According to Murdock (2013), lipids are important organic molecules with many distinct functions. They are the third essential macronutrients after carbohydrates and proteins. There are four main types of lipids: fats, phospholipids, steroids, and waxes. All lipids are non-polar hydrocarbons, insoluble in water and hydrophobic (Murdock,2013). Lipids are soluble in similar non-polar solvents. Fats such as triglycerides constitute 95% of all lipids in humans. The remaining 5% is an amalgam of phospholipids and steroids with insubstantial amount of wax. Phospholipids constitute the cell membranes. While triglycerides are the important energy reserves, provide cushion, buoyancy, and insulation. When excess calories are consumed, the extraneous energy is stored as triglycerides. Saturated fats are fats that have all the carbon atoms attached to two hydrogen atoms. They are usually solid at room temperature, bind with cholesterol in blood vessels thereby, adding to plaques that increase the risk of heart disease. Example, saturated fats include butter, dairy fats, such as cheeses, and margarine (Murdock, 2013).

The unhealthiest type of saturated fat is trans-fat, also called partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. This fat is derived from adding hydrogen to vegetable oil, a process called hydrogenation, used to prolong the shelf life of processed and baked products such as cookies, crackers, cakes etc. This type of fat elevates the bad cholesterol or LDL while lowering the good cholesterol or HDL Fried foods such as donuts, and French fries often contain trans fats (Murdock, 2013).

 Unsaturated fats are fats with double bonds in the hydrocarbon chains, making most unsaturated fats liquid at room temperature. With one double bond they are called monounsaturated. With two or more double bonds, they are called polyunsaturated fats (Murdock, 2013). The unsaturated fats that our body needs but doesn’t synthesize are called essential fatty acids (EFAs). Good sources of essential fatty acids include flax seeds, fish, canola oil, sesame, sunflower, corn, and soybean.

According to Litch & Mazur (2019), lipids are composed of similar elements as carbohydrate such as carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen but in different proportion of oxygen to carbon and hydrogen. The basic structural moiety of a fat is one molecule of glycerol bonded to one, two, or three fatty acid molecules. Glycerol is the backbone of a fat molecule. A fatty acid is made of chain of carbon atoms with hydrogen and a few oxygen atoms. A fat can have as many fatty acids as possible attached to glycerol. When a single fatty acid is attached to a glycerol, the result is monoglyceride. When two fatty acids are attached, the result diglycerides. When three fatty acids are attached, the result is triglycerides. Unsaturated fats are often of plant origin. Fats contribute flavor, satiety, and palatability to food (Litch &Mazur, 2019).

CHOLESTEROL: HIGH DENSITY LIPOPROTEINS (HDLs) AND LOW-DENSITY LIPOPROTEINS (LDLs)

Our body synthesizes all the cholesterol it needs for hormones, vitamin D, Bile, and membranes. We also consume cholesterol from food. Cholesterol comes absolutely from animal sources. Excess cholesterol is processed by the liver and excreted.  Fats circulating in the blood combine with protein to form lipoprotein. Cholesterol levels in the blood are determined with reference to the amount of lipoproteins. Thus, we have high density lipoproteins (HDL or the good cholesterol. And low-density lipoproteins (LDL) or the bad cholesterol. The low-density lipoprotein has more cholesterol than protein. It has 50% cholesterol, 5% lipids that include (triglycerides, 20% phospholipids), and 25% proteins.

The high-density lipoprotein or HDL is the good cholesterol. It has more protein than cholesterol. It has 45% proteins, 15% cholesterol, 10% triglycerides, and 30% phospholipids (Litch & Mazur, 2019). HDL is needed to transport cholesterol away from cells and to the liver for recycling and possible excretion. According to Hussain & Shahidi (2022), lipids in foods play important role in flavor and off-flavor enhancements. This is due to the degradation of lipids that occurs during processing, subjection to heat, and cooking. According to the duo, degradation of lipids takes place through oxidation that produces different compounds. Lipids also make foods more palatable thereby, providing a sense of mouthfeel during consumption. Lipids are associated with both desirable and undesirable flavors, including taste, and rancidity. Due to lipid oxidation in food, bioactive compounds are released such as free radicals, and fat-soluble vitamins are lost in the process as well.

