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Tagatose is a hexose monosaccharide. It is found in small quantities in a variety of foods, and has attracted attention as an Sugar substitute. It is often found in dairy products, because it is formed when milk is heated. It is similar in texture and appearance to sucrose (table sugar):215 and is 92% as sweet,:198 but with only 38% of the .:209 Tagatose is generally recognized as safe by the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization, and has been since 2001. Since it is metabolized differently from sucrose, tagatose has a minimal effect on blood glucose and insulin levels. Tagatose is also approved as a tooth-friendly ingredient for dental products. Consumption of more than about 30 grams of tagatose in a dose may cause gastric disturbance in some people, as it is mostly processed in the large intestine, similar to soluble fiber.:214
Tagatose also can be made from starch or maltodextrin via an enzymatic cascade reaction. The process to produce tagatose powder may soon involve spray drying.
High blood glucose levels or repeated glycemic "spikes" following a meal may promote type 2 diabetes by increasing systemic glycative stress other oxidative stress to the vasculature and also by the direct increase in insulin levels, while individuals who followed a low-GI diet over many years were at a significantly lower risk for developing both type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, and age-related macular degeneration than others.
In March 2006, SweetGredients (a joint venture company of Arla Foods and Nordzucker AG) decided to shelve the tagatose project. SweetGredients was the only worldwide producer of tagatose. While progress had been made in creating a market for this innovative sweetener, it had not been possible to identify a large enough potential to justify continued investments, and SweetGredients decided to close down the manufacturing of tagatose in Nordstemmen, Germany.
In 2006, the Belgian company Nutrilab NV took over the Arla (SweetGredients) stocks and project, and set up an 800-tons-per-year production site in Italy with an enzymatic process from whey for D-tagatose with the brand name Nutrilatose. This process was said to be considerably cheaper than the chemical process previously used by Arla. In 2007 Damhert N.V., the mother company of Nutrilab, released the tagatose-based sweetener Tagatesse under its own brand name, along with some other products (jams and some chocolate-based products) using tagatose
(2013) Tagatose Damhurt Nutrition web page, Retrieved 28 February 2013 in the Benelux and France. Damhert's marketing strategy was to gradually build up the market for tagatose by introducing it to small and medium-sized companies. In 2013, 30% of the profits of Damhert were reported to come from tagatose, and they were preparing to scale up their production capacity to 2,500 tons per year.Goodwin, Diana (20 February 2013) The sweet taste of success Flanders Today, Retrieved 27 February 2013 It was also reported in February 2013 that PepsiCo and Yoplait were interested in using tagatose. Damhert were considering in the longer term building a 10,000-tons-per-annum tagatose plant in Belgium but needed to find the capital to build such a plant.
One of the major producers for D-tagatose was CJ Cheiljedang, located in South Korea, under the brand name "Baeksul Tagatose". In 2011, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved CJ Cheiljedang's enzyme conversion tagatose production as a food additive and designated it as generally recognized as safe.
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