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No substitute for caution
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As there are plenty of artificial sweeteners in the market, you have to make an informed choice
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SANS SUGAR Go easy on artificial sweeteners
With the threat of diabetes and other disease looming large, consuming sugar has become rife with health dangers. Sugar substitutes are the best things to opt for, given that they are the closest substitute to sugar.
The good news is that there's more choice than ever before today in the artificial sweetener market.
Some such as saccharin and aspartame have, of course, been around for decades. Others such as sucralose, levulose, stevia and acesulfame potassium have entered the Indian market and are starting to make some waves, while still others like xylitol, sorbitol and manitol are yet to make the move in a big way.
So what do you need to know to make an informed choice about the best sweetener to use? First, there's the concept of the `nutritive' versus the `non-nutritive' sweeteners, which is just a fancy way of saying that the first kind contain some calories, and the second contain virtually none. The venerable aspartame and saccharin fall under the non-nutritive category, as do sucralose, acesulfame K and stevia.
Free of calories
These sweeteners are several hundred times as sweet as sucrose or sugar, but don't contribute any calories at all.
One issue that has dogged these non-calorific artificial sweeteners is the fear of serious side effects such as cancer.
But Dr. V. Mohan, chairman, Dr. Mohan's Diabetes Specialities Centre, says: "No cases of cancer due to artificial sweeteners have ever been reported in human beings. These sweeteners are safe to use in measured quantities."
If you would still prefer to go natural, there's always stevia, a plant extract-based non-nutritive sweetener that is 300 times as sweet as sugar. But there's room for improvement in the stevia-based products available in India, says Dr. Mohan.
"It's very good because it has been shown to have some blood glucose lowering properties," he says, "but I'm not personally satisfied with the products in India because of the bitter aftertaste."
Nutritive sweeteners
That brings us to the nutritive sweeteners. The most popular of these is levulose (fructose or fruit sugar) that is being used in the Dezire line of diabetic food products in India.
Levulose is 1.7 times sweeter than sucrose and with a much lower Glycemic Index (GI). This means that although it has the same number of calories as sugar, smaller quantities need to be used, and it raises blood sugar levels by just one-third the amount sugar does.
Sugar alcohol-based sweeteners like sorbitol, xylitol and mannitol, which are not yet that popular in India, are carbohydrates that are not completely absorbed by the body.
However, these sweeteners have been shown to cause stomach problems and diarrhoea if used in large quantitiesIn general, Dr. Mohan recommends that nutritive sugar substitutes be used only once a diabetic's blood sugar levels are under control.
So there you have it — used in measured quantities and as part of a balanced diet, these sugar substitutes can make your life a little sweeter.
DIVYA KUMAR
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