Natural And Artificial Sweeteners
It can be confusing to group together sweeteners as the terminologies are open to interpretation. For instance, some products from the stevia plant are marketed as natural, even though theyre processed and refined. Yet, some of the other products marketed as artificial sweeteners may be derived from naturally occurring substances. For example, sucralose, which is used in Splenda, is derived from sugar . Whatever the name, grouping or terminology, its important to ask what is in the particular sweetener and whether the sweetener or product has carbohydrate or calories, and how that fits into your individual goals for healthy eating.
With Artificial Sweeteners Sometimes Being A Subject Of Controversy Should You Try Either Were About To Compare The Pros And Cons Of Splenda And Stevia
1) Splenda is not the name of the artificial sweetener in question. Its a brand, the one best known for containing the actual artificial sweetening agent, called SUCRALOSE.
2) Sucralose actually starts as sugar. But through a manufacturing process, three chlorine atoms are replaced by a hydrogen-oxygen group of atoms. This creates a sweetening product with zero calories, but one thats about 600 times sweeter than table sugar!
3) Sucralose products contain zero calories per packet and come in under 1 gram of carbohydrates.
4) Research has shown that artificial sweeteners can still trick the human body into releasing insulin, even when its not needed. This process is known as CEPHALIC PHASE INSULIN RELEASE.
5) A possible risk of over-consuming extra-sweet sugar substitutes, like Sucralose, is that, just like with real sugar, it can re-wire your brain to crave high levels of sweetness.
6) Stevia isnt artificial, its actually derived from a plant. The Stevia leaf can be about 200 to 300 times sweeter than sugar, so, just like Splenda, you wont need much to get a large helping of sweetness.
7) The nutrition of Stevia is similar to Sucralose. It has an insignificant amount of calories or carbohydrates, but the amounts may vary depending on which specific Stevia product you use.
8) Stevia can also make you feel full for longer, and it may help to lower your bad cholesterol levels while raising the good.
Stevia Vs Splenda: A Wrap
On the continuum from bad to better to best, it appears the order is sugar, Splenda, stevia. That said, while stevia is the better choice, no sweetener is perfect. Before adding any sweeteners to your food, consider if it really needs it or if you can cut back on the sweetener altogether. Then, on the occasions when you do want a little more sweetness in your life, use in moderation.
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Sucralose: Side Effects And Risks Of Overconsumption
Sucralose, when consumed in higher than recommended quantities, can cause side effects such as gastrointestinal problems. This occurs as sucralose disrupts the healthy microbes in your gut, causing problems with digestion. It can lead to stomach irritation, nausea and diarrhoea. Other side effects of sucralose include headache, weight gain, and mood changes.
Can Stevia Treat Or Cure Diabetes
Due to the focus on stevia for people with diabetes, many people wonder if it can treat or cure the condition.
There is currently no cure for diabetes, but people can manage the condition with medications and lifestyle changes. Stevia can help to support these lifestyle adaptions.
A 2018 study on rats, appearing in the International Journal of Endocrinology, suggests that stevia could stimulate insulin production when in large enough doses. The study authors put this down to the plant compounds in stevia.
Using stevia in place of sugar in sweetened foods and drinks may help people with diabetes stabilize their blood glucose levels.
This replacement for sugar may also reduce the number of calories that a person consumes, which is likely to aid weight loss. Excess weight is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes and its complications, which include heart and kidney problems.
Safety studies on stevia any negative side effects, as long as people consume the sweetener in moderate quantities.
The FDA recognize purified stevia products as being generally safe for most people.
Some stevia products contain additives that may cause side effects. For example, sugar alcohols may cause the following symptoms in some individuals:
- stomach pain and cramping
- other digestive issues
However, sugar alcohols are otherwise safe for people with diabetes. According to the ADA, sugar alcohols contain fewer calories than sugar and do not affect blood glucose levels as much as other carbohydrates.
