Beyond sweetness: The high-intensity sweeteners and farm animals

Abstract The high-intensity sweeteners (HIS) have intense sweetness at very low doses and provide low- or no-calories. The HIS have been widely used in animal feed to improve palatability and stimulate voluntary feed intake in farm animals, especially for animals during critical periods (i.e. post-weaning period). Although several preference tests showed a clear preference of pigs or cattle for HIS, the inconsistent results across studies make it difficult to reach conclusive remarks. The different responses to HIS could be related to the differences in animal species, genetic variation, stress, nutritional status, type and dose of HIS used, and methodology of preference test. Dietary supplementation with HIS could improve the feed intake and growth performance of pigs and ruminants by improving the palatability of feed, but the duration and doses of supplementation seem critical for those effects of HIS. Additionally, dietary supplementation with HIS could improve intestinal development, glucose absorption, and reduce the intestinal injury. These beneficial effects are most likely related to the HIS-induced intestinal glucagon-like peptide 2 secretion. Lastly, the natural HIS, neohesperidin dihydrochalcone and stevioside, exhibited the ability to promote the growth of beneficial gut bacteria in pigs and broilers, which could contribute to the improvement of gut health. Overall, the current review is to provide an overview of the effects of HIS on farm animal performance and their mechanisms of action. An attempt was made to point out the gaps of knowledge deserving future research.