saccharine

You see them everywhere in dizzying arrays. Little pink or blue or yellow pouches. The grocery store shelf containing alternative sweeteners is growing larger every year. And diet products are forever announcing that they’re “now made with [insert name of alternative sweetener here]!”

It’s hard for anyone to keep track of all the many sweeteners that are available–which is why I’m going to focus today’s B3,RD post on simply understanding what’s available.

Alternative sweeteners are non-sugar substances that can be used in place of sugar to provide sweetness with fewer calories. They do this one of two ways. Some alternative sweeteners are indigestible or only partly digestible and are passed through the digestive system with only minimal calorie absorption; while others contain the same number of calories per gram as sugar, but are so much sweeter than sugar that much less of them can be used (thereby allowing them to contribute fewer calories to the food item).

The main characters in the first group (that are only partly digestible) are sugar alcohols. These contain somewhere between 1.5 and 3 calories per gram; less than sugar’s 4 calories per gram. Sugar alcohols are often used in hard candy or chewing gum because they do not promote cavities like regular sugar does. In fact, they do the exact opposite and inhibit cavity development. Sugar alcohols include sorbitol, xylitol, isomalt, mannitol, maltilol, and lactilol. Because these products are only partially digested, they can create unpleasant gastrointestinal effects (such as diarrhea and gas) if consumed in large quantities.

In the second group (those alternative sweeteners that are much sweeter than sugar), we have a whole smattering of artificial and “natural” sweeteners. Below is a quick chart with pertinent information about these “non-nutritive sweeteners”.

Some of these non-nutritive sweeteners (especially saccharin) have a bitter aftertaste that can be quite unpleasant.

Modest evidence supports the notion that consuming foods made with non-nutritive sweeteners instead of higher calorie foods made with sugars can help individuals cut calories. While some people claim that non-nutritive sweeteners induce people to eat more than they normally would (thus consuming more calories overall), the evidence appears to contradict this statement. Replacing caloric foods and/or beverages with ones made with alternative sweeteners does not cause increases in intake, but rather promotes modest decreases in caloric intake.

SO…if preventing obesity and obesity-related complications is your main health concern, replacing a sugar-loaded snack with a lower-calorie one made with artificial sweeteners is probably a good idea.

Today’s B3,RD challenge only applies if you are generally a consumer of regular soda or sugared gum: Purchase a sugar-free variety of your favorite soda or gum and taste test it to see how you like it. If you like the alternatively-sweetened version, you can save some calories by switching over.

Stay tuned for more information on the safety of artificial sweeteners tomorrow!