Sweeteners can be found in many reduced calorie foods. They are sweetened with drinks, fruit preserves, chewing gums, low-calorie foods and foods for diabetics. Is it worth replacing unhe althy sugar with substances that sweeten and are almost calorie-free?

In addition to being present in various food products, you can also buysweetenerstable in the form of loose, liquid and dragees. Although they taste similar, they can be semi-synthetic (polyols or polyalcohols) or fully synthetic.

Synthetic sweeteners

They can be used by diabetics, people who care about their figure and … a beautiful smile, because sweeteners, unlike sugar, do not cause caries. The most commonly used are aspartame and acesulfame K. They are synthetic substances that do not contain calories. In addition, they are characterized by several hundred times greater sweetening power, so even a small addition of them gives the desired sweet taste.

  • Aspartamemust not be heated above 100 ° C - then harmful compounds are formed and a metallic aftertaste appears. It cannot be used by pregnant women and patients with phenylketonuria, because it contains the amino acid phenylalanine (therefore products with aspartame must have a warning on the packaging).
  • Acesulfame Kis considered the safest and most universal sweetener. It can be used both in cold products and for sweetening tea or coffee. Acesulfame in combination with aspartame gives a sweet taste faster, so you can use less of them in the mixture.

Semi-synthetic sweeteners

In Poland, the use of, inter alia,mannitol ,sorbitolandxylitol , i.e. compounds naturally occurring in plants such as couch grass, birch or plum. They are characterized by a lower sweetness intensity than white sugar, and at the same time are less caloric. 1 g of polyols provides an average of 2.4 kcal, while 1 g of sugar provides 4 kcal. The addition of polyols increases the volume of the product, which makes it less caloric. In addition, these compounds (mainly xylitol) in products such as caramels, chewing gum have a pleasant cooling effect.

Important

The organism cannot be deceived

Studies have shown that replacing sugar with a sweetener is not directly related to lossunnecessary kilograms. Scientists explain this by the fact that by using sweeteners, we cheat ourselves, and the calories that we would eat with sugar are supplied to ourselves in a different way.

Check where to look for naturally occurring sugars [TOWIDEO]

Are sweeteners safe?

To date, only two cases of uncontrolled use of sorbitol have been documented. They were associated with excessive consumption (two packets a day) of chewing gum. The symptom was diarrhea and weight loss by up to 20%, but it was a reversible effect. Although all sweeteners are thoroughly tested before being released on the market, you cannot be completely uncritical about them. Along with the development of research, sweeteners raise more and more doubts. This applies, inter alia, to the once popular saccharin, which is being withdrawn from the market due to its potentially carcinogenic effect. We are also unable to predict the long-term effects of using sweeteners.

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