 According to Hussain & Shahidi (2022), while odor, aroma, and smell are used to describe olfactory responses to food flavor; taste, palatability, and mouthfeel are used to describe the gustatory response to food flavor. Also, the presence or smell of food can elicit physiological responses as demonstrated by Ivan Pavlov with his salivating dog response to the presence and smell of food (Meyers, 1999).

Lipoxygenase is the main enzyme responsible for the catalysis of lipid oxidation present abundantly in many species of plants, animals, and fish (Hussain & Shahidi, 2022). The action of lipoxygenase on its substrate results in generation of food flavor such as aroma and taste. According to Hussain & Shahidi (2022), peptides, amino acids, nucleotides, organic acids, and numerous flavor-enhancers are present in meat as the most taste-stimulatory components. The presence of fatty acids provides distinct flavor for lamb and mutton meat. While the presence of carbonyls is responsible for the fatty flavors of roasted chicken. The flavor of frozen meat is altered by lipid oxidation facilitated by iron and myoglobin.

 Meanwhile, fermentation can be used to improve the flavor and lipid oxidation. The distinctive flavor present in fish is generated by oxidative reaction produced from cipoxygenase-catalyzed carbonyls and alcohols. According to Hussain & Shahidi (2022), polyunsaturated fatty acids are mostly susceptible to oxidation. Also, heterocyclic compounds such as pyrazines, oxazoles, pyridines, and thiazole are generated by the non-catalytic browning action that is significant in flavor release. The term taste is described with reference to the lingual response to sour, sweet, bitter, salty, and umami or monosodium glutamate (MSG)-like taste induced by MSG stimuli.

Another potential avenue for lipid-generated flavor release is by lipolysis which elevates the concentration of free fatty acids (FFAs). In phytobiologic, 9,13-hydroperoxy-octadecadienoates are converted to bioactive conjugates by hydroperoxide dehydrases, hydroperoxide lyases, epoxide hydrolases, and hydroperoxide epoxygenase. For instance, the oxidation of linolenic acid catalyzed by lipoxygenase and the subsequent subjection to lyase cleavage reaction generates trans-2, cis-6-nonadienal in cucumbers and trans—hexenal in fresh tomatoes. These carbonyl compounds can further degrade into alcohol that releases more intense aroma than the intrinsic factor of carbonyls.

ANALYTIC TECHNIQUES FOR THE DEGREE OF LIPID OXIDATION

Many titration techniques are used to determine and quantify lipid-oxidation products. Common techniques that are used to determine the interactions in primary oxidation products are displacements in the fatty acid constituents known as peroxide value (PV), such as iodometric analytic and ferric-xylenol orange), and conjugated dienes or trienes. Whereas the thiobarbiluric acid reactive substances (TBARS) assay, p-anisidine value, TOTOX value, (2PV + p-Anisidine), and volatile measurements using GC-MS are used to determine secondary oxidation derivatives and are suggested to be used in determining the degree of precision in the quality of oxidation measurement.

Amino acids and quinines derived from phenolics can generate flavor intrinsic factor volatile such as aldehydes through Strecker degradation. Similar study also, shows that amino acids such as phenylalanine and methionine can interact with phenolic compounds such as chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, epicatechin, and catechin producing Strecker aldehydes such as phenylacetaldehyde and methional in the presence of ferric-cyanide-based assay. Aldehydes released from lipid oxidation can take part in initial and subsequent phases of the Maillard reaction during cooking to generate volatiles that include pyrazines, thiophenes, pyridines, oxazole, and thiazoles with alkyl side chains. The bio synthesis of lactones is responsible for the flavor in pineapple (theta-octalactone), coconut (gamma-octalactone), peach (gamma-decalactone) nectarine (gamma-dodecalactone)-beta oxidation pathway.

According to Carr etal (2023), prolonged aspartame and saccharin consumptions are linked to higher rates of visceral, intermuscular, and subcutaneous fat deposit, CARDIA study shows. According to the results of the CARDIA study conducted by Carr etal (2023), artificial sweetener or ArtSw consumptions have been initially linked to increased body mass index (BMI) in observational studies and may lead to visceral and skeletal muscle fat deposit. The study is aimed at investigating whether regular, extended period of artificial sweetener intakes in diet beverages are associated with higher rates of fat deposit and adverse physico-characteristic related outcomes.