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Natural Sugar: Raw Honey Maple Syrup Agave Nectar Raw Sugar
The good news is that natural sweeteners provide a few more nutrients than table sugar. The bad news? Theyre all still forms of sugar and are high in calories, so use no more than 1 to 2 teaspoons per day, Taylor says.
Raw honey and pure maple syrup both contain antioxidants and have prebiotic oligosaccharides that help feed gut flora. Raw honey has an added benefit of vitamins E and C as well as minerals. Note: Honey should not be given to infants because it may contain botulism bacteria spores, a serious health hazard for babies.
When hitting the grocery store, read all food labels for hidden ingredients because commercial maple syrup brands often contain high-fructose corn syrup. High-fructose diets are linked to long-term metabolic complications like insulin resistance, belly fat accumulation and high triglyceride levels. When in doubt, stick primarily with pure maple syrup.
Agave nectar provides fewer nutrients than raw honey or pure maple syrup. It should not be given to infants because it is not pasteurized.
Agave nectar has the same number of carbohydrates and calories as table sugar, but you get a lot of flavor from a small amount, Taylor says. Since agave nectar has a slightly lower glycemic index but still contains sugar, it will still raise your blood sugar.
Bottom line, when it comes to your waistline, weight and blood sugars, all natural sweeteners behave like sugar.
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Should I Avoid Sugar Altogether
We all know we need to eat a healthy, balanced diet thats low in saturated fat, sugar and salt to keep our weight, cholesterol, blood glucose and blood pressure in check. Sugar is a type of carbohydrate and because all carbohydrates affect blood glucose levels, reducing your sugar intake can help to keep blood glucose levels under control. As sugar contributes no nutritive value, apart from carbohydrates and calories, it has empty calories and so is not good if youre looking to manage your weight. This doesnt mean that people with diabetes should have a sugar-free diet. In fact, its almost impossible to have a sugar-free diet in the long term. And, its also worth remembering that products labelled sugar-free arent necessarily low-calorie.
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Sugars Sugar Substitutes And Sweeteners: Natural And Artificial
If youre living with diabetes, or even if youre not, you might think sweet foods are a barrier to your healthy, balanced diet. As a general rule, everyone should be eating less sugar but sometimes, only something sweet will do.
If want to lose weight, or youre trying to keep your blood glucose levels stable, you may want to know whether artificial sweeteners could help. If you browse around your local supermarket, youll see a huge range of sweeteners on offer, so it can be baffling to know which, if any, to go for.
Allulose A New Artificial Sweetener Thats No Longer Considered An Added Sugar
Allulose is an extremely low-calorie sweetener that occurs naturally in small amounts in wheat, raisins, dried figs, brown sugar, and molasses, according to the FDA. Marketed under the brand name Dolcia Prima , it has 90 percent fewer calories than sucrose, while being 70 percent as sweet.
You can find Dolcia Prima in Magic Spoon Cereal, which is sold online and expect to see it soon in beverages, desserts, candy, yogurt, and other treats. Thats because allulose got a big boost from the FDA in April 2019, when the agency declared it can be excluded from the total and added sugars listed on nutrition labels going forward.
The latest data suggests that allulose is different from other sugars in that it is not metabolized by the human body in the same way as table sugar, says Susan Mayne, PhD, director of FDAs Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. It has fewer calories, produces only negligible increases in blood glucose or insulin levels, and does not promote dental decay.
Under the revised guidance, manufacturers can use a caloric value of 0.4 calories per gram to calculate the total number of calories per serving of allulose, instead of the previous 4 calories per gram. The sweetener still must be included in the total carbohydrates listed, though. While allulose isnt on the list of FDA-approved sweeteners, the agency hasnt questioned notices submitted by manufacturers that the sweetener is generally recognized as safe.
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No Sugar How To Break Your Habit
No sugar or sugar substitute is healthy in excess.
Thats true whether its in soda, sweet tea, fruit drinks, packs of sugar or sugar substitute for coffee or tea, or artificially sweetened flavor packets for water, Taylor says. Drink plain water! At the very least, drink unflavored tea, coffee, bubbly water or water with fruit infused in it.
