Sizing Up Sugar Substitutes :: Food and Nutrition

Sizing Up Sugar Substitutes
by author Sandra Tonn, RHN

As rates of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease continue to expand, so does the sugar substitute industry. That many of us are continually looking to the next, best sugar substitute may be an indication of how uneasy we are about their safety and effectiveness.

Many avoid aspartame by reaching for sucralose. Others avoid sucralose by seeking out the latest in sugar alcohols. The discussions and controversy are ongoing. Which sugar substitute is safe?

Supposedly Safe Sweeteners

For those who wish to believe sugar substitutes are safe and effective, it’s easy to understand why. After all, our government says they only approve those that pass rigorous testing under the Food and Drugs Act. This is the same government and set of regulations, however, that allowed controversial trans fats, genetically modified foods, and some questionable food additives to make their way into our diets.

Aspartame, also known as Equal™ and NutraSweet™, shows up on many food labels and is sold as a tabletop sweetener. Health Canada says that methanol, which is a byproduct of digesting aspartame, is not foreign to the human diet. While this is true, studies show that an average person’s daily intake of methanol from natural sources is less than 10 mg. Aspartame beverages contain 55 mg/L and long-term studies have suggested that methanol may cause cancer.

The effects of aspartame are documented by the FDA’s own data presented in 1995. They no longer take adverse reaction reports, but at that time, aspartame accounted for more than 75 percent of all adverse reactions reported to the FDA’s Adverse Reaction Monitoring System, which collected and evaluated potential adverse effects to food and colour additives.

H.J. Roberts, author of the book Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic (Sunshine Sentinel Press, 2001), suggests that the effects of aspartame are often misdiagnosed as arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer’s disease, along with many other conditions.

Sucralose, also known as Splenda®, is a popular artificial sweetener used in food manufacturing and sold for use as a tabletop sweetener and baking ingredient. A US Internet survey by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) in April 2004 showed that nearly half of users (47 percent) incorrectly believed Splenda® was a natural product. This is probably due in large part to the effective marketing slogan: “Made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar.” While Splenda® is made with sugar, the end product is artificial and contains no sugar, which is why it has no calories.

McNeil (makers of Splenda®) tells consumers that the body does not absorb sucralose; however, the FDA’s “Final Rule” report on sucralose showed that 11 to 27 percent of the compound is absorbed into humans. Dr. Janet Starr Hull (janethull.com), author of the book Sweet Poison: How the World’s Most Popular Artificial Sweetener is Killing Us: My Story (New Horizon Press, 2001), says that shrinkage of the thymus gland in animal studies using sucralose is a great cause for concern since the thymus gland is a foundation of immunity.

For more information about Splenda®, go to www.alive.com/4401a12a2.php.

Acesulfame potassium, also known as acesulfame K, potassium acesulfame, ace K, and ACK and marketed as Sunett®, is the latest artificial sweetener to be approved by Health Canada. While it has been deemed safe by the European Union’s Scientific Committee for Food, many individuals and organizations disagree.

According to CSPI, who spoke out against the inadequate and poor-quality testing of this sweetener, a byproduct of acesulfame potassium has been shown to negatively affect the thyroid in animals when taken in large doses. Despite peer-reviewed studies and wide consensus among the scientific community, CSPI is also concerned that the cancer-causing potential of this sweetener may not be fully understood due to the lack of long-term, up-to-date, adequate testing.

At the very least, this sweetener should be avoided by people who are on a potassium-restricted diet or who have sulfa-antibiotic-based allergies.

Sugar alcohols (or polyols), such as lactitol, maltitol, mannitol, sorbitol, xylitol, erythritol, isomalt, and hydrogenated starch hydrolysates are technically not artificial sweeteners because they are nutritive (contain energy/calories), unlike non-nutritive sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose, and acesulfame potassium.

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Sandra Tonn, RHN, is a registered holistic nutritionist, natural health writer and speaker, nutrition teacher, and certified hatha yoga instructor. www.sandratonn.com

Source: alive #289, November 2006

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