‘HOW SWEET IT IS’ – the low-down on sugar substitutes

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, now would be a great time to talk about sweets, before you go out with your sweetheart.

Sugar as we all know is bad for you, but not all sugars are equally bad. Though highly refined sugars (e.g. cane sugar) are the worst, sucrose and fructose are ‘lower glycemic’, as are raw sugar and brown sugar and will not cause as quick a rise in your blood sugar and so are ‘marginally’ better.

What about sugar substitutes? There are so many out there and it is quite confusing, especially with rumors about ‘cancer’, etc. for the average person.

I would recommend avoiding both sugar and sugar substitutes, if you can, especially if you are diabetic or overweight, but if you cannot do without the ‘sweet’, then let me try to give you some insight into the various products out there.

Honey/ Agave Nectar: They both are lower glycemic than cane sugar, and honey is high in anti-oxidants and certain minerals, however they have the same calorie content as sugar. Use in moderation.

The following sugar substitutes are used in the following products:

Aspartame (Equal):

Diet Coke, Jell-O sugar free gelatin dessert, Mrs. Butterworth’s Sugar Free syrup, Fiber One Original Bran cereal, Welch’s Reduced Sugar Fruit snacks.

Monk Fruit Extract (Nectresse):

Kashi Heart to Heart Warm Cinnamon Oat cereal, Bare Naked Fit Triple Berry Crunch Granola, Nevella Monk Fruit To Go Zero Calorie Sweetener.

Sucralose (Splenda):

Quaker Low Sugar Instant Oatmeal, Yoplait 100 calories yogurt (Greek), Thomas’ 100% Whole Wheat English muffins, Heinz Reduced-Sugar Tomato Ketchup, Mission Carb Balance Whole Wheat Flour Tortillas.

Saccharin (Sweet’N Low):

Crest toothpaste, Pepto-Bismol, Listerine Anti-septic Mouthwash

Acesulfame-K (Sweet One):

Sunny D Tangy Original Orange drink, Log Cabin sugar-free syrup, Quaker popped Rice snacks, Halls sugar-free cough drops, Glucerna shakes.

Stevia (Truvia):

Tropicana Trop50 juice beverage, Wishbone Fat Free Italian dressing, Blue Diamond oven roasred chocolate roasted almonds, SoBe Life water 0 calories.

Sugar alcohols (erythritol, maltitol, sorbitol, xylitol):

Life savers Wint O Green sugar-free Mints, Tums smoothies antacid, Trident sugar-free gum, Murray sugar-free cookies.

 

BOTTOM LINE: READ ALL FOOD LABELS CAREFULLY!

 

PS: The rumor about cancer was started when initial studies of high doses of a sweetener named cyclamate with saccharin caused bladder cancer in laboratory animals. Cyclamate has since been banned in the US. All the sugar substitutes above have been deemed safe for humans by FDA and are supported by multiple studies.