Artificial sweeteners, also called sugar substitutes, are substances that are used instead of table sugar to sweeten foods and beverages. Artificial sweeteners are many times sweeter than table sugar, so smaller amounts are needed to create the same level of sweetness. Here are some facts from webmd.
As many as 180 million Americans routinely eat and drink sugar-free products such as desserts and artificially sweetened sodas, according to statistics compiled by the Calorie Control Council. Many people use sugar substitutes as a way to limit how much sugar they eat, whether it’s to lose weight, control blood sugar or avoid getting cavities in their teeth.
Sugar substitutes have very few calories compared to sugar. Some have no calories. The most common sugar substitutes are:
• Aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet). It’s mostly used to sweeten diet soft drinks.
• Saccharin (Sweet ‘N Low, Sugar Twin). It’s used in many diet foods and drinks.
• Sucralose (Splenda). It’s in many diet foods and drinks.
• Acesulfame K (Sunett). It’s often combined with saccharin in diet soft drinks.
• Stevia (Truvia, PureVia, SweetLeaf). Stevia is made from a herbal plant and is used in foods and drinks.
Sugar alcohols are also used to sweeten diet foods and drinks. These plant-based products include mannitol, sorbitol, and xylitol. If you eat too much of them, sugar alcohols can cause diarrhea, bloating and weight gain.
If your goal is to lose weight, keep in mind that even though a food is sugar-free, it can still have carbohydrate, fats and calories. It’s a good idea to read the nutrition label to check for calories and carbohydrates.
Are sugar substitutes, in particular saccharine, safe? Rumours about saccharine began in the 1970s. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration had tried to ban this sweetener as animal studies showed that it caused cancer of the bladder, uterus, ovaries, skin, and other organs. In the late 1990s, however, the Calorie Control Council stated that the main health concern about saccharin was bladder cancer in male rats — not people. They stated that further research has shown that male rats have a particular predisposition to bladder cancer. As a result, the National Institutes of Health removed saccharin from its list of cancer-causing agents.
People who have phenylketonuria (PKU) should avoid foods and drinks that have aspartame, which contains phenylalanine.