The study evaluates 3088 men and women enrolled in the coronary artery risk development in young adult subjects (CARDIA) by computed tomography and data analysis by linear regression. The findings indicate that the sum of artificial sweetener, aspartame, saccharin, and diet beverage consumptions are significantly associated with the volumes of visceral adipose tissue (VAT), intramuscular adipose tissue (IMAT), and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) with p-value that is equal to or less than 0.001. However, there is no association between sucralose consumptions and higher volumes of adipose tissue deposit. In addition, total artificial sweetener, saccharin, aspartame, and diet beverage consumptions are associated with higher anthropometric-related problems such as increased BMI, body weight, waist circumference, and greater risks of obesity.

The conclusion with reference to the study results is that prolonged consumptions of aspartame, saccharin, or diet soda may increase the volumes of adipose tissue deposit and susceptibility to health-related problems. Such as obesity (Carr etal, 2023) irrespective of diet quality or caloric intakes. Comparing prior research evidence with the current findings, alternatives to the National Recommendation to replace added sugar with artificial sweeteners should be reviewed, stressing that both may pose similar health risks (Carr etal, 2023).

According to Carr etal (2023), the American Heart Associations have recommended replacing added sugar and sugar-sweetened drinks with artificial sweeteners and diet drinks to help reduce the continuing epidemic of obesity and type II diabetes in the USA. According to Carr etal (2023), whereas foods and beverages with artificial sweetener have less caloric content than those sweetened with sugar, honey, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), evidence indicates that artificial sweeteners may also come with similar health risks that health advocates intend to address (Carr etal, 2023).

Another source of information for this discussion about artificial flavors and sweeteners is derived from the publication by the Dept. of Food Tech Faculty of the Agricultural Tech in Thailand titled: The 15TH Food Innovation Asia Conference. According to the information source, one of the major health concerns at the moment is diabetes and its causes that include sweetened beverage consumption. The report refers to Stevia as a great substitute and a natural sweetener that can be used in beverages (Sontrunnaruadrngsri & Tejo, 2013). Stevia is two hundred and fifty times sweeter than sugar with zero calories, including its health benefits such as reduced blood sugar (Sontrunnaruadrngsri & Tejo, 2013).

Another source of information reiterating the relevance of Stevia as a naturally occurring sweetener and as an important alternative for synthetic or artificial sweeteners with approximately two hundred to three hundred times sweeter than sugar (Bayliak etal, 2021). Bayliak etal (2021) recalls that Stevia is derived from the genus of plant, Stevia of the Asteraceae family that includes two hundred and thirty species. However, one of the plants Stevia Rebaudiana Bertoni produces the sweet Steviol Glycosides that give Stevia its characteristic sweet taste (Bayliak etal, 2021).

 Stevia Rebaudiana plant originates from South America, Brazil and Paraguay in particular, where the leaf is known as Honey Leaf, Sweet Leaf, or Sweet Herb (Bayliak etal, 2021).  According to Bayliak etal (2021), Stevia has the most interesting and desirable qualities due to its intense sweetness, in addition to its health advantage for people with diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity. The major compounds responsible for the sweetness of Stevia preparations include Steviol Diterpene Glycosides also known as Stevioside and Rebaudiosides In 2013, according to Bayliak etal (2021), the Coca –Cola Company begins the production of beverages containing Stevia instead of sugar, with 30% less calories distributed in a number of countries globally.

 Meanwhile, Quintana etal (2022) re-echoes the significance of Stevia as a substitute for sucrose and as a natural sweetener. Quintana team describes sweeteners as substances with pronounced sweet taste used in small quantity as alternative for the sweetness of sucrose that requires bulk quantity to produce equivalent intensity or potency of sweetness.

Quintana team writes that there are many varieties of caloric and non-caloric sweeteners in the market today. They include Aspartame with trade names such as NutraSweet; Saccharin with trade names such as Equal, Sweet ‘N Low, Sugar Twin; Acesulfame – K with trade names such as Sweet One and Sunett; Sucralose with trade names such as Splenda; Neotame with trade names such as Newtame; Cyclamate, Alitame, Thaumatin, Moneline, Advantame, and Pentadine. Others include Steviol Glycosides with trade names such as Truvia, Purevia, and Enliten; Siraitia Grosvenorii Swingle (Luo Han Guo) fruit extracts (SGFE) with trade names such as Monk Fruit in the Raw Purelo (Litch & Mazur, 2019; Quintana etal, 2022).

