Sweetener choices
Sweeteners - natural, artificial, calories or not. Which sweetener is best for your health and weight
What are sweeteners?
Sweeteners are substances added to
food /drink to enhance their taste and
enjoyment of them
Sweeteners are composed of some combination of the following:
Sugars ending in -ose: e.g. disaccharides:
sucrose, maltose, and monosaccharides: glucose, fructose, galactose, ribose,
xylose;
allulose ;
Sugar alcohols ending in -ol: e.g.
erthyritol ,
xylitol . sorbitol;
Other carbs: e.g. inulin,
maltodextrin, fructooligosaccharides (FOS);
Chemicals / complex processes: e.g.Saccharin (oxidized
o-toluenesulfonamide or phthalic anhydride); sucralose (organochlorine
molecule); aspartame (combination of phenylalanine and aspartic acid);
Sweeteners can be natural or artificial
Natural sweeteners: (Extracted from plants). E.g. sucrose (sugar cane or beet), stevia (stevia
leaf), honey (nectar);
Semi-artificial sweeteners:
(Extracted from plants and chemically modified). E.g. erythritol is produced by
fermenting glucose in cornstarch extracted from corn; xylitol is produced from
xylose extracted from birch wood;
Artificial sweeteners (Chemically produced).
Sweeteners may or may not contain calories
Nutritive
sweeteners (NS) contain calories (also called
carbohydrate sweeteners . e.g table sugar,
honey, molasses, agave syrup, and high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS); Carbohydrate sweeteners
provide energy (they
also supply a source of carbon for synthesis of other chemicals).
Primarily containing sugars, they provide few to insignificant amounts of
vitamins and minerals .
Non-nutritive sweeteners
(NNS) contain no or low calories: e.g.
artificial NNS: such as aspartame, sucralose and saccharin, natural NNS: such as
monk fruit extract and stevia, and the sugar alcohols: such as erythritol and
zylitol.
History of use
Refined sugar use has dramatically increased
over the last 100 years. However, more recently, sugar is being replaced with
other carbohydrate sweeteners, especially
high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), and
non-carbohydrate natural and
artificial sweeteners, such as stevia, aspartame,
saccharin and sucralose.
Health effects
Most sweeteners affect blood sugar levels to some
degree. The effect of a sweetener on blood sugar
and INSULIN
levels
depends on:
Whether its
carbohydrate content (sugar and starch) is fully
digested / absorbed. Some sweeteners are only partially
absorbed into the blood stream, some fraction passing straight through and out
of the intestines.
How
quickly the
absorbed carbohydrate is metabolized. The
glycemic index / glycemic load of a
sweetener enables us to compare the affect on blood sugar of that sweetener
compared to glucose.
A slower rise in blood sugar and INSULIN enables us to burn
fat and avoid weight gain long-term
Unfortunately, even though
artifical sweeteners have a 0 glycemic rating, they may still raise blood sugar due to
other indirect effects. E.g. being
toxic to gut bacteria ;
Artifical
non-nutritive sweeteners cause weight gain
Some sweeteners linked to diabetes, obesity and
tooth decay
Excessive consumption of either
NUTRITIVE SWEETENERS or artificial NON NUTRITIVE SWEETENERS can lead to weight gain . The FDA
recommendation is to consume no more that 10 teaspoons of added sugar / day, but
the average American consumes 4 times that amount. e.g. a 12oz can of coke
contains almost 10 tsps.
It is wise to be "ball-park" aware of your intake
of carbohydrate grams (which includes sugars) to avoid blood sugar roller coaster rides and eventual
INSULIN
resistance. For example: A cup
of Swiss
Miss® hot chocolate cocoa gives you 34g of carbs! (includes 28 g of sugar -
i.e. 7 teaspoons of sugar)
Tooth decay occurs with ALL nutritive sweeteners, but not
so much due to quantity consumed, but more related to how long the sugar lingers on the
teeth. E.g. sucking on a few hard sugar-filled candies or slowly
chewing caramels is more detrimental than quickly downing a sugary drink.
Nutritive sweeteners
Also known as caloric or carbohydrate sweeteners, they include plain
old "sugar". Nutritive sweeteners provide energy-supplying carbohydrates. Some sugars
are naturally contained in foods, such as fruit (which, unlike refined table sugar,
also supply vitamins and minerals; fruit with highest sugar content are (highest
first) figs, grapes, mangos, cherries and bananas), however, most of our dietary sugar
carbohydrate comes from
nutritive sweeteners added to commercial products and home-made foods to enhance
flavor and texture, and increase shelf-life.
A chart of nutritive sweeteners and more about them: Chart
/ Info.: Nutritive
sweeteners
Non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS)
The newcomers to the sweetener market
are those with low or no calories, but not necessarily low-glycemic.
Non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS) have zero/ low calories, however,
this does not necessarily mean they are low-glycemic
sweeteners (LGS), having a low-glycemic effect on blood sugar when digested/metabolized
by the body. Some do, some don't.
There are 3 types of NNS:
Natural / plant NNS, Sugar alcohol NNS and non-nutritive artificial sweeteners
(NAS).
ALL FDA-approved artificial sweeteners
are toxic to gut bacteria. This significantly affects the gut microbiome,
which has serious consequences for our health.
Artificial sweeteners
actually cause weight gain
Non-nutritive artificial sweeteners (NAS) toxic to gut bacteria
increasing risk of prediabetes
Chart
/ Info: Non-nutritive sweeteners
References The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES
2009-2012)
Sylvetsky, A.C.; Jin, Y.; Clark, E.J.; Welsh, J.A.; Rother, K.I.; Talegawkar
(2017) S.A. Consumption of Low-Calorie Sweeteners among Children and Adults in the
United States. J. Acad. Nutr. Diet. 117, 441-448.
PubMed
Malik, V.S.; Li, Y.; Pan, A.; De Koning, L.; Schernhammer, E.; Willett, W.C.;
Hu, F.B. Long-Term Consumption of Sugar-Sweetened and Artificially Sweetened
Beverages and Risk of Mortality in US Adults. Circulation 2019, 139,
2113-2125.
PubMed
http://www.nutrientsreview.com/articles/sweeteners.html
Pereira, M.A. Diet beverages and the risk of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular
disease: A review of evidence. Nutr.
Rev. 2013, 71, 433-440. PubMed
Vyas, A.; Rubenstein, L.; Robinson, J.; Seguin, R.A.; Vitolins, M.Z.; Kazlauskaite,
R.; Shikany, J.M.; Johnson, K.C.; Snetselaar, L.; Wallace, R. Diet drink consumption
and the risk of cardiovascular events: A report from the Women'sHealth Initiative. J.
Gen. Intern. Med. 2015, 30, 462-468.
PubMed
http://www.sugar-and-sweetener-guide.com/sweetener-values.html