Is sweeter better?

The sugar-substitute business must be a pretty good place to be these days with expected sales to reach $1.3 billion by 2013. Thanks to the obesity epidemic, more and more people, including children are trying to cut calories. That means more “diet” this and “no-sugar-added” that and the low-carb craze has left food manufacturers scrambling to be the first on their block to take the sugar out of everything from chocolate to jello. What’s important to realize is that REAL sugar is hardly a toxic chemical. The actual problem is the large amounts that Canadians eat. The United Nations suggest a limit of 50 grams of added sugar per day for people who eat a 2000-calorie diet. That’s about 12 teaspoons, a little more than what you’d get from one 355mL soft drink. However, an average Canadian consumes about 22 teaspoons of sugar each day! So are alternative sweeteners going to be the quick fix to satisfy our sweet tooth? More importantly, are these products safe?

Stevia

One sugar substitute that has been in the spotlight for a while now is, stevia. A relative of the sunflower, this herb is 300 times sweeter than sugar, comparatively cheap and more importantly, calorie free because it contains no absorbable carbohydrates. This herb is native to South and Central America and Mexico. The plant contains stevioside and rebaudioside, chemical compounds that tells your brain it’s sweet.

Just last year, the Food and Drug Administration in the United States declared that the natural zero-calorie sweetener derived from the herb stevia was safe to be used in foods and beverages. This gave way to companies such as PespiCo Inc. to start incorporating stevia into new products such as zero-calorie Sobe LifeWater and reduced-calorie versions of an orange juice drink called Trop50, containing half the calories and sugar of orange juice. In Canada, Stevia can only be bought for personal use for uses such as sweetening a cup of tea or coffee, but Health Canada still has some concerns as toxicological data is limited. Most of the available studies to date have been performed in cell cultures, isolated tissues or experimental studies. Of the studies that have been conducted in healthy individuals, ingestion of stevia produced no adverse effects or abnormalities in liver and renal functions tests. A number of studies have actually suggested that beside sweetness, stevia may also offer therapeutic benefits including having anti-hyperglycemic, anit-hypertensive, anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor actions.

Agave
Another increasingly popular sugar alternative is agave nectar, an ultra-sweet syrup that comes from the same plant as tequila. Agave nectar ranges in color from pale gold to amber, depending on the amount of filtration during processing. The lighter it is the more neutral the flavour, while darker nectar has a caramel-like taste. Its main advantage is that it doesn’t affect blood-sugar levels because it is primarily fructose and not glucose. Hence, your pancreas does not need to release any insulin but instead your liver has to do all the work. Agave contains 2.9 calories per gram compared to sugar’s 4 calories per gram and is also sweeter than sugar, so less of it is needed, further reducing caloric intake. Like other sweeteners, agave has its downfalls, as fructose level this high can cause health problems if consumed in large amounts.

Natural = Safe, right?

Unlike man-made artificial sweeteners like sucralose or aspartame, both stevia and agave are naturally taken from plants. Therefore, it should be perfectly safe to consume, right? In my opinion, like all other foods I would use both stevia and agave nectar in moderation. When in doubt, then just stick with plain old sugar. For those who plan to use stevia in baking, I would caution you that your baked good may turn out with a chalky texture and there may also be a mouth-puckering bitterness. So to save you the trouble, I would just stick with using stevia to sweeten your coffee or iced tea. As for agave nectar, I would assume that you can use it as you would in recipes that call for honey. Let me know if I am wrong, as I haven’t had the chance to experiment with this product yet. But don’t you worry, it is on my to-do list! Happy sweet talking!