Artificial Sweeteners 101
April 30, 2011
According to the American Heart Association (AHA), Americans, on average consume more than double the daily recommended amount of added sugars. A report from the latest National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey database showed that Americans get about 22.2 teaspoons of sugar a day or about 92.4 grams or 355 calories!

Based on AHA recommendations, an appropriate amount for an individual with an energy requirement of 1,800 calories per day (most women) would be no more than 100 calories from added sugars (6.25 tsp or 26.25 grams). An individual with a requirement of 2200 calories per day (an active man) should eat or drink no more than 150 calories from added sugars or 9.4 tsp (about 40 grams).

Sugars (not found in whole foods like fruits and vegetables) are considered 'discretionary calories', as diets high in added sugars are linked to obesity, high blood pressure, increased triglycerides, and cardiovascular disease according to the AHA. For those who are watching your weight, monitoring glucose levels, trying to limit sugar consumption, or just looking to sweeten up your snack with out adding extra calories, there are many low calorie, high intensity, sugar substitutes to choose from, here's the 101:

So just how much "artificial sweeteners" do we each consume? According to Landor Mills Commodities, the equivalent amount of sweeteners ( in foods and beverages) translates into 16.2 lbs per person per year.

Saccharin (Sweet'n Low and Necta Sweet): Saccharin was first discovered in 1879 and has been used commercially for about a century (it was the first artificial sweetener). Saccharin starts with methyl anthranilate, a synthesized organic molecule derived from petroleum. Methyl anthranilate is also found naturally in many fruits, especially grapes. Saccharin has no calories and is 300-500 times sweeter than table sugar. Although saccharin keeps its flavor when heated, it will not provide bulk or volume to baked goods the way table sugar does.

Aspartame (NutraSweet and Equal): Approved for use in 1981, aspartame is a combination of phenylalanine and aspartic acid, two amino acids, then combined with methanol. It is low in calories (4 per gram) and contains no carbohydrates so does not promote tooth decay. It is used as a tabletop sweetener, in foods and beverages as well as chewing gum and some vitamin and cold preparations. It is approximately 200 times sweeter than table sugar. Aspartame contains phenylalanine; those with PKU, a rare genetic disorder that keeps your body from metabolizing phenylalanine properly (every infant is now screened for PKU at birth) need to be careful about consuming aspartame.

Sucralose (Splenda): Approved for use in 1998, sucralose is a sugar substitute that is 600 times sweeter than sucrose and is not registered in the body as a carbohydrate, has no calories and does not affect blood sugar. It will not cause tooth decay and has no calories. Sucralose retains its flavor when cooked, but like saccharin, does not add volume to baked goods.

Acesulfame potassium (Sunette): Abbreviated on food labels as acesulfame K, this sugar substitute was approved for use in the United States in 1988 and marketed under the name Sunette�. It is 200 times sweeter than sugar, has no calories does not promote tooth decay and produces no glycemic response. Like sucralose and saccharin, it does not provide volume and therefore may not work well in some baking recipes.

Neotame: This is the most intense sweetener to date, with a sweetness of between 7,000 and 13,000 times that of sucrose, and one of the more recent additions to the low-calorie sweetener list. Its use was approved for foods and beverages in the United States in 2002 and is a derivative of dipeptide, and made of amino acids, aspartic acid and phenylalanine. It is quickly metabolized and considered very versatile since it works well in both hot and cold foods and as a tabletop sweetener. There are currently no commercially available products made with neotame in the U.S., though many are in development.

Stevia: Stevia rebaudiana, or commonly known as stevia, is an herb in the Chrysanthemum family. It grows as a small shrub in parts of Paraguay and Brazil. Indigenous people of these countries were consuming parts of the stevia plants long before European explorers and settlers "discovered" them. The plant material between the veins of the leaf contains the sweet compounds, which are up to 250-300 times as sweet as sugar. Truvia, PureVia and others contain this sweetener as do some diet beverages.

It is important to note that a loophole in the FDA regulation is that the amount of calories can be rounded down to the nearest 5-calorie value. In the case of the artificial sweeteners which contain no calories, the bulking agents (such as dextrose and maltodextrin) add an average 4 calories per teaspoon that do not show up on the package or in the Nutrition Facts panel.

So which one is the right sweetener for you?
SupermarketGuru.com believes that when it comes to a table top sweetener, the differences are more about personal taste preferences than anything else, although we do recommend you try Stevia if you haven't yet. We also remind you to consume as many fresh foods and minimally processed foods as possible with little or no added sugars, and if there is an added sugar, look for those foods that list sugar (rather than another type of sweetener) as the ingredient.

Posted by Ken at 12:00 AM