The average person consumes approximately 100 to 150 pounds (45 to 67.5 kilos) of sugar per year with 80 percent coming from processed foods like soft drinks, candy, cereals, and baked goods. But what if we could have our sweets without the high caloric count? Would you use a sugar substitute if your cookie would taste the same and you could still lose weight?
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Sugar substitutes can be natural or synthetic and are used as food additives to duplicate the taste of sugar. They are referred to as artificial sweeteners and in the US, five have been FDA approved for use: aspartame, sucralose, saccharin, neotame, and acesulfame potassium.
ASPARTAME
Patented by Monsanto, aspartame is known as Equal (the blue packets), NutraSweet, Tropicana Slim, and Canderel. A non-saccharide sweetener that is 180 times as sweet as sugar, its taste is never identical to sugar but when blended with acesulfame potassium in soft drinks, will taste more sugar-like and sweeter. Aspartame should not be used in baking because of the breakdown of its sweetness when heated but is perfect for no-bake pies and puddings. Aspartame can replace calorie-heavy sugars in many treats but people born with phenylketonuria (PKU) should avoid it.
SUCRALOSE
Discovered in 1976 by Tate & Lyle scientists, sucralose is sold under the trade names Splenda (the yellow packets) and SucraPlus. 600 times as sweet as sugar, it has the closest taste to sugar and is highly heat-stable. When baking, use one cup of sucralose (Splenda) to replace one cup of sugar. The sweetness is the same but there might be some textural differences present. Recipes using sucralose will also bake faster so heating times need to be adjusted.
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Sucralose is the only artificial sweetener to be ranked "safe" by the consumer advocacy group, Center for Science in the Public Interest. It's favored by dieters, diabetics, and people suffering from hypoglycemia because each individual packet contains only 3.31 calories.
SACCHARIN
About 300 times as sweet as sugar, saccharin has a metallic and bitter aftertaste compared to other substitutes. Marketed as Sweet and Low (the pink packets), saccharin is heat-stable and can be used for baking but only for half the sugar in the recipe: six packets for each quarter cup of sugar.
Saccharin has been linked to bladder cancer in rates. It was banned in Canada in the 1970s while in the US the FDA instituted warning labels for all products containing saccharin. After further studies, the US lifted the warning labels in 2001.
NEOTAME
Chemically similar to aspartame, it's made by NutraSweet and is 8,000 times sweeter than sugar. Just approved by the FDA in 2002, it's heat-stable with only tiny amounts needed to be used for sweetening. Because of its similarities to aspartame, there's concern that it may pose a health threat to people suffering from PKU.
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ACESULFAME POTASSIUM
Also known as acesulfame K or Ace K, it can be found as Sunett or Sweet One and is 180 times sweeter than sugar. It has a bitter aftertaste, like saccharin, so it's often blended with other sweeteners like sucralose or aspartame. Heat-stable, it can be used in baking by substituting 6 packets for each quarter cup of sugar.
NATURAL SUGAR SUBSTITUTE: STEVIA
Stevia derives from the subtropical/tropical herbs known as sweetleaf or sugarleaf. The leaf extracts can be more than 250 times sweeter than sugar but also have a bitter or even licorice-like aftertaste. Widely used a sweetener in Japan, it can only be labeled as a supplement in the US and Canada. It's favored by diabetics and those on carbohydrate-controlled diets but is still controversial regarding its safety.
Which is the best sugar substitute?
All six substitutes will allow a consumer to cut calories while enjoying treats that may be forbidden due to diabetes, hypoglycemia, and diet restrictions. All are tooth-friendly as they will not encourage dental plaque.
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With the exception of Neotame, the substitutes can be found in packets that are easy to use for sweetening cups of coffee or tea. The best sugar substitute to sweeten coffee or tea is best chosen by the individual because it's a matter of taste. The most popular substitutes in the US are sucralose (Splenda) and aspartame (NutraSweet.) The best substitute for baked goods is sucralose (Splenda) because it can be used in equal substitutions and will not alter the treat's taste.