Pharmaceutical sweeteners – you all have experienced the cooling effects of mannitol and the sweetness of some tablets. Sweeteners are not only used in foods but also pharmaceutical formulations as some drugs are bitter and possess unpleasant taste which is unacceptable

In Pharmaceutical formulations, sweeteners are indispensable excipients mainly used to enhance the acceptability of medicine that is patient compliance, and these sweeteners are classified into two as per energy produced after their consumption. these are either caloric or non-caloric.

Examples of the most commonly used sweeteners are sugar (sucrose), glucose, fructose, glycerin, sorbitol, and sugar replacers like polyols one thing about non-caloric sweeteners is they are required in very small amounts to produce the same sweetness as sugar.

Examples of non-calorie sugars include aspartame, sucralose, saccharin, and sodium cyclamate. Aspartame is 200 times sweeter than sugar; sucralose is 600 times sweeter than sucrose, saccharin which is even though banned used in some food products is 500 times sweeter than sucrose, and sodium cyclamate is 30 times sweeter than sucrose.

so, sweeteners are one of the main ingredients of oral liquid dosage forms like syrups and tablet formulations like sugar-coated tablets, the choice of sweetener depends on its properties and its compatibility with the formulation. there are natural sugars and artificial ones but most used are artificial sugars .