Sugar-free: What kind of substitutes will help not to refuse sweet
On the dangers of excessive consumption of sugar make films and programs, they write books and articles, and governments are fighting the “white death” at the legislative level. The UK plans to introduce a "tax on sugar", which will mainly concern sugary carbonated beverages; In the Spanish Catalonia, a similar initiative has recently come into force - and each can of cola now costs a few eurocents more. The World Health Organization recommends allocating no more than 10% of all calories per day in the diet for refined sugar - ideally, in general, 5%. Such close attention to sugar and its harm led to the fact that we are looking for more and more new components to replace it - we understand what they are.
Natural Alternatives
The meaning of sugar substitute is to give the food all the same sweet taste, but to be healthier. We have already said that the “fast carbohydrates” of fruits practically do not differ from regular sugar; both fructose and sucrose undergo the same transformations in the body, increase the level of glucose in the blood and lead to insulin release. The quality of sugar in fresh berries is almost the same as in a piece of cake, but the quantity is much lower - and therefore the berries are healthier (and they also contain fiber, water and vitamins).
Sugar-free desserts often use such natural alternatives as honey, maple syrup, or dates. Immediately dispel one of the myths associated with honey: its useful properties are not strongly dependent on the processing method, so raw honey, not subjected to heat, pasteurization, cleaning and filtering, is not the most useful. Of course, such products are somewhat better than refined sugar — at least by minimal processing and by the fact that they contain some trace elements (calcium, magnesium, vitamin B6) and, in the case of dried fruits, fiber.
The problem is that all the above alternatives are very high in calories and have a high glycemic index. Experts say that cakes without baking or homemade candies made on the basis of dates and honey should be treated as traditional desserts - that is, taken as treats for special occasions. Unfortunately, because of the belief that everything natural and sugar free is very useful, people often eat too many of these foods.
Sweet plants and alcohols
These sugar substitutes can be called substances that do not turn into glucose in the body and do not cause such reactions as it - for example, increasing the level of insulin. Such substances can be natural or synthetic, resulting from chemical reactions in laboratories.
One of the natural sweeteners is stevia, which contains almost no calories and comes from the same-name plant in South America. Stevia is hundreds of times sweeter than refined sugar and is especially recommended for people with diabetes and children. In studies conducted stevia improved some parameters of carbohydrate metabolism and the state of the liver and kidneys in rats with diabetes mellitus. Nevertheless, it is undesirable to combine stevia with some drugs, so it is better to consult with your doctor beforehand if you are thinking of switching to it. Some people like to brew stevia leaves with tea, but it is much easier to find it in the form of tablets, powder or liquid; however, this substitute has a characteristic flavor that may not appeal to everyone - or, for example, be suitable for baking, but not for coffee.
Sugar alcohols, such as xylitol or sorbitol, are well known to everyone in advertisements for chewing sugar-free gum — and, by contrast, these sweeteners do not provoke caries. Xylitol and sorbitol in natural form are found in extremely small quantities in many fruits and some plants, for example xylitol in wood and corn cobs, from which it is mined. Sorbitol is found in apples and pears, and in industrial quantities it is obtained from cornstarch. Xylitol has a very low glycemic index, it has fewer calories than in sugar, and according to some data, it contributes to an increase in bone mineral density and collagen production - this is good for preventing osteoporosis and maintaining skin elasticity. A side effect of sorbitol or xylitol can be nausea and diarrhea - but this requires a very large dose, for example, chewing forty gum plates at a time.
Synthetic sweeteners
Synthetic sugar substitutes are obtained as a result of chemical reactions; they are much sweeter than sugar, while they have very few calories. They are usually sold in the form of powder, granules or tablets. There are a lot of such sweeteners - for example, the FDA has six registered with the US Food and Drug Administration. Not all sweeteners may be available in different countries - this is due to different models of market regulation and submission of documents for approval. Aspartame is one of the most studied food additives, registered in many countries for about fifty years. It is up to two hundred times sweeter than sugar, contains almost no calories, smells of nothing, dissolves well in water, but collapses when heated — that is, it cannot be used in baking and hot beverages. In one study, participants were given snacks containing sugar, stevia, or aspartame before lunch and dinner — and people did not compensate for the low calorie content of sugar substitutes by eating more food. That is, in the end, the participants in the groups of stevia and aspartame received fewer calories - and in the group of aspartame they also reported a more pleasant taste of food.
Sucralose, another type of synthetic sweetener, is made, oddly enough, from sugar - but it is sweeter six hundred times and does not contain calories. Sucralose retains its qualities during heat treatment, but its main advantage is the taste, which, in comparison with the same stevia and aspartame, is most similar to ordinary sugar. True, there are also substitutes on the market made of several components at once, and they may taste more pleasant than pure sucralose. Another popular sweetener, saccharin, was first obtained more than two hundred years ago and became popular in the First and Second World Wars, in times of sugar shortages. It is also incredibly sweet and completely non-caloric.
Nutritionists and supporters of the "natural" are often suspicious of synthetic sugar substitutes, citing unfavorable research results. For example, in rats, aspartame carcinogenicity was demonstrated when animals received it throughout life, beginning before birth. Sucralose can be a trigger for a migraine - however, a variety of factors and products, including chocolate and red wine, can provoke its attacks. At the same time, the same Food Safety and Drug Administration relies on data not from individual studies, but from their totality - and the safety of sucralose, aspartame and other FDA-approved sweeteners is confirmed by at least a hundred studies for each.
Anyway, making a choice in favor of one of the sugar substitutes, it is worth discussing it with your doctor or nutritionist. In the case of natural sweeteners, it’s worth remembering that most of them are high in calories and control their consumption is as necessary as in the case of refined sugar. There are much more useful products in terms of the content of sugar and other substances - for example, the whole variety of vegetables and fruits. Synthetic sugar substitutes, on the other hand, are not distinguished by high caloric content, but in order to avoid side effects, it is better to adhere to the permissible dose recommended for each of them.
Photo: Nik_Merkulov - stock.adobe.com, wirojsid - stock.adobe.com, roblan - stock.adobe.com
