What is the Relative Sweetness Value of Sweeteners?

November 15, 2025 •

4 min read

The relative sweetness value of sucrose is 1.0, and it serves as the benchmark for other sweet substances. Understanding this value is essential in food science for creating products with specific flavor profiles, using various combinations of sugars and alternative sweeteners.

Quick Summary

Relative sweetness compares a sweetener's intensity to that of sucrose, with sucrose at 1.0. This measure depends on concentration and is affected by factors like temperature. It helps food scientists and consumers understand different sweeteners' potency.

Key Points

Sucrose is the Standard: The relative sweetness value compares sweeteners to sucrose (table sugar), which has a value of 1.0.
Measurement is Sensory-Based: Professional taste testers evaluate the relative sweetness of new sweeteners compared to sucrose solutions.
Values Vary: A sweetener's relative sweetness can change based on concentration, temperature, and pH.
Wide Range of Potency: The sweetness of different sweeteners varies greatly, from less-sweet options like lactose (0.16) to extremely potent ones like Neotame (7,000-13,000).
Synergy in Blends: Combining sweeteners can create a synergistic effect, resulting in a more complex, balanced flavor profile that more closely mimics sucrose.
Crucial for Food Formulation: Food scientists use relative sweetness values to create products with the desired sweetness while controlling calorie content.

Understanding the Concept of Relative Sweetness

Relative sweetness is a standard used to measure and compare how sweet different substances are. Sucrose, or table sugar, is the standard, and it has a relative sweetness value of 1.0. This helps food scientists, manufacturers, and consumers evaluate the strength of natural sugars, sugar alcohols, and intense sweeteners. For example, a sweetener with a value of 200 is 200 times sweeter than sucrose by weight; so, much less is needed to reach the same level of sweetness.

How is Relative Sweetness Measured?

Measuring relative sweetness is not a simple calculation. It is a process based on human senses that involves trained taste testers. Here's how it works:

Standard Reference Solutions: Taste testers are given sucrose solutions at different concentrations (e.g., 5%, 10%, 15%) to establish a sweetness baseline.
Blind Tasting: Other sweetener solutions, prepared at various dilutions, are given to the taste testers in a random, double-blind manner.
Equi-Sweetness Concentration: The taste testers determine which sample is sweeter in pairs. This data finds the concentration of the test sweetener that tastes as sweet as a specific sucrose solution.
Calculation: The relative sweetness value is calculated by dividing the sucrose concentration by the equi-sweet concentration of the test sweetener.

Relative sweetness values can vary slightly between studies due to different testing methods, testers, and concentrations used. The perceived strength of a sweetener can depend heavily on its concentration, with potency decreasing at higher levels.

Factors Influencing Relative Sweetness

Several factors can affect how sweet a substance is, not just its chemical makeup:

Concentration: The strength of many sweeteners changes with concentration. For example, sucralose is much sweeter than sucrose at low concentrations, but its relative sweetness value decreases at very high concentrations.
Temperature: Temperature can greatly affect how sweet something tastes. For example, fructose is sweeter when cold than when warm.
pH Level: The acidity or alkalinity (pH) of a food or drink can change how sweet a substance tastes.
Food Matrix: The other ingredients in a food product, like other flavors or textures, can hide or enhance the perception of sweetness.
Sensory Effects: Different sweeteners have unique profiles. Some, like fructose, have a quick burst of sweetness that fades fast, while others may have a lingering aftertaste.

Comparison of Relative Sweetness Values

The following table compares common sweeteners, with sucrose at 1.0 or 100%, to show the wide range of sweetness found in different substances. Note that values can vary based on testing method.


Sweetener	Type	Relative Sweetness (vs. Sucrose = 1.0)	Notes
Lactose	Disaccharide (Milk Sugar)	0.16	Found in milk and dairy products.
Glucose (Dextrose)	Monosaccharide	0.74-0.80	The body's primary energy source.
Xylitol	Sugar Alcohol	~1.0	Used in sugar-free gum and mints.
Sucrose	Disaccharide (Table Sugar)	1.0 (Reference)	The standard for comparison.
Fructose	Monosaccharide	1.2-1.7	Often found in fruits.
Allulose	Rare Sugar	0.7	A low-calorie, naturally occurring sugar.
Aspartame	Dipeptide	180-250	A low-calorie sweetener often used in diet drinks.
Acesulfame-K	Oxathiazinone dioxide	200	Stable under heat and used in baking.
Steviol Glycosides (Stevia)	Glycoside	50-300	Natural, zero-calorie sweetener from the Stevia plant.
Saccharin	Sulfonyl	300-700	The first artificial sweetener, sometimes with a bitter aftertaste.
Sucralose	Chlorinated Sugar	400-800	Derived from sucrose but much sweeter.
Neotame	Aspartame Analog	7,000-13,000	Extremely high-potency, often blended with other sweeteners.

Synergistic Sweetness and Other Applications

Sweetness perception can be complex, and not all sweeteners behave the same way. When combined, some sweeteners have a synergistic effect, which means the total sweetness is greater than the sum of the individual parts. The food industry often uses this practice to get a balanced flavor that is more like sucrose. This can also mask potential off-notes or aftertastes from intense sweeteners.

Knowing the relative sweetness value is important not only for commercial food production but also for home cooks and bakers using alternative sweeteners. For example, knowing that erythritol is only about 60-80% as sweet as sugar means a larger amount is needed to achieve the same taste, while a potent sweetener like stevia needs careful, measured use.

Conclusion

The relative sweetness value is a crucial concept in food science and nutrition. It provides a way to compare the sweetening power of different substances against sucrose. This value, measured by human taste panels, is influenced by concentration, temperature, and the food matrix. The range of relative sweetness values—from less than one for lactose to tens of thousands for intense sweeteners like Neotame—shows the variety of options for managing and replacing sugar in our diets. Understanding this metric allows for precise formulation in the food industry and helps consumers make informed choices.

For a deeper dive into the sensory characteristics of sweeteners, a study on sucrose can be found at ResearchGate.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sucrose (table sugar) is the reference standard for relative sweetness, and it is assigned a value of 1.0.

Fructose is the sweetest of the common natural sugars, with a relative sweetness value typically ranging from 1.2 to 1.7, making it sweeter than sucrose.

Yes, temperature can influence the perception of sweetness. For example, fructose tastes sweeter when cold than when warm.

Formulators often blend multiple sweeteners to create a more balanced, sucrose-like taste and to mask the aftertaste sometimes associated with single high-intensity sweeteners.

Sugar alcohols have a wide range of relative sweetness. Xylitol is comparable to sucrose at about 1.0, while erythritol is less sweet, with a value around 0.6 to 0.8.

Values can vary depending on the testing conditions, such as the concentration at which they are measured. The potency of many high-intensity sweeteners changes depending on their concentration in a solution.

Some of the most potent artificial sweeteners are Advantame (up to 20,000 times sweeter than sucrose) and Neotame (7,000-13,000 times sweeter), with others, like Lugduname, estimated at even higher potencies.