Sugar or sugar substitute?

arghbowl

Sugar is fine

Artificial Sweeteners are fine.

Stop this madness.

It's gotta be tough, railing against invisible demons all the time. Your post has nothing to do with OPs question.

It's gotta be tough, realising that I was clearly replying to a whole range of people who were saying things like "I dont trust artificial sweetners"

What does it matter if someone doesn't trust artificial sweeteners? Personally I'm from the "If I can't pronounce it, I won't eat it" group.

It's the same thing as the whole "which is better - butter or margarine" crap.

You do know all vitamins and minerals pretty much have unpronounceable names, right? Oh sure, they have "brand names" like vitamin a or vitamin e, but the actual name is ridiculously hard to pronounce.

Kinda like aspartame and sweet-n-low, or sucralose and Splenda. Would you eat something called malus domesticus? How about punica granatam? How about thunnus alalunga? Those are commonly known as apple, pomegranate, and tuna, respectively.

Really? You're pulling the botanical and subgenus/species card on an artificial sweetener thread? I couldn't care less what the scientific name of apples & tuna are - they're natural. All I was getting at is that a chemically derrived sweetener with compounds including something resembling a Canadian zip code isn't something I want to put in my body.

Huh? Aspartame is aspartic acid, a naturally occuring amino acid that's in every protein source that exists on Earth, and phenylalanine, an essential amino acid that is also found in pretty much all protein sources. Nothing that resembles a zip code. The only thing that makes it "artificial" is the fact that manufacturers get the amino acids and combine them together, rather than extracting them from say, chicken (which incidentally, contains the rough equivalent of 24 cans of diet sodas' worth of aspartame.)

Besides, you said nothing about natural vs artificial, you said you don't eat things you can't pronounce. I was merely pointing out the absurdity of that statement. Better to just say you'd prefer not to eat artificial foods.

Actually, if you read my original post on the first page you would see I *did* say that. Enjoy your God complex. / thread

MissMaryMac33

Use the one you like... I like Nectresse for some things, baking with half real sugar, half splenda, splenda brown on my oatmeal, sweet-n-low in my coffee, equal never. stevia rarely unless its in my whey protein.

NOTE: If you do decide to try Xylitol make sure you know it is highly toxic to pets -- this is why I do not have it my house, ever.

Morn66

Huh? Aspartame is aspartic acid, a naturally occuring amino acid that's in every protein source that exists on Earth, and phenylalanine, an essential amino acid that is also found in pretty much all protein sources. Nothing that resembles a zip code. The only thing that makes it "artificial" is the fact that manufacturers get the amino acids and combine them together, rather than extracting them from say, chicken (which incidentally, contains the rough equivalent of 24 cans of diet sodas' worth of aspartame.)

Yes, thank you. I get so tired of the "OMG, IT'S ARTIFICIAL AND I CAN'T PRONOUNCE IT!" hysteria. Arsenic and cyanide are natural. So is lead. And mercury. And feces! And digitalis. And I wouldn't eat those even though I can pronounce them quite well. (Well, OK, I actually do "eat" digitalis in my meds, even though it is, in fact, pesticide that foxgloves make.)

That said, I'm a beekeeper. My sweetener of choice is honey. If that doesn't work for consistency or flavor's sake, it's either agave nectar or plain old cheap-o granulated sugar. Or brown sugar. Or maple syrup. But then, I don't drink coffee (Can't stand the taste), so I have no idea how honey might taste in coffee. But when it comes to what to pack for college, I vote for whatever's cheapest, myself. That's what I went for when I was a starving student! Because really? All of it is equally "good" or "bad" for you, assuming that you aren't diabetic; it's just a matter of how many calories you want to spend, if calories concern you.

toutmonpossible

Yes, thank you. I get so tired of the "OMG, IT'S ARTIFICIAL AND I CAN'T PRONOUNCE IT!" hysteria. Arsenic and cyanide are natural. So is lead. And mercury. And feces! And digitalis.

We've also had more experience with them. Centuries worth. I ingest synthetic sweeteners and additives because I live in the modern world, but I don't assume they're safe. The FDA does not have the best track record.

Morn66

We've also had more experience with them. Centuries worth. I ingest synthetic sweeteners and additives because I live in the modern world, but I don't assume they're safe. The FDA does not have the best track record.

Ah, but the nice thing is that you don't have to "assume." Don't worry about what the FDA thinks; "worry" about what the science says, because that's what the FDA listens to, anyway. Not a single study has linked aspartame (again, a compound made of two amino acids, stuff we all eat every day in lots of other things) to any sort of health risk, unless one has PKU and therefore cannot have phenylalanine, one of those amino acids. And it's been the artificial sweetener of choice for what? 30 years now? Ever since saccharin was smeared by the FDA...and then resurrected by the FDA as safe when it was discovered that, oops, rats aren't exactly like humans after all, and that what causes bladder cancer in a male rat after being fed (massive doses of) saccharin is unique to rat physiology and does not apply to humans. But that's science for ya. Self-correcting and all that. But surely if aspartame was evil, there would've been someone killed or at least sickened by it by now. But...?

Anyway, my point is that "natural" is not always synonymous with "healthy" and "artificial" is not always synonymous with "unhealthy." It depends on the thing in question. So...I'm gonna go with the science, myself, and leave worrying to others. Maybe that approach to life will bite me in the butt one day, but it hasn't yet.

orly99

Artificial Sweeteners for my coffee and normal sugar for cooking but I don't have a sweet tooth so I can get by without extra or much of either.

snazzyjazzy21

I use stevia to sweeten my greek yoghurt and xylitol in my tea (because it has been shown to help with tooth decay and so such). Oh and I drink diet coke, so thumbs up to aspartame!

LivvieO

I dont normally use sugars because of a history of diabetes in the family but I absolutely love Coconut Sugar. Much like Agave sugar, its "supposedly" lower on the glycemic index however, I love it for the rich nutty flavor it adds to foods.