Sweeteners in General - Sweeteners: Nutritional Aspects, Applications, and Production Technology - page 6

1.7 SUGar aLCOhOLS
In sweetening power, the sugar alcohols are closer to sucrose and fructose than to super-sweet
artiicial sweeteners. They do not affect blood-sugar levels as much as sucrose, a real advantage for
people with diabetes, and they do not contribute to tooth decay. Sugar alcohols are used in candies,
baked goods, ice creams, and fruit spreads. Reading the ingredients carefully, you will spot them in
toothpaste, mouthwash, breath mints, cough syrup, and throat lozenges.
1.8 SWeeteNeD BeVeraGeS
Sweeteners added to sports and juice drinks are particularly troubling because many people
think those drinks are relatively healthful.
Researchers are beginning to document the adverse health outcomes. Harvard researchers
reported that women who drank one or more sugar-sweetened soft drinks per day were 83% more
likely to develop type 2 diabetes than women who drank less than one a month. Not surprisingly,
the former were also more likely to gain weight.
When children regularly consume beverages that are sweetened, they are getting used to a level
of sweetness that could affect their habits for a lifetime. A 2004 editorial in the Journal of the
American Medical Association said that reducing the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages
“may be the best single opportunity to curb the obesity epidemic.”
1.9 artIFICIaL SWeeteNerS
Artiicial sweeteners sing a siren song of calorie-free and, therefore, guilt-free sweetness. Those
approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) include acesulfame-K (Sunett), aspartame
(NutraSweet, Equal), neotame, saccharin (Sweet 'N Low, others), and sucralose (Splenda). All are
intensely sweet.
There is a cyberspace cottage industry dedicated to condemning the artiicial sweeteners, espe-
cially aspartame. Some fears are based on animal experiments using doses many times greater than
any person would consume. But even some mainstream experts remain wary of artiicial sweeten-
ers, partly because of the lack of long-term studies in humans.
Even if safety were not an issue, artiicial sweeteners might still be a problem because they may
set people (especially children) up for bad eating habits by encouraging a craving for sweetness
that makes eating a balanced diet dificult (see http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/updates/Added-
sweeteners.shtml ).
1.10 NeW SWeeteNerS StUDY ShOWS NO LINK WIth CaNCer
A study of more than 16,000 patients has found no link between sweetener intake and the risk of
cancer. This supports a previous ruling by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
The safety of artiicial sweeteners has been under scrutiny since the 1970s, when animal studies
reported links with some forms of cancer. The studies were criticized because very high doses of
sweeteners were used. More recent research in rats found that sweetener intakes similar to those
consumed by humans could increase the risk of certain types of cancer. These indings were not
replicated in studies of humans. After evaluating these and other studies in 2006, EFSA concluded