How can you break your habit? Use a true measuring spoon to gauge how much added sugar youre using daily.
Challenge yourself your foods and beverages dont always need to taste sweet, Taylor notes.
Try decreasing the sweetener in your coffee or tea by 1 teaspoon per week and start diluting juices by mixing half your usual portion with water to retain some of the sweetness. While at the grocery store, start a habit of reading labels. Much of the sugar in the American diet is found in processed and sweetened pre-made food and beverages.
That way, you wont have to quit cold turkey.
Our goal isnt to get added sugar intake down to zero because that isnt realistic, Taylor says. Americans need to work hard to drastically reduce sugar intake to support healthy weights and decrease our risk for chronic conditions like cancer, diabetes and heart disease.
Which Is Healthier Splenda Or Stevia
Splenda and stevia are popular and versatile sweeteners that wonât add calories to your diet. Both are generally considered safe to use, yet research on their long-term health effects is ongoing. While no evidence suggests that either is unsafe, it appears that purified stevia is associated with the fewest concerns.
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Stevia A Natural Sweetener Option
Steviol glycosides are sweeteners derived from the leaf of the stevia plant, which is native to Central and South America. Truvia and Pure Via, both brands of stevia-based sweetener, are calorie-free, and stevia is often used as a sweetener in foods and beverages. According to the 2019 Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes, published in January 2019 in Diabetes Care, nonnutritive sweeteners, including stevia, have little to no impact on blood sugar. The FDA has approved the use of certain stevia extracts, which it has generally recognized as safe .
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center notes that people have reported side effects, like gastrointestinal symptoms, after eating high amounts of stevia. But to date, there is no solid scientific research to prove these claims.
The FDA recommends an ADI of 4 mg or less of Truvia per kilogram of body weight per day. A 132-lb individual would need to consume nine tabletop packets of the artificial sweetener per day to reach that limit.
Are Sweeteners Healthy
Sweeteners may be safe, but are they healthy? Food manufacturers claim sweeteners help prevent tooth decay, control blood sugar levels and reduce our calorie intake.
EFSA has approved the health claims made about xylitol, sorbitol and sucralose, among others, in relation to oral health and controlling blood sugar levels.
Dietitian Emma Carder states: “Research into sweeteners shows they’re perfectly safe to eat or drink on a daily basis as part of a healthy diet.”
She also says they’re a really useful alternative for people with diabetes who need to watch their blood sugar levels while still enjoying their favourite foods.
“Like sugar, sweeteners provide a sweet taste, but what sets them apart is that, after consumption, they do not increase blood sugar levels,” she says.
It’s been suggested that the use of artificial sweeteners may have a stimulating effect on appetite and, therefore, may play a role in weight gain and obesity.
But research into sweeteners and appetite stimulation is inconsistent. Also, there’s little evidence from longer term studies to show that sweeteners cause weight gain.
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Read Between The Lines
Use this “cheat sheet” to identify which products are sweetened the way you want them.
- No sugar or sugar-free. The product does not contain sugar at all, though it may contain sugar alcohols or artificial sweeteners.
- No added sugar. During processing, no extra sugar was added. However, the original source might have contained sugar, such as fructose in fruit juice. Additional sweeteners such as sugar alcohols or artificial sweeteners also might have been added.
- Dietetic. The product may have reduced calories, but this word can mean a lot of things.
Saccharin The Oldest Artificial Sweetener
Saccharin, the sweetener sold in pink packets under the brand name Sweet ‘N Low, is calorie-free and is about 300 to 500 times sweeter than sugar, per the Sweet N Low website. It was the first artificial sweetener, with chemists discovering it as a derivative of coal tar by mistake in 1879, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.
