How much sugar do you take?
Should
we better consume low-calories sweeteners rather than sugar? If
you
suffer from diabetes the answer is simple, but you'd better ask for
professional
advice.
Sugary foods, which include honey, maple sugar or syrup and corn syrup, as well as white table sugar (sucrose), are all carbohydrates, molecules that provide energy for the body's metabolism. Sweeteners are divided into two types: 1) Monosaccharide, such as fructose (fruit sugar) or glucose which is the key molecules to creating energy. 2. Disaccharide , such as Maltose (malt) composed of two glucose units connected among them, lactose (milk sugar), composed of Galactose and glucose, Sucrose (white sugar), composed of glucose and fructose. In the past we used to refer to fruit sugar with absolute advantages; despite being just monosaccharide, it was considered as a low glycemic index value. Namely, it has low impact on the blood sugar concentration (or blood glucose level) , what is considered an important advantage. What about artificial sweeteners? Artificial sweeteners apparently do not contain calories, a significant advantage nowadays. The FDA approved the following: Acesulfame (brand name Sunett), Saccharin (under brand names such as Sweet `N Low and others), Neotame, Sucralose (brand name Splenda, SucraPlus, Candy S, Cukren, and Nevella) and aspartame (brand names as Equal and-NutraSweet). All of these artificial sweeteners exceptionally sweet (160 to 220 times more than sucrose), and although some of these such as aspartame are no calorie free, we just need a pinch, so the extra calories are negligible. There's some debate on the safety of artificial sweeteners, mainly against Aspartame which exists in Coca - Cola. Some of the concerns is based on clinical trials nade on animals, but let's face the truth; they used much higher concentrations, in these trials, than people normally use. In 2006 Italian researchers published results of such a research - using moderate concentrations of Aspartame, these experiment indicated apparent increase in risk for cancer. But this experiment is a one of its kind and still has to be looked at and followed by many more experiments in order to confirm or negate this assumption. A different kind of objections against the growing tendency of using artificial sweeteners is that consumers, especially children, can develop their dependence on these. In addition to these no-nutritional-value sweeteners there are the alcoholic sugars with reduced nutritional value; Surebetol, Xylitol, Isomalt, Lactitol and some others. They are only partly absorbed by the body and therefore provide fewer calories than sugar (around 60-65%). According to the American Dietetic Association intensified consumption of Surebetol and others can cause diarrhea. Therefore, as with anything else as well as with artificial sweeteners it is important to check the benefits against the potential risks compared to risks in consumption of sugar. Hence, in order to maintain good health we should use artificial sweeteners moderately as a part of a sensible diverse and balanced diet.
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