Which Sweetener Is The Right One For You?

Published on: January 3, 2004

For many of us, the New Year brings yet another resolve to get in shape; and that means healthier eating and reducing our sugars intake!

Americans have a sweet tooth and as the Baby Boomers age, their sense of smell, and therefore taste buds, diminish. This generation is pushing the trend for the food industry to blend high-intensity sweeteners, where the combination, or synergy, of the sweeteners is sweeter than the individual components. The reason is simple, make foods taste even sweeter, but without the calories.

It wasn’t until 1993 that our food labels were required to list sugars, and from that day on it seems that many of the facts about sugar consumption became a bit confusing.

And it’s that “s” at the end of sugars that makes all the difference.

According to the Food & Drug Administration, “sugars” includes sugar, corn sweeteners (high fructose corn syrup, glucose syrup and dextrose), honey, maple syrup and other edible syrups, but does not include the consumption of non-caloric (e.g., artificial) sweeteners.

One of the most dramatic statements that we hear reported is that according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service, sugar consumption of the average American was 146 pounds in 2002. But we need to look a bit deeper at the breakdown to get the real picture -- that in fact we are actually consuming the net of about 45 pounds of refined sugar (about 2 ounces per day), 58 pounds of corn sweeteners (about 2.5 ounces a day) and a little over a pound of honey/maple syrup per year.

It should come as no surprise that many of us are looking to other “sweeteners” to reduce the amount of sugars we consume and according to ACNielsen, the sugar substitute market now tops $310 million for the 52 weeks ending 11/1/03 in the combined grocery/drug/mass channels.

So just how much “artificial sweeteners” do we each consume? According to Landor Mills Commodities, the equivalent amount of sweeteners (food and beverage use) translates into 16.2 lbs per person per year. And that’s on top of the 146 pounds of all sugars!

As we roll down the supermarket aisles these days, there is sugar and four FDA approved artificial sweeteners to choose from, along with one “dietary supplement” and one recently FDA approved sugar sweetener that hasn’t yet hit the market. It is also important to note, that due to the FDA regulations, the amount of calories can be rounded down to the nearest 5-calorie value. Artificial sweeteners, due to their intensity, contain bulking agents (such as dextrose and maltodextrin) that add on average 4 calories per teaspoon, although the sweetener itself may not contain any calories, nor will the package list the calories.

What are the differences? CLICK HERE to read about sugar and each of the sweeteners.

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