Eliminating sugar from your daily diet does not mean removing the sweet taste from your life. It is enough to replace sugar with sweeteners. They are many times sweeter than sugar, and at the same time have almost no calories and do not contribute to obesity, diabetes or tooth decay.
Generally speaking,sweetenerscan be divided into artificial and natural intense sweeteners and semi-synthetic fillers, called polyols. The artificial substances are those substances that are most often referred to as sweeteners, i.e. saccharin (E-954), aspartame (E-951), acesulfame K (E-950) and cyclamates (E-952). They are produced by chemical processes and have no nutritional value. On the other hand, natural sweeteners are obtained from plant materials, e.g. roots, leaves, fruit. One of the most popular and famous is thaumatin (E-957) from the African katemfe fruit. It is a compound up to 2500 times sweeter thansugar , fully digested by the body. Thaumatin is added to many products that contain artificial sweeteners to enhance flavor and aroma. It deprives these agents of their characteristic metallic-bitter aftertaste. Polyols, incl. lactitol (E-966), sorbitol (E-420) and malditol (E-421) are slightly less caloric than sugar. Their additional advantage is that they do not causecariesand do not contain sucrose, so they are also safe for diabetics.
What exactly are sweeteners different from sugar?
They are many times sweeter than him, and at the same time have almost no calories. They work in the same way as sugar on the taste buds, but they do not contribute to obesity, diabetes, tooth decay or cardiovascular disease. Sugar, or sucrose, is a semi-natural product obtained from cane or sugar beet. It provides simple carbohydrates that are quickly absorbed by the body, is caloric (100 g equals 400 kcal) and, unfortunately, quite unhe althy. Therefore, scientists have long been looking for a substance that will replace it. The first sweetener was saccharin obtained in 1878. It turned out to be 350 - 500 times sweeter than sugar with a calorific value of zero.
What sweeteners are most often added to products?
The most popular is aspartame. It is added to candies, desserts, sports bars, chewing gums and light drinks. It's ok.200 times sweeter than sugar and similar in taste. Its disadvantage is impermanence. It loses its sweetness quickly in too high temperature, acidic environment or leaky packaging. Another sweetener commonly used in light products is acesulfame K, also known as sunnet. However, it is superior to aspartame in terms of temperature resistance, so it can be used to sweeten hot coffee and tea, and also added to pastries. Saccharin is used much less frequently, mainly in slimming aids and in products intended for diabetics. Thaumatin is also used in the food industry. Most often for the production of juices, yoghurts and desserts. In turn, polyols are used in chewing gums, ice cream, cakes and candied fruit.
Can sweeteners replace sugar?
It depends on the type of sweetener. Everyone can sweeten dishes that do not require thermal processing. Synthetic sweeteners such as aspartame or saccharin decompose at 100-150 ° C, so they cannot be used, for example, for baking cakes. The exception is acesulfame K. In the processing industry, for example, thaumatin or polyols are used more often, slightly less caloric than sugar.
Are sweeteners good for everyone?
No. Aspartame and acesulfame K contain phenylalanine - an amino acid that is a natural component of proteins. It is dangerous for people with phenylketonuria because their body does not break down the substance. It can also damage the brain and delay mental development. It is especially dangerous for the developing fetus and children under 12 years of age. Therefore, products with these agents should not be eaten by pregnant women and young children. It is also worth knowing that polyols, used in products for diabetics, in high doses cause diarrhea.
Is it true that sweeteners are bad for your he alth?
Negative opinions about sweeteners have not been scientifically confirmed, although there are criticisms from time to time. In the 1970s, one of the reasons for the withdrawal of saccharin from the market was the finding that a few percent of the rats in which it was tested had bladder cancer and brain cancer, diseases that were not likely to occur in these animals. Similar results were achieved when testing aspartame, which was only released to the market after 11 years of research. Concerns about the carcinogenic effects of both saccharin and aspartame turned out to be exaggerated, and stemmed only from the enormous doses that lab animals were stuffed with for a long time. Sweeteners are still being researched. Some scientists still have doubts about cyclamates, which are believed to cause bladder cancer. Ingestion of these substancesis prohibited in the United States, but permitted in European Union countries. Recently, our Ministry of He alth approved the approval of sodium cyclamate on the Polish market. It is, for example, an ingredient of the latest Cola Light.
What daily dose of sweetener is safe for us?
It was established by the United Nations Food Additive Research Group (JECFA). Specialists from this team deal with the daily assessment of the impact of individual compounds on human he alth and the determination of a safe daily norm of their consumption. They ruled that the amount of sweetener in the diet should not exceed 5 mg per kilogram of adult weight and 4 mg per kilogram of child's weight over 12 years of age. The standard for the food industry is also strictly defined, allowing a maximum consumption of 2 g of sweetener per liter or kilogram of the finished product. The amounts are so small that even if we eat a lot of light products and use a coffee sweetener, we do not have to worry about overdosing.
Can sweeteners help us lose excess weight?
Only on one condition - it will be so if we combine a rational diet with the use of the sweetener, rich in fruits, vegetables, fish, lean meat and vegetable fats. Then we can expect to lose weight gradually. Unfortunately, many people, when replacing sugar with a sweetener, compensate for it by frequent snacking of caloric, but not necessarily sweet, delicacies, e.g. peanuts. In this way, they easily achieve the so-called yo-yo effect and instead of losing weight, after a temporary weight loss, they most often gain weight again. Remember that using sweeteners is not a miracle recipe for a beautiful and slender figure. This is just one of the many ways to achieve this goal.