Sugar Substitutes
By Dr Linia Patel.
Q: What are the different types of sugar?
A: sugar is a simple carbohydrate, which means it doesn’t need much digestion and it’s very easily absorbed into the blood stream – causing your blood sugar levels to go up. The types of sugar that adults are eating too much of is free sugar. Free sugar is any sugar that is added to food or drink. This could include biscuits, chocolate, breakfast cereals and fizzy drinks. It’s important to remember the definition of free sugars – this includes sugars found in honey and syrups. It’s also includes maple, agave, sweetened fruit juices, vegetable juices, and smoothies. Even though they should as appear in the product naturally, they still count as a free sugar intake. Sugars found naturally in fruit, vegetables and whole milk. Please don’t count as part of the free sugar; we don’t need to be cutting down on these. It’s important to remember that when you look at a label for total sugar, what you need to be looking at is ‘free sugar’.
Q: Why is sugar used?
A: Sugar acts as a preservative. It also helps to deliver particular textures in cakes, chocolate and biscuits, or add colour. We are genetically programmed to like sweet flavours, which is why we find sugary foods palatable from birth.
Q: What is too much?
A: We know that a diet high in sugar increases the risk of tooth decay and causes weight gain. A high consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks causes type 2 diabetes. What’s interesting is that the link between sugar consumption and obesity, or conditions such as heart disease, has actually been hardest prove. The reason for this is sugar is widely eaten. Diseases are not caused by one food or nutrition in isolation, but rather a range of genetic lifestyle factors.
Q: What are the recommendations for sugar intake?
A: In 2015, the scientific advisory Committee on nutrition published new guidance to recommend that we actually need to reduce your sugar intake to 5%. In practical terms: a child age 10 should eat less than 4-5 tsp of free sugar a day; and average woman should have a maximum of 3 teaspoons of free sugar a day; and men should target 7-8 teaspoons of sugar a day. The latest government survey suggests only 4% of young people are currently eating the right amount.
Q: Should we be going sugar-free?
A: I think it’s more about learning to eat sugar in line with the guidelines, but not necessarily going against sugar or looking for alternatives. What I find is that people are on a sugar-free diet still consuming copious amounts of sugary substances, such as honey, agave, and maple syrup. At the end of the day, it is still sugar.
Q: How do sugars compare to table sugar?
A: Honey has a reputation of being healthier, due to its anti-inflammatory flavonoids. As you are consuming honey in quite small amounts, the amount of flavonoids and minerals you’re getting is very much a trace level. Honey is actually slightly sweeter than sugar; a tablespoon of honey has 64 calories, where has a tablespoon of sugar has 48 Cal. It might be that if you use honey you’ll end up for using less to get the same sweetness. If this is helping you reduce your sugar intake slowly, then this might be a reason to use honey over sugar. The the next sugar is agave syrup. It is made from the agave plant but, unfortunately, because of the way the syrup is made, the plant is heated with very high heat and enzymes that destroy a lot of the benefits. What you end up with is the syrup that is low in glucose and is actually fructose – so it doesn’t spike your blood sugar levels as much. Every cell in the body can metabolise glucose, where has not every cell in the body can metabolise fructose. The body can process small amounts of fructose and this is why it’s ok to be eating fruit. The third type is stevia sugar, which is extracted from the stevia plant. In comparison to sugar, stevia is 30 times sweeter in its whole leaf form. Stevia has no calories and no effect on blood sugar levels, and is a great alternative to sugar – in that it doesn’t make your blood sugar levels Spike and it doesn’t count as part of a free sugar intake.