Overall objective: To examine the barriers & facilitators to the use of sweeteners & sweetness enhancers (S&SEs) & examine the likely risks & benefits of using them to replace sugar in the diet in the context of health, obesity, safety & sustainability.

Sub-objectives:

1. Select new & emerging S&SEs& blends, & through integration of technological expertise produce a range of innovative S&SE containing products of appeal to distinct demographics (e.g. age, region, gender).

2. Develop a platform of measures (e.g self-report, biological, cognitive, consumer questionnaires), including new tools, to examine the impact of replacing dietary sugar with S&SEs& validate against new urinary biomarker assays.

3. Determine the role of individual differences (both behavioural e.g. eating behaviour traits & biological e.g. taste receptor polymorphisms) in shaping food preferences & consumption patterns of distinct populations, & examine biological mechanisms underpinning these.

4. Assess the short term effect of specific S&SEs & blends & the prolonged impact of a whole diet approach on body weight, health, satiety, microbiota, biobehavioural processes & consumer perspectives & preferences.

5. Synthesise evidence from diverse European longitudinal data sets to examine the relationship between habitual S&SE use & obesity, health & safety in key geographic & demographic cohorts.

6. Examine the economic, environmental & social sustainability of replacing sugar with S&SEs across production, supply, consumption & waste (life cycle sustainability assessment) in the context of global supply chains using project case studies.

7. Assess the potential toxicology, allergencity & safety (microbiological, gastrointestinal (G.I.) side effects, microbiota & other adverse effects) of specific novel S&SE combinations & of the whole diet approach.

8. Review the regulatory barriers to innovation & tailor exploitation plans & dissemination accordingly.