FRUCTOSE METABOLISM AND ITS HEALTH IMPACT

Fructose is used extensively in beverages, canned foods, and other processed food products. High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is very sweet due to the treatment of the corn starch with enzyme that converts some of the organic or naturally occurring glucose into sweeter fructose. Our body also converts fructose to glucose. HFCS is commonly used by food industry because it’s a cheaper sweetener and substitute for sugar. According to Litch & Mazur (2019), it’s estimated that Americans consume more than 13% of added sugars in their daily diet. Extraneous calories from sweetened beverages may contribute to increased incidence of overweight and obesity, and also increases the chances of developing diabetes type2 and cardiovascular disease (Litch & Mazur, 2019). Sugar alcohols such as sorbitol and xylitol are also used as sugar substitutes.

According to Angelopoulos & Rippe (2015), few subjects involving nutrition attract more controversy and brouhaha than the relationship between sugar and potential health consequences. Angelopoulos & Rippe (2015) assert that the impact of added sugars in diet such as sucrose and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), has been the subject of various research interests encompassing epidemiologic and cohort investigation to randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

 According to the duo, fructose-containing sugars contribute significantly to adverse health conditions that include non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), obesity, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, dyslipidemia, and hypertension. Considering that insulin, leptin, and ghrelin interact with each other, it’s predictable that long-term consumption of calories from fructose can lead to increased caloric intake that in turn results weight gain. For example, 3,500 excess calories result in one pound weight gain. Hence, if calories are consumed regularly in excess, one’s daily caloric needs, it takes 7, 000 excess calories to gain two pounds regularly, assuming that all other physiological and physical functions remain equal or ceteris paribus. Although, the 3,500 calories point of reference is considered a myth by some opponents, it’s still an acceptable non-biostatistic point of reference for determining calorie to pound equivalence.

The next source of information for this discussion comes from Food Research International co-authored by Costa etal (2021). The research team claims that the current increase in cases of obesity, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular diseases is associated with added sugars in foods and sweetened beverages consumptions. The intervention approach is to replace sugar with alternative sweeteners. However, preclinical and clinical studies indicating the safety of the artificial sweetener are limited. Nevertheless, considering the results of their review of world-wide trends artificial sweetener and sugar consumptions, the team suggests that since there is no absolute algorithm for recommending the risk-free intake of artificial sweetener in pediatric age population, the appropriate drink for this age-group is water (Costa etal, 2021).

Nonetheless, Butterworth etal (2016), reaffirms that conventional sweeteners such as maple syrup honey, and carb have been safely consumed for years and they tend to have less glycemic index than refined sugars as well. In addition, conventional sweeteners contain myriads of nutrients and bioactive compounds such as polyphenols that may have added health benefits. However, recent assessment sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) concludes that restricting the amount of sugar added to foods and reducing the consumption of sugar sweetened drinks that are a major source of added sugars can be beneficial in combating the risks of dental caries, tooth decay, type2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease while promoting public health. Consequently, the World Health Organization releases an updated guideline in March 2015 recommending that adults and children limit their daily consumption of non-sugar sweeteners. In its newly released guideline about the consumption of non-sugar sweeteners, the World Health Organization (WHO) with reference to newest available evidence suggests that using non-sugar sweeteners doesn’t provide any long-term health benefit in all age groups thus, people should limit the intake of NSS (Ni, 2024).

