Sweetners

Question
I used to eat alot of sugar.  Then I went to saccarin, aspartame etc....  Now I am taking Agave nectar.  Is there any other sweetners that I should try that may be better for me?  Should I just just around from sugar to artificial to avave - maybe staying with just one will hurt me in the long run.

Answer
Hello Gary,
Great that you are cutting down on sugar!  It's a tough job, but is really worth it.

Now the question is what do you want to use as a sweetener.  This will depend on why you are watching your sugars and what kinds of food you like/need to eat.  Essentially, what you mean by "better" may be different than what others mean so I will try to cover various alternatives.  I do concur that staying with just one of anything may hurt you in the long run.  So, mix them up.  One way is to have one sweetener for your drinks, another for baking or in baked goods, and another one for chocolate or candy.  You just don't want to unknowingly be taking in big amounts of say, splenda, just because it is getting into all kinds of foods.  You will have to become aware of brands.  As far as using sugar as one of the sweeteners to switch around, I almost never seek to use it on purpose since it is in nearly every food in the store.  The "almost" is because I do occasionally find Domino dots, those little blocks of sugar, fun to drop into tea.  A friend decorates them for me so it is a special case.       

There are lots of sweeteners, but they are very different in their uses and chemical composition.  I think the most common concerns are whether they are natural (ie. found in nature though may be made in a factory) and where they are on the glycemic index (a measure of effect on blood glucose and resultant insulin level).   

Artificial versus natural.  It looks like you are willing to use artificial sweeteners.  I think that these types of sweeteners serve an important role for people with diabetes or who are very strict about eating low carb.  But, like anything, use them in moderation.  I cringe when I see people guzzling diet soda like it is water, especially kids.  But that doesn't mean they are not safe when used right.  Lots of natural things, like arsenic, are not safe.  And lots of artificial things are safe and improve on something.  

In the artificial category, personally I avoid aspartame but saccharine and sucralose are ok so far.  What you like will depend on what taste you prefer and what you are "afraid" of since all these sweeteners accumulate a negative buzz around them - especially before a new sweetener is going to be introduced.  Saccharine got a bad rap as causing cancer that turned out to be false, but once tainted it is hard for people to go back.  Aspartame came along.  It's made of two amino acids essentially, which makes it sound more natural but it really isn't.  Sucralose (Splenda) is also artificial but pretends it is natural.  They even picked a name that looks like "sucrose".  Very tricky.  Splenda seems okay to me, but it is the newest one so that may give you reason for concern.  Your decision will rest on your personality.  Again, my basic advice is to use these in moderation.  They are inexpensive and convenient and sucralose can be used in baking and so this group is an important tool if you are managing diabetes or working hard to lose weight.

On the natural side of sweet, there are essentially sugar alcohols, various more exotic sugars being explored (lo han quo for example), and fructose (sugar found in fruits and other plants, like agave).  Sugar alcohols can provide very, very low blood glucose effects, providing sweet taste for diabetics, strict low carbers or people who want to have sweets, especially chocolate, but want to minimize blood glucose effects to eat more healthfully.  The sugar alcohols, recognizable since they all end in "-ol", vary a lot in glycemic index.  Maltitol, the most common one, is actually comparable to fructose (the sugar found in fruit and in your agave nectar).  So I don't consider it low glycemic.  Erythritol is natural and extremely low in the glycemic index and is my current favorite as a "serious" natural low carb sweetener.  It is pricey and not best for all uses though.  There are several exotic, low glycemic sweeteners out there, but really they are not ready for wide consumption yet.  I do like to buy from companies using them both for my health and to encourage the creation of more sweet options.  Stevia is very low glycemic and is widely available.  Have you tried that yet?  It has a licorice taste that some people are more sensitive to than others.  I happen to like it and carry a little bottle of liquid stevia with me (great for iced tea).  I highly recommend you try it.  Then there are sweeteners isolated from a variety of plants, like agave, that are pretty much comparable to fructose.  Their exact composition will vary depending on how they are isolated or manufactured. But any of these are fine and are better for you than sugar (sucrose).  Just go with what tastes good to you or pleases your mood, ie. are you a foodie who envisions sunny Mexico when you are partaking of agave or do you just see sweet as sweet and so just want whichever fructose source is least expensive and most convenient.   Just remember that companies can spin the numbers all they want, but fructose is fructose is fructose and although this is more healthful than sucrose, it is not a low carb or a diabetic sweetener.

Well, after all this, I suppose to sum up would be to use a variety of sweeteners (as you suspected), use all in moderation (don't guzzle a 6 pack of soda or eat pounds of cakes and candies just because they are sugar-free), try stevia, and continue to buy alternatives to sucrose and products containing them.  They are very much needed in this country.  
     
Here is a small table of sweeteners that may help.  The numbers are not exact, but their relative order is correct.  There's still variation in how the numbers are reached.

Glucose - 100
Maltose - 100
Corn syrup - 85-92
Sucrose (Table sugar) - 65 (4 calories/gram)
Honey - 50
Lactose (Milk sugar) - 46
Polyglycitol / hydrogenated starch hydrolysate - 39
Maltitol - 36 (2.7 calories/gm)
Fructose (Fruit sugar) - 23
Xylitol - 13
Isomalt - 9
Sorbitol - 9
Erythritol - 0 (0.2 calories/gram)

Thank you for your question, and success in kicking the sugar habit,
Arlene  

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