The search for new sweeteners technologies has increased substantially in the past decades as the number of diseases related to the excessive consumption of sugar became a public health concern. Low carbohydrates diets help to reduce ingested calories and to maintain a healthy weight. Most natural and synthetic high potency non-caloric sweeteners, known to date, show limitations in taste quality and are generally used in combination due to their complementary flavor characteristics and physicochemical properties in order to minimize undesirable features. The challenge of the food manufacturers is to develop low or calorie-free products without compromising the real taste of sugar expected by consumers. With the discovery of the genes coding for the sweet taste receptor in humans, entirely new flavor ingredients were identified, which are tasteless on their own, but potentially enhance the taste of sugar. These small molecules known as positive allosteric modulators (PAMs) could be more effective than other reported taste enhancers at reducing calories in consumer products. PAMs could represent a breakthrough in the field of flavor development after the increase in the knowledge of safety profile in combination with sucrose in humans. Practical Application:The food industry uses more and more sweeteners to supply the demand for alternative sugar substitutes in products with no added, low or sugar free claims. Along with the interest in sugar reduction, there has also been a continuing industrial focus on clean label formulations, such as in the natural sweeteners added products. To increase this knowledge, the article presents detailed information concerning potency, technological properties and food applications of synthetic and natural sweeteners. Furthermore, this work discusses the challenges and possible application of sweet taste enhancers in the food industry.

In this article we report the structure-activity relationships of a series of functionalized dienes, for which studies of anticholinesterase potential have been carried out in silico studies. The data obtained by molecular docking were related to the experimental data obtained previously. These experimental models were used to correlate the inhibition of the human acetylcholinesterase enzyme (PDB ID 4M0E), a molecular target validated for the development of new drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Physical-chemical descriptors and molecular properties were calculated. These were related to the activity to do a rational analysis, preferable in the development of new anticholinesterase agents that may be candidates for chemotherapy treatment of Alzheimer's Disease.