There are more published dietary exposure data for intense
sweeteners than for any other group of
food additives. Data are available for countries with different patterns of
sweetener approvals and also for population groups with high potential intakes, such as children and diabetic subjects. These data provide a secure basis for predicting the potential intakes of a novel intense
sweetener by adjustment of the reported intakes of different
sweeteners in mg/kg
body weight by their relative sweetness intensities. This approach allows the possibility that a novel
sweetener attains the same pattern and extent of use as the existing
sweeteners. The intakes by high consumers of other
sweeteners allows for possible brand loyalty to the novel
sweetener. Using this method, the estimated dietary exposures for
rebaudioside A in average and high consumers are predicted to be 1.3 and 3.4mg/kg
body weight per day for the general population, 2.1 and 5.0mg/kg
body weight per day for children and 3.4 and 4.5mg/kg
body weight per day for children with diabetes. The temporary ADI defined by the JECFA for
steviol glycosides [JECFA, 2005.
Steviol glycosides. In: 63rd Meeting of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on
Food Additives. World Health Organization (WHO), Geneva, Switzerland, WHO Technical Report Series 928, pp. 34-39] was set at 0-2mg/kg
body weight (expressed as
steviol equivalents); after correction for the difference in molecular weights, these estimated intakes of
rebaudioside A are equivalent to daily
steviol intakes of less than 2mg/kg. In consequence, this analysis shows that the intakes of
rebaudioside A would not exceed the JECFA temporary ADI set for
steviol glycosides.