Popular Artificial Sweeteners Used in Everyday Life

Artificial Sweeteners Add Sweetness Without Increasing Calories or Glycemic Levels

Just like how weight shifts in a beam balance when we add or remove something, the remarks about artificial sweeteners keep swinging between their benefits and disadvantages. There have been constant worries over their long-term effects on health but presently, many individuals do prefer these sweeteners to extend their everyday meal choices and avoid intake of normal sugars. Artificial sweeteners are very many times sweeter than normal sugar but contain considerably lesser or zero calories besides imposing no hazards to glycemic values.
 
Artificial sweeteners can be divided into two namely intense and bulk sweeteners. Intense sweeteners are more commonly used in making processed foods such as baked goods, beverages, candies, jellies, and other canned foods. As the name suggests, these have intense sweetness and although don’t cause calorie rise they have the ability to increase the appetite of an individual. Some commonly used intense sweeteners include saccharin, aspartame, sucralose, thaumatin, neohesperidin, and potassium acesulfame.
 
Bulk sweeteners, in contrast, contain less sweetness than sucrose. More commonly used in foods such as ice creams, preserves, jams, marmalades, baked foods, breakfast cereals, and other desserts some of the most common bulk sweeteners are sorbitol, xylitol, maltitol, erythritol, lactitol, mannitol, and isomalt. Let’s look at some of the common sweeteners in detail below:
 
Saccharin: More lovingly called as ‘Sweet ‘n’ Low,’ saccharin was the first low-calorie sweetener approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that can be used in hot and cold food. The sweetener is 300-700 times sweeter than sucrose and the recommended daily intake is not more than 5 milligram for every kilo of body weight. Very popular among those individuals dieting in the 60s, saccharin was into controversy in the 1970s as some research linked its use to the increased risk of bladder cancer in lab rats. But there have been more than 25 studies showing that the same risk is not replicated in humans and it’s safe to use. Still, breastfeeding and pregnant women are advised against using saccharin.
 
Aspartame: The name ‘Equal’ sounds more familiar right? Yes, aspartame is more commonly called by names such as Equal, NutraSweet, and Sugar Twin containing about 200 times more sweetness than normal sugar. Approved in the year 1981 by the FDA, the recommended daily intake is not more than 50 milligrams for every kilo of body weight. The sweetener is predominantly used to sweeten beverages such as coffee and tea, dairy products, chewing gums, cold cereals, and gelatins. As aspartame does not stay stable under heat, it is not used to sweeten baked goods.
 
Sucralose: Also known as ‘Splenda,’ this sweetener is 600 times sweeter than sugar. Individuals feel that the taste of sucralose is quite close to sucrose and there is no denying that—it’s mainly because Splenda is made from sugar. Don’t be shocked as it’s altered such than only 15% of it is stored in the body and converted into energy. But, to remove the calories from the remaining quantity as well, the ‘hydroxyl’ group is replaced with chlorine atoms in the sugar molecule. The acceptable daily intake stands at 5 milligram for every kilo of body weight and the USFDA has approved its use as a general-purpose sweetener.
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Artificial Sweeteners are Hundreds of Times Sweeter than Sucrose

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​Neotame: Sold under the brandname ‘Newtame,’ this agent has been approved as a non-nutritive sweetener. One can use it generally to sweeten foods and enhance the flavor of various foods except for meat and poultry. Neotame is also suitable for baked goods as it is stable under heat. The FDA has claimed Neotame to be safe for use as there have been more than 100 studies on animals and humans. Compared to other sweetening agents, neotame is sweeter as it adds up to 7000-13000 times sweetness and is about 30-60 times sweeter than sugar and aspartame.
 
Acesulfame-k: Commonly mentioned in the ingredient list as acesulfame potassium, acesulfame K, or Ace-K, this sweetener is marketed using brand names such as Sweet One and Sunett. The FDA approved its use in the year 1988 as a non-nutritive sweetener which could be used for sweetening general products and enhancing their flavor. Just like Neotame, acesulfame is heat stable and hence, can be used as a sugar substitute while making baked goods. There have been close to 100 studies that prove the safety of this sweetener and it is commonly used to sweeten candies, desserts, beverages, and frozen desserts.
 
Conclusion
As such, sugar is advisable to use only in limited quantities and no sugar substitutes are healthy when consumed in excess. Instead of choosing sweetened beverages, go for plain water, infused water, or non-sweetened tea or coffee. If you have been drinking beverages with sugar, try to decrease sugar quantity slowly. For instance, reduce the one teaspoon of sugar intake to half a teaspoon and so on. Even when picking foods at the grocery shop, make it a habit to read the food label and choose wisely.
 
The kind of sweetener added in any food product would surely be mentioned in the nutrition label. As artificial sweeteners contain minimal or zero calories and don’t have sugar content, their everyday use has increased monumentally in recent times. But, there are safety issues that remain as a question mark despite research evidences as they can never replace natural ingredients nor prove to be zero risky when they are substitutes for the white poison (sugar). Make a detailed meal plan with the help of a dietitian/nutritionist, workout daily, and lead a healthy lifestyle that minimizes sugar intake to keep diabetes under control or to stay away from the deadly disease.