can lead to a conclusion that a substance would synergize with itself. To the extent that self-synergy is an illogical conclusion for a mixture comparison, such a method should be avoided in tests of synergy. The sweetness equivalence approach is contrasted with a simpler approach based on concentrations that does not lead to conclusions of self-synergy.
CITATION STYLE
Lawless, H. T. (1998). Theoretical note: Tests of synergy in sweetener mixtures. Chemical Senses, 23(4), 447–451. https://doi.org/10.1093/chemse/23.4.447
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