Is sugar sinister or is the sweetener sinister?
Sugar has for many years been the sweetener of choice for most people. Sugar is used for baking, for flavor and preserving. People add sugar to foods or eat foods with added sugar. The USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) recommends that someone on a 2000 calorie diet should have no more than 40 grams of added sugar a day. That is equal to 8-10 teaspoons of sugar a day. 8 to 10 teaspoons may sound like a lot but it is the amount of sugar in one 12 ounce can of soda. How many cans of soda do you drink in a day? A piece of cake with icing can contain as many as 18 teaspoons of sugar. Most people get 3 to 4 times the recommended amount of sugar in their diet every day.
One would be prudent to watch the amount of sugar in their diet. Why? Sugar has no nutritional content and most products high in sugar are also high in fat or saturated fat and loaded with carbohydrates and calories.
Is sugar bad for you? No, not when used in moderation. One way to moderate is to simply cut back on those foods with high added sugar content. Another way would be to replace some of the sugar with a sweetener. Sweeteners are safe when used in moderation. The Food and Drug Administration has approved sweeteners as safe. Sweeteners pack a wallop when it come to sweetness plus have far fewer calories. But remember that just because the sugar has been replaced does not mean that the food is calorie free.
Sweeteners or sugar substitutes are color coded according to their main ingredient. Pink packets contain saccharin (Sweet’N Low), which is 300 times sweeter than sugar and dates back to the 1800’s. Acesulfame potassium (Sweet One), also in a pink packet, is 200 times sweeter than sugar and was approved in 1988 by the FDA. Yellow packets contain sucralose (Splenda). Splenda is 600 times sweeter than sugar and has been on the market since 1998. Blue packets contain aspartame (Equal and NutraSweet). The newest sugar substitute on the market is the green packet which contains stevia. Stevia comes from the leaves of the stevia plant and is 200-300 times sweeter than sugar. Some of the brand names for this sweetener are Truvia, PureVia, and Sun Crystals. The SunCrystals brand is a blend of sugar and stevia containing five calories per packet. There is also a dark green packet called SweetLeaf, which claims to use the finest stevia leaves.
Since sugar substitutes were first introduced they have been greeted with apprehension. But despite the negative myths, sugar substitutes are safe to consume in moderation.
The Hannibal Regional Hospital Diabetes Center helps patients manage their diabetes through education about diet, including information on sugars and sweetners. For more information, call the Diabetes Center at 573-406-5823.