Impact of Non-nutritive Sweeteners on the Sensory Profile and Acceptance of a Functional Tamarind Beverage

The current consumer aversion for sucrose excess and the use of artificial ingredients has encouraged the production of beverages that preserve the fruit's wholeness and aggregate nutritional values, such as the availability of dietary fibers. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of non-nutritive sweeteners on the sensory profile and acceptance of a functional tamarind beverage. The tests were applied in individual cabins, with 30 mL samples, served in 3 random digits coded plastic cups, presented in monadic balanced complete blocks. Ideal sweetness, equi-sweetness, quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA) and consumer affective tests were performed, and results were analyzed through Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Tukey's means test (p < 0.05). The ideal sweetness of the reference sample was 10.70% of sucrose. For the quantitative descriptive analysis, 17 descriptive terms for the observed perceptions of the product were used. Most of the used sweeteners, except for stevia, showed no significant difference for perceptions tamarind aroma and flavor. The neohesperidin sample showed a greater intensity of refreshment sensation, while the sucrose and sucralose samples presented lower perception of bitter taste. The stevia sample had the least preference and greater perception of bitter taste, sweet and bitter aftertaste. Stevia and neohesperidin samples obtained lower acceptance by consumers regarding the overall impression, while sucralose had the best sweetness acceptance. Also, the astringency perception of the product interfered negatively in the acceptance of the samples.