If youve been using artificial sweeteners since the 1970s, you may remember a previous warning label that warned of saccharin increasing the risk for cancer. But rest assured it’s safe. The research that prompted the label was done on animals, and further studies by the National Toxicology Program of the National Institutes of Health concluded that saccharin shouldnt be on the list of potential carcinogens. Saccharin is currently FDA-approved.
A 132-lb individual would need to consume 45 tabletop packets of the artificial sweetener per day to reach the ADI of 15 mg of saccharin per kg of body weight per day, according to the FDA.
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Do Artificial Sweeteners Cause Sugar Cravings
It has been suggested that consuming artificial sweeteners triggers more sweet cravings. The theory is that artificial sweeteners, which are far sweeter than table sugar, overstimulate your sweet taste buds, causing you to overeat and gain weight.
One study set out to investigate this theory. Over 400 people were recruited for a series of taste tests. They were asked to drink a variety of sweetened beverages, some of which contained sugar, while others contained low-calorie sweeteners.
During the taste test, participants rated the sweetness of each beverage on a scale of 0 to 100. Overall, sugar tasted much sweeter than the low-calorie sweeteners, but less low-calorie sweetener was needed for beverages to taste sweet.
The authors concluded that low-calorie sweeteners do not excite your sweet taste buds more than sugar, and using them does not lead to more sweet cravings.
Everyone is different. Splenda may not trigger sweet cravings in some people. But for others, the only way to stop craving sweets may be to stop eating them completely.
What Amount Of Sweetener Is Safe To Eat
As part of the approval process for each non-nutritive sweetener, an Acceptable Daily Intake level is set. The ADI is the estimated amount per kilogram of body weight that a person can consume, on average, every day, over a lifetime without risk. ADIs are set 100 times less than the smallest amount that may cause health concerns, so its extremely difficult for most people to reach the ADI. With these checks, the current levels of intake of artificial sweeteners in the UK are safe, although people with phenylketonuria are advised to avoid sweeteners containing aspartame.
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The Glycemic Index Of Sucralose
The exact glycemic index of sucralose is zero, and it contains no calories, as it implies it does not affect blood sugar levels. Thus, the GI of sucralose plays an essential role in consuming sucralose for living with diabetes. In addition, sucralose and other artificial sweeteners are touted as sugar alternatives that don’t raise blood sugar levels, making them a healthier option for people with diabetes.
Is Sucralose Bad For Diabetics
Modified: Jun 29, 2022 by John Coleman · This post may contain affiliate links ·
For diabetics, choosing sweeteners can be a minefield. Aspartame, for instance, is low-calorie but has been linked to cancer. Natural sweeteners like stevia are growing in popularity thanks to their connection with healthy eating, but some people complain that they taste funny.
Contents
On the other hand, Sucralose is mainly known under its brand name Splenda and tastes very similar to sugar. But it’s also low in calories and doesn’t cause spikes in blood sugar levels. It seems to be the perfect option for diabetics…or is it?
To get to the bottom of it, we have compiled everything you are going to want to hear and take note of about sucralose and its relationship with diabetes. We’ll be discussing what sucralose is, its health benefits, precautions to take before consuming them, sucralose’s effects on blood glucose levels, and more!
So, without further ado, let’s get right to it.
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Should People With Diabetes Use Splenda
Evidence from many studies suggests that consuming artificial sweetenerssucralose includeddoes not affect blood sugar levels. These studies show that sucralose should be safer than sugar for people with diabetes.
However, there is evidence that drinking diet sodas increases the risk of type 2 diabetes and obesity, along with high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and other symptoms of metabolic syndrome that could ultimately lead to diabetes.
In one study, individuals in a group each added 15 milligrams of Splendaabout one packetper day to the food or beverage of their choice. After 14 days, those who ate Splenda had higher insulin resistance than people in another group who were not given Splenda at all.
If you have insulin resistance, it is more difficult for your body to take glucose from your bloodstream and convert it into energy. This leads to high blood sugar that, if untreated, could eventually lead to type 2 diabetes.
Researchers stress that more studies are needed to identify the health effects that consuming sucralose over the long term could have.