Nevertheless, sweeteners containing calories are described as nutritive sweeteners (NS). Whereas sweeteners containing zero or negligible amounts of calories are described as non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS). Nutritive sweeteners are further classified as such sweeteners. Sweeteners are further classified as sugars such as the sweet-tasting monosaccharides and disaccharide, Nutritive sweeteners such as the sweet-tasing monosaccharide and the sweet-tasting and disaccharides

 The other class of nutritive sweeteners includes bulk sweeteners such as polyols. The non-nutritive sweeteners are the lab-originated or designer synthesized artificial sweeteners with potent and intense sweetness but without the calories. They are cost-effective as well, required in small amounts and satisfy the need for a sweet taste. In addition, non-nutritive sweeteners help reduce the incidence of diabetes type 2, cardiovascular disease, and its complications, and obesity. Nutritive sweeteners include glucose, fructose, and galactose that are the major sweet-tasting monosaccharides available in food and drinks. These sugars can be chemically combined to yield naturally occurring disaccharides such as sucrose or the combination of fructose and glucose; lactose or the combination of glucose and galactose; and maltose or the combination of glucose and glucose. Disaccharides are also the building blocks for other complex saccharides such as oligosaccharides, polysaccharides, starch, maltodextrins, fructans, and saccharin. Glucose and fructose as mentioned earlier are the main constituents of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

 Conventional or traditional sweeteners are derived from bees (e.g., honey), Phytochemical extracts, and tree sap (e.g., maple syrup, agave nectar), fruits (e.g. Carob syrup), seeds, roots (e.g., Yakon Syrup), and leaves (e.g., Stevia). These sweeteners have been used for years as primary sweeteners in many countries, and provide consumers with familiar and organic sources of sweetness, contrary to refined sweeteners that are mostly extracted from phytochemical, common traditional sweeteners are consumed without further processing or refinery.

According to Benner etal (2021), currently, there is an epidemic of cardiorenal disease marked by increasing cases of obesity, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and chronic kidney disease. While there is excessive caloric consumption coupled with sedentary lifestyle that are predisposing factors for obesity. This   source of information predicts in its hypothesis that sugar especially, excessive fructose consumption has significant role in the epidemic of cardiorenal disease (Benner etal,2021). Evidence is provided to validate the unique potential of fructose to precipitate the elevation of uric acid that maybe secondary to cardiorenal disease associated with the action of fructose in the body. Also, high fructose consumption in African Americans may accurately testify about their increased vulnerability to toward developing cardiorenal disease (Benner etal, 2021).  According to Benner etal (2021), diabetes that linked to obesity affects7% of the population, with about thirty-four percent predisposed to develop various complications that include retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy, in addition to diabetes-induced metabolic syndrome.  

Meanwhile, research studies have linked obesity to the development of insulin resistance in which cells are deprived of energy from the primary energy source, glucose because, while glucose from carbohydrates is available in the blood, it’s not accessible to-cells. Unfortunately, glucose that is needed by cells is excreted in urine often, leading to polydipsia, polyphagia, and polyuria.  According to Leguizamo etal (2012), metabolic syndrome is marked by insulin resistance that is also, associated with GLUT-4 concentration level in insulin-sensitive tissues. Glucose transporter 4 or simply, GLUT-4 stimulates insulin function thus, reducing insulin resistance (Leguizamo etal, 2012).

 Research has shown that exercise improves the concentration of GLUT-4 thereby, making exercise an effective approach to addressing insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes. Research study by Cho etal (2012) establishes the link between hyperuricemia or excessive uric acid and metabolic syndrome. Also, Adachi etal (2021) shows that uric acid elevation in the blood can be linked to fructose consumption. Benner etal (2021) confirms that fructose enters the hepatocytes and completely metabolized by the catalytic enzyme, fructonase endothermically, releasing lactic acid and uric acid in the process.

                                                                   CONCLUSION         

In a research study by Nadolsky etal (2021), the findings indicate that there are beneficial health effects on weight and cardiometabolic outcome when sugar-sweetened beverages or other calorie-dense foods are replaced with artificially sweetened drinks or food. Ahmad etal (2022) summarizes it that artificial sweeteners have very scanty caloric content while providing potent sweetness hence, making them more favorable to consumers and food industry. However, naturally occurring sweeteners such as Stevia (leaf extracts), Honey, and Nectresse (fruit extracts) are preferred by some consumers because of their limited health risks.

 Ahmad etal (2022) cautions that because artificial sweeteners have zero or minimal nutritional value, they can trigger sweet cravings that can in turn lead to excessive caloric consumption thereby, negating the weight or caloric control effort. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends limited consumption. While Costa etal (2021) emphasizes that because there is no algorithm for determining the safety of sweetened beverage consumption within the pediatric population, the appropriate drink for those in this age-group is water.

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