A Guide to Sugar Sub. Sweeteners

Alrighty - I know we've had a few questions about this lately and I found this online this morning...

Let's take a closer look at the six FDA-approved non-nutritive sugar substitutes.

Acesulfame-Potassium (Acesulfame-K) goes by the brand names Ace-K, Sunett and Sweet One. It is a combination of organic acid and potassium that is often blended with other sugar substitutes.

• 200 times sweeter than sugar
• 0 calories per gram
• Heat stable (can be used in cooking and baking)
• Produces no glycemic response
• ADI: 15 mg/kg body weight per day

Aspartame goes by the brand names Equal and NutraSweet. It is composed of two amino acids (proteins), aspartic acid and phenylalanine. Aspartame is one of the most thoroughly tested food additives, according to the FDA. People with the rare heredity disease phenylketonuria (PKU) should not consume aspartame.

• 160-220 times sweeter than sugar
• 4 calories per gram (metabolized as a protein), but because such a small amount is needed to sweeten foods and beverages, the calories provided by aspartame are considered negligable.
• Not heat stable (cannot be used in cooking or baking)
• Produces a limited glycemic response
• ADI: 50 mg/kg body weight per day

Neotame is one of the newest artificial sweeteners approved for use in packaged foods and beverages.

• 7,000-13,000 times sweeter than sugar
• 0 calories per gram
• Heat stable (can be used in cooking and baking)
• Produces no glycemic response
• ADI: 18 mg/kg body weight per day
• Rapidly metabolized and excreted

Saccharin goes by the brand names Necta Sweet, Sugar Twin and Sweet 'N Low.

• 200-700 times sweeter than sugar
• 0 calories per gram
• Heat stable (can be used in cooking and baking)
• Produces no glycemic response
• ADI: 15 mg/kg body weight per day

Stevia (Rebaudioside A) goes by the names PureVia, Sun Crystals and Truvia. It is a steviol glycoside, one component of the stevia plant that provides sweetness. Click here for SparkPeople's in-depth article on stevia.

• 250-300 times sweeter than sugar
• 0 calories and 0 carbohydrates per gram
• ADI: 0-4 mg/kg body weight per day
• Metabolized by the body into steviol, which is not absorbed in the blood and therefore leaves the body unchanged

Sucralose goes by the brand name Splenda.

• 600 times sweeter than sugar
• 0 calories per gram
• Heat stable (can be used in cooking and baking)
• Produces no glycemic response
• ADI: 5mg/kg body weight per day
• Poorly absorbed and excreted unchanged

Wow Liz, thanks for posting this info, it's good info  to have.
Ena

You are so smart!!  Thanks you for this post!!!

Thanks Liz, as always you are a wealth of information when it comes to the cooking stuff. . .  I think g/f you need to be on the Cooking Channel and be done with life as you knew it. . .  Paula Deen move on over. . .  ;)

lol thanks Laureen :) I'd love to do that!

Well you would never have a shortage of people wanting to be taste testers that's for sure ;)

Thank you so much for posting this, Liz.

I have been on the fence on this topic for a while.  My endrocrinologist tells me that a carb is a carb, so being pre-op, and not susceptible to dumping, I've steered clear of sugar substitutes, and use the real thing, within my meal plans.

That being said, from all the conversations I've read over the last few months, y'all have retained your sweet teeth after surgery, and the idea of being able to enjoy things with a "yum" factor after surgery is pretty darn appealing.

So anyway, I've been torn between wanting to stick to a whole foods diet and wanting to be sure that I don't feel deprived ot yummy stuff post surgery.  Am I right in assuming that the sugar subs help you maintain your otherwise healthy choices by keeping the head hunger under control?  I'm beginning to think that maybe using them on moderation is a good idea.

On a side note, I've heard both positive and negatives about the safety of stevia, is the FDA ok with using it now?  For a while, they wouldn't talk about it much.

Thanks again, Liz.

Elizabeth

Elizabeth - I think that the subs are a great treat - basically everything sweetened that you will eat post op will have something in it along these lines. Infact Malitol and Isomalt (diabetisweet) are found in many REGULAR candy's and cookies!

Moderation is the key to this as well as most of life as a post op. If these sweet things are your trigger then you should avoid them as long as possible post-op, you will benefit greatly from it. There are times when you have to cross the "Dessert threshold" birthdays, holidays etc and I find it best to always bring something I can eat rather then be tempted by the "real" stuff and pay for it later!

Hope that helps a bit and isn't too jumbled lol

Notably missing from this list are the sugar alcohols (maltitol, xylitol, erythritol, etc.) that are commonly used in sugar-free commercial products.  I found a really interesting article about them, with some great comparitive info on glycemic response, etc...

http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/whattoeat/a/sugaralcohols.htm

Worth a look.

I'm going to do a lot more experimenting with Xylitol and Erythritol now!

Enjoy,
Karen

New Guy in Town??.....I've recently found Agave Nectar LIGHT in my Genuardi's and I'm liking it!  

Regular Agave was too thick for me and gave me stomach cramps.  Stevia and Truvia both changed the taste of my coffee to "horribly bitter", oh, I don't like them at all ;-(   I don't use Sweet n Low.  Equal and Splenda are my preferred in drinks, Diabetisweet in cooking.   I was told we can use unrefined Raw Cane Sugar made from the juice of the sugar cane plant.   I tried it once and seemed to get a little reaction on my tongue so stopped.  Besides, it's very expensive.  Here's info on it....http://www.naturalorganiclifestyle.com/unrefined-raw-sugar.h tml