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Are All Sweeteners The Same? Many studies have indicated that consuming too much sugary foods or drinks might make a person gain weight. Getting extra weight can be bad for the health as it increases the risk of developing high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, heart disease and stroke. As such, people who like the sweet taste of their beverages and do not want to gain weight will naturally switch to those carrying the labels ‘diet’, ‘sugar free’ or ‘very low calorie’. These food or drinks actually contain sweeteners instead of sugar. Sweeteners are used for a number of reasons. For instance, they can help in weight loss, dental care, and diabetes mellitus. Sometimes, food manufacturers use them to enhance the flavor and texture of their products with lower cost and longer shelf life. But, not all sweeteners are the same. In general, sweeteners can broadly be classified into 2 categories: nutritive and non-nutritive. Nutritive sweeteners provide sweetness and energy in the form of carbohydrates. They include sugar alcohols from fruits and vegetables, natural sweeteners and novel sweeteners. They are less intense and provide lower calories than sucrose (table sugar). Being a class of polyols, sugar alcohols are neither sugars nor alcohols. They contain about 2 calories per gram, as compared to 4 calories per gram found in sucrose. Sugar alcohols are generally found in many processed foods and other products. They can cause elevation of sugars in diabetics but do not cause dental cavities. The intensity of sweetness, comparing to sucrose, can vary from one third to 100 percent.
Natural sweeteners are sugar substitutes that are usually processed and refined. Those approved by FDA (Food And Drug Administration) include honey, agave nectar, molasses, maple syrup, date sugar and grape juice concentrate. Compared to sucrose, they do not have significantly less calories and provide no advantage when consumed by diabetics. Novel sweeteners are combinations of various types of sweeteners. Non-nutritive sweeteners are referred to as very low-calorie sweeteners, artificial sweeteners, non-caloric sweeteners, and intense sweeteners. They are very low in calories or contain no calories at all. Non-nutritive sweeteners that are approved by FDA include saccharin (Necta Sweet), aspartame (Nutrasweet, Equal), acesulfame potassium (Sweet One), neotame, and sucralose (Splenda). There is an acceptable daily intake that can be consumed daily throughout life without significant health risk based on known scientific data. Saccharin has sweetness 200 to 700 times that of sucrose but has no calories and with a bitter aftertaste. Aspartame has sweetness 160 to 220 times that of sucrose and it contains calories, though lesser compared to the sweetness intensity. It is approved by most regulatory authorities but is currently re-evaluated by the European Food Safety Authority. Acesulfame potassium has sweetness 200 times that of sucrose. Though FDA approved it, there have been concerns that it contains methylene chloride, a potential carcinogen, and its lack of long-term data in humans. Neotame is chemically similar to aspartame but safe for consumption even for those with phenylketonuria and it has sweetness 7,000 to 13,000 times that of sucrose. Sucralose is a low calorie chemically created product, which has sweetness 600 times that of sucrose. The purpose of consuming sweeteners is to reduce calorie intake so at to prevent weight gain. But the results of studies have been conflicting. For instance, the Nurses’ Health Study in 1970 has shown that consumption of sweeteners could lead to weight gain. Since the introduction of sweeteners, consumers are consuming 3 times the amount that they were 10 years ago because they simply add sweeteners to their diets. Eating too many sugar-free foods, people can still gain weight if the food consumed has other ingredients that contain calories. If the aim to cut calorie intake, choosing sweeteners can only be effective if people do not compensate their calorie reduction by increasing calorie intake from other sources, as recommended by the American Heart Association and the American Diabetes. Meanwhile, people might want to consider healthier alternatives because of the ongoing controversies surrounding some of the non-nutritive sweeteners.
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