interesting article about fake sugar

naugustyniak

I get a daily e-mail from Women's Health and this was the topic today. I thought it was pretty interesting.

http://www.womenshealthmag.com/life/daily-dose-april-21?cm_mmc=Newsletter-_-2009_Apr_21-_-Dose-_-readon

naugustyniak

I get a daily e-mail from Women's Health and this was the topic today. I thought it was pretty interesting.

http://www.womenshealthmag.com/life/daily-dose-april-21?cm_mmc=Newsletter-_-2009_Apr_21-_-Dose-_-readon

3babybeans

DAILY DOSE APRIL 21
Tuesday's Daily Dose
Are fake sugars safe?

Move over, Splenda. Sugar's new doppelganger is coming soon to cafés everywhere.

Made from Rebaudioside A, an extract of the leaves of the stevia plant, the newest zero-calorie sugar sub promises to be up to 300 times sweeter than regular sugar.

If you're like more than half of all Americans, the white stuff you reach for comes in a pink, blue, yellow, or green packet, not a sugar bowl. Stevia is being marketed as the first all-natural calorie-free sweetener, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's good for you. But to figure out how these chemicals are tinkering with your health, you first have to learn what's in them.

The pink one, Sweet'N Low, contains saccharin. It was discovered in 1879 and is the result of a chemical reaction that produces methyl anthranilate (yum!). It has only 1/8 calorie per teaspoon versus sugar's 15, yet it's 300 times sweeter than the natural stuff.

The blue packets, labeled Equal or NutraSweet, contain slightly less bitter tasting aspartame, which is derived from the amino acids L-aspartic acid and L-phenylalanine. On diner counters and in diet foods since 1981, aspartame contains 24 calories per teaspoon, but because it's 180 times sweeter than sugar.

In the yellow packet comes Splenda, which gets its sweetness from sucralose. As it says on the label, sucralose — which has been around since 1998 and is used in ice cream, sauces, and jellies—is made from sugar and tastes closest to the real thing. To create it, food chemists substitute chlorine atoms for three hydrogen-oxygen groups on the sucrose molecule. That switch makes Splenda a tongue-tingling 600 times sweeter than sugar.

Can these chemical concoctions really be good for you? Despite a handful of scary studies back in the '70s that linked saccharin to increased rates of cancer in rats, there's little evidence that artificial sweeteners cause problems in humans.

One exception: A 2001 study from the journal Headache found that aspartame can trigger head pain. Experts believe that the phenylalanine in aspartame has a negative impact on neurotransmitters. If you're prone to headaches (especially skull-splitting migraines), avoid foods with aspartame or phenylalanine in their ingredient lists.

Though these sweeteners are basically calorie free, they might make you gain weight in the long run by teasing your sweet tooth.

A study on rats last year, reported in the journal Behavioral Neuroscience, suggested that ingesting the artificial sweetener saccharin confuses the body's ability to regulate food intake, and may actually cause weight gain for some. In short, the artificial sweetener might trigger the expectation of real food to come, so the body coaxes a person to then eat more, concluded Purdue University researchers Susan Swithers and Terry Davidson.

The bottom line: Most nutritionists agree that you'll end up healthier and more satisfied eating a few squares of chocolate after lunch than feasting on artificially sweetened foods all day. And when you face your morning coffee, remember that sugar delivers just 15 calories per tablespoon — which you can burn by sleeping for 13 minutes.

3babybeans

I thought it was important enought to post it in the thread. I hope you don't mind.

Thanks for the link!

naugustyniak

I thought it was important enought to post it in the thread. I hope you don't mind.

Thanks for the link!

Nope post away......:laugh:

3babybeans

It's really good information! There's a lot of bogus information out there that confuses people that are trying to be healthier.

3babybeans

I wanna bump this...people should read!

angelinaz

Thanks for this! I read it and just came to my same conclusion--I just try to ingest as few chemicals as possible. I have been using stevia for years. I like it. Don't use much of it--mostly for iced tea. I do have a friend who bakes with it, etc!

paddlemom

Yay - good article! Sugar phobia has been my pet peeve for years. The biggest problem with sugar from a caloric standpoint, is that we tend to use it in conjunction with high fat foods. Like everything else moderation is the key.

Study after study supports the de-bunking of the theory that sugar causes hyperactivity and, aside from those who have medical conditions such as diabetes, I rarely hear of sugar causing any of the reactive type symptoms of the other sweeteners.

I think that most of us are better off retraining our tastebuds to be satisfied with a less sweet taste profile in a lot of our foods, and then using a little sugar here and there won't be harmful and may even be more satisfying in the long run.

Personally, the worst thing I ever did was wean myself off sugar in my coffee, in favour of triple cream!!! Even double sugar wouldn't have gotten me nearly the calories in a cup of coffee. Now I have finally worked my way down to light cream (5%) and eventually I will learn to love 2% milk in it. I HATE really hot foods/drinks, so I doubt I will ever "fade to black".....