Sugar and Artificial Sweeteners: A Crash Course
There are two kinds of people in this world: those who understand what artificial sweeteners are and those who don't. Those in the latter, rather more populous group may have a vague sense that artificial sweeteners exist but aren't sure what all the fuss is about, and might not even be convinced that sugar is all that bad anyway. In order to help you become a better-informed consumer of sweetness, we've put together a crash course in sugar and artificial sweeteners that lays out what's what.
What is sugar?
Sugar was likely one of your first loves – one of the first things you ever experienced and thought “I’ll have more of that, please.” Other than being really, really tasty, it also appeals to us because it engages the brain’s reward system – and this is why it can be so addictive. And we don’t just crave it – we need it to function. If you were cutting class to buy candy on the day you were meant to be learning about digestion at school, the main lesson you missed was that when you eat food – no matter what type of food – your body breaks it down into its simplest form: sugar, which it can then use as energy.
Consuming pure sugar, however, is not the same as deriving it from food that we break down as we digest. The speed at which food can be broken down into sugar is measured on the glycemic index. Foods that have a low glycemic index are made of complex molecules that take a long time to break down into sugar. This is why a balanced meal of low-glycemic foods will keep you satisfied for several hours before you feel the need to eat again. As you digest, your body will slowly extract the sugar from your meal, providing a sustained dose of energy over the course of a few hours. Pure, refined sugar, on the other hand, is pretty much as high on the glycemic index as you can get.
“If you have a large amount of sugar, it makes your blood sugar go up very quickly,” explains Dr. Melissa Rodriguez, Beijing United Family Hospital’s (BJU's) Naturopathic Doctor and Integrative Medicine Specialist. “If it’s a simple sugar like plain sugar, and if you have it on an empty stomach, then what happens is that sugar high comes down very quickly as well, and that’s when you feel low-energy, a bit nauseous, or moody – you’ll get hangry.”
When we talk about sugar, we usually mean refined cane sugar, but there are other natural sources of sugar that work the same way in your body. “In terms of your blood sugar effect, honey, maple syrup, and agave are the same as sugar because they would still spike your blood sugar,” explains Dr. Rodriguez. But that’s not to say that they’re just as unhealthy as pure sugar. “If you have maple syrup or honey, you’re getting a lot of other benefits as well; you’re getting some minerals, some vitamins, and possibly some enzymes, whereas white, refined sugar, there’s no nutritional value in it – it’s just an empty calorie,” says Dr. Rodriguez.
Consuming lots of sugar and exposing your body to these spikes and dips in your blood sugar, other than making you hangry, can also be harmful to your long-term health. “You really want to keep your blood sugar stable,” cautions Dr. Rodriguez. “If it gets out of whack, then your body can’t deal with the sugar properly, and that can lead to a whole bunch of other problems. It’s bad for diabetics, but also we’re realizing now that there’s a lot of other issues that come about from poorly controlled blood sugar or having too many carbohydrates in the diet, like obesity issues and fatty liver,” she says.
Sugar can also cause an inflammatory response in the body, which means that people who already experience discomfort from inflammation, such as people with inflammatory bowel disease, might feel better if they avoid it. Dr. Rodriguez also encourages people with acne and skin issues, as well as people who are prone to yeast infections, to try to avoid sugar, as it can potentially aggravate these conditions.
What is artificial sweetener?
Like the term “sugar”, “artificial sweetener” also encompasses a wide range of sweet-tasting goodies. To break it down faster than your body would break down a high-glycemic candy bar, an artificial sweetener is a chemically derived compound that gives your taste buds a hit of sweetness without spiking your blood sugar level. These are things like chemically derived aspartame, saccharin, and sucralose. They can be found in gum, cough drops, diet sodas, and at coffee shops as an alternative to granulated sugar. They’re lower in calories than sugar, and far, far lower on the glycemic index.
Of all the artificial sweeteners, there has been a lot of controversy over the years surrounding aspartame in particular. The scientific community can’t come to an agreement on whether or not it’s a perfectly viable option for health-conscious sweet tooths or the root of all evil. If you hold the same ethos as Dr. Rodriguez regarding only putting natural things in your body that are as far from toxic as possible, then steer clear of the stuff. If you’re unconvinced, you can try to do your own research on the matter. You'll find medical research supporting both sides, and you can decide for yourself which arguments are more convincing.
The lesser of two evils?
Congratulations! You are now part of an elite group of the population who knows what an artificial sweetener is. While simply knowing what it is may not make it easier for you to pick your poison the next time you want to reach for something sweet, it at least puts you in a better position to be informed about your health and the things you’re putting into your body.
If it’s a more natural approach that you’d like to take – one that minimizes risk and optimizes health – then Dr. Rodriguez advises avoiding refined sugar and artificial sweeteners and getting your sweet hit from natural, unprocessed sources like fruits. “There’s a lot of reasons why you wouldn’t want to have sugar, but I guess I’m biased in terms of avoiding artificial sweeteners. I think the impact is worse because it’s all these chemicals going into your system. But, if you’re not like me where you care about these things, then maybe if you have diabetes and choose an artificial sweetener as a special treat to have on occasion, then that would make more sense than sugar,” she says.
If you’re a sweet fiend who really can’t live without a daily dose of sugar, Dr. Rodriguez recommends being smart about your indulgences. “There are some chocolate bars that are high-glycemic and some that are low. For example, a low-glycemic-index chocolate bar is Snickers because it has nuts in it, and that helps to mitigate that dip, that crash. Whereas something like a Twix, which is just a cookie, chocolate, and a whole lot of sugar, is higher on the glycemic index because there’s nothing like protein to slow down the release of that sugar into your system,” she says. “So it’s a question of being smart about it too. If you feel really hungry and you want a chocolate bar, maybe choose a Snickers bar that has peanuts and is lower on the glycemic index and is less likely to cause those dips.”
Dr. Rodriguez is a naturopathic doctor specializing in integrative medicine and disease prevention. She can help treat chronic issues with natural remedies and give dietary and nutritional advice. To make an appointment with her, call our service center at 4008-919191.
Additional research comes from MedicalDaily.com and PubMed.gov. Photos courtesy of Maroon 5 and Pixabay.
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