A Long Road for a Low-CalSweetener

摘要

Sucralose, aspartame, and saccharin were discovered by accident. Tagatose was found by a man on a mission. In 2003, wired told the story of Gilbert Levin, an entrepreneur who spent years searching methodically for a natural lowcalorie sweetener ("Hitting the Sweet Spot," issue 11.11). Eventually he found a cousin of fructose that is nearly as sweet as sugar and has fewer than half the calories. At the time, the carbohydrate seemed poised to become a household name-it was even used in 7-Eleven's Pepsi Diet Slurpee. We touted tagatose's "distinct advantages over its competitors," but now it's hard to find the stuff out side of European dietary-supplement stores.