In recent years, with the popularity of sugar-controlled diets, it is common to see foods called "sugar-free". So, are sweeteners as sugar substitutes healthier than sugar?
We get nutrients from food, where sugar is an indispensable source of energy in life. Sugars, also known as carbohydrates, include monosaccharides (such as glucose and fructose), disaccharides (such as sucrose and maltose), and polysaccharides (such as starch). However, consuming too much sugar, especially added sugars in foods, is prone to excessive energy accumulation and lead to obesity.
Added sugars in foods are generally used as sweeteners to increase the sweetness of foods, commonly simple sugars or disaccharides, such as glucose, fructose, sucrose, maltose, lactose and the like. In order to reduce the health risks caused by added sugars, sugar substitutes can replace traditional sugars and are used for diet foods, diabetic foods, etc.
Sugar substitutes can be mainly divided into natural sugar generation and artificial sugar generation, of which natural sugar generation mainly includes sugar alcohols and glycosides, while artificial sugar generation mainly includes acesulfame potassium, cyclamate, aspartame and so on. If sugar has a sweetness of 1, then sugar substitutes have a mild sweetness of 0.2 to 1.2. The sweetness of glycoside sugar generation and artificial sugar generation ranges from tens to tens of thousands, which is much sweeter than granulated sugar, so it only takes a little use to obtain sweetness.
The advantage of sugar substitutes is that they are low in calories and high in sweetness, which means that calorie intake can be reduced, and they will not raise blood sugar levels after meals, which is helpful in the prevention and treatment of obesity and diabetes.
However, in recent years, there have been reports that habitual consumption of some varieties of sugar substitutes may lead to abnormalities in glucose tolerance (the ability to maintain blood glucose levels within the normal range), which can trigger or worsen diabetes.
This may be because after eating sugar substitutes, the body's blood sugar levels do not rise, so that the brain makes a response to promote eating, or people's perception of sweetness will become sluggish, and then ingest more and sweeter foods, ultimately leading to obesity and related chronic diseases. In addition, some sugar substitutes may affect the intestinal flora, thereby promoting glucose intolerance.
In general, for people in need, such as diabetics, sugar substitutes are indeed an effective means of reducing added sugar intake and controlling blood sugar, and it is safe to use within a reasonable range. However, there are still many unsolved mysteries about the long-term effects of habitual heavy use of sugar substitutes in normal populations on obesity and glucose metabolism, which deserve our continued attention in the future.
Source: Scientific Debunking Platform