Sugar Substitutes & Sweeteners - Brazzein

Brazzein is a natural sugar substitute which is 2000x sweeter than sucrose. Brazzein is isolated from the West African fruit of the Ballion plant, Pentadiplandra brazzeana. The plant had been consumed by local peoples of Gabon for many years.

Unlike most other sugar substitutes, Brazzein is a protein, not a carbohydrate. In addition, Brazzein has fewer calories than sugar.

Brazzein was first isolated by University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Bengt G. Hellekant and doctoral student Ding Ming. The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation currently owns the patent rights.

Brazzein can be commercially extracted from genetically modified maize through ordinary milling. Approximately one ton of maize yields a kilogram of Brazzein.

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