By John von Radowitz
A NEW generation of supercool drinks could be on the way following the discovery of a natural additive which is 35 times chillier than menthol, it was reported yesterday. The substance, which unlike menthol has no minty flavour, has the potential to bring a fresh tang to a wide range of products including beer, bottled water, citrus drinks, and chocolate.

Its German discoverers say it also ''cools'' skin 250 times more intensely than menthol and could be used to add fresh zest to anti-perspirants and other cosmetics.

Effects last for half an hour, twice as long as menthol, the ingredient which gives peppermint and spearmint their icy zing.

Thomas Hoffmann, head of the German Research Centre for Food Chemistry in Garching, Munich, said: ''We've found the world's most powerful natural cooling agent without a mint odour.''

Hoffman's team isolated the substance from roasted dark malt, a key ingredient for brewing beers and whiskies, New Scientist magazine reported.

It belongs to a family of chemicals called cyclic alpha-keto enamines. When a panel of tasters sampled the substance, they found it cooled as well as menthol even when concentrations were 35 times lower. Applied to the skin, it cooled as effectively at concentrations 250 times lower than menthol.

Like menthol, the agent ''cools'' through its effect on nerve endings. There is no temperature change, it is merely a sensation.

In the mouth, the substance activates nerve receptors which register spicy ''heat'' as well as menthol ''coolness''.

Hoffman said the first ''supercool'' products could be on the market within two years.

Andy Taylor, a flavour technologist at the University of Nottingham, said: "I don't think anyone has ever found a cooling agent without menthol flavour.''