Humectancies of d-tagatose and d-sorbitol

Most toothpastes contain either d-sorbitol or glycerin, or both, as humectants. Both compounds are about half as sweet as sucrose. This level of sweetness is not as intense as desired by most people when brushing teeth. Therefore, many brands of toothpaste add saccharin, a high-intensity sweetener, to increase product sweetness to acceptable levels. While this combination provides the required bulk, humectancy and sweetness, the last characteristic suffers from the widely perceived metallic, or bitter, aftertaste of saccharin. d-tagatose, a full-bulk, low-calorie, sucrose-like sweetener with about twice the sweetness of d-sorbitol, and which does not promote tooth decay, holds promise as a sole sweetener for toothpastes. The only untested aspect of this use of d-tagatose was its humectancy, the characteristic that retains the required level of moisture in toothpaste. The current study was made to investigate this important property, to make a direct comparison of the humectancies of d-tagatose and d-sorbitol as pure substances, and to determine whether the humectancy of d-tagatose is sufficient to counter the crystallizing potentiation of the abrasives used in toothpastes. The humectancies of d-tagatose and d-sorbitol were tested through measuring their water activity (a(w)) vs. water content. By comparing their desorption curves, d-tagatose was seen to have a humectancy equal to that of d-sorbitol when a(w) in the d-tagatose solution was above 0.62. d-Tagatose was then tested in toothpastes containing typical abrasives to determine whether the abrasives would induce crystallization of the sweetener. The addition of 20-25% wt/wt of d-tagatose to the Tom of Maine's toothpastes imparted a satisfactory sweetness. It was found that, within that range of concentration, d-tagatose retained its humectancy, and did not crystallize in the popular brands of commercial toothpastes tested. Thus, d-tagatose could be used as a humectant sweetener in toothpastes, although further work on a final toothpaste formula will be necessary to check stability and flavour factors.