Screening of flavonoids and natural pigments with sweetening effect from three plant extracts

Excessive sugar intake in the diet can lead to nutrition-related diseases, therefore, it is important to identify natural substances with sweetening effects to reduce the use of sugar in food. Based on the non-targeted metabolomics identification of flavonoids in mulberry extract, purple sweet potato extract, and red beet extract, the natural pigments and flavonoids contained in them were subjected to virtual screening of sweetening compounds. A total of 37 hit compounds were identified, and 10 of them were selected for sensory verification, all of which had a sweetening effect. Among them, betanin and cyanidin-3-O-glucoside had the best sweetening effects, and their interaction with T1R3-sucrose mainly depended on hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic forces. The molecular dynamics results demonstrated that betanin, cyanidin-3-O-glucoside, and T1R3-sucrose formed a stable complex within 50 ns. These results provide a theoretical basis for developing natural pigments and flavonoids as sweetening natural substances.