Comparing Artificial & Natural Sweetener Additives

Comparing Artificial & Natural Sweeteners

By: Jacquelyn Thompson aka. "That Little Buff Chef"

Artificial and Natural Sweeteners and Sugar Substitutes are a group of products I use and see many adopting more into their everyday diet. Artificial sweeteners used to consist of a choice between “pink, blue, or yellow”, diet Pepsi and diet Coke. With the exception of the upset over a change to diet coke’s recipe that one time, until the past several years not much has changed. Within the past couple years though, this has changed extensively with new alternative sweeteners making their way into products, cookies, baking blends, bars, and beverage additives daily. With obesity rates, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular disease, and cancer rates all on the rise, this area of the market is only expected to increase as well.

Table 1-1 of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) 2020-2025, pg.5

This has also led to a shift in preferences and health beliefs as some of these sweeteners are considered natural, others artificial. While some are less altered or have more familiar origins, this does not necessarily mean they are all equal in terms of digestibility, absorption, effects on gut microbiome or bacteria, or effect on blood glucose levels, an important factor with diabetes concerns growing over the last decade.

           

 One big thing I noticed when looking over these products is many are actually blends of artificial sweeteners, with the primary not always being the majority sweetener in the product as a whole. One example is stevia products. While all contain stevia, it often is not only stevia and often contain primarily erythritol. Usually this aligns with the cost point of the product and make. So while a package may contain lots of green script and coloring, aligning with the original color of stevia sugar packets, these products vary in the amount of stevia present. For those who may experience digestive upset this could be of concern. While in the liquid form this may not be as notable, depending on the amount used, this could cause upset in larger amounts of baking blends, or in using an excess amount of liquid in say coffee, in general. (Baking blends nutritional labels below).

  

Additionally, while not everyone is seeking out Splenda, many have consumed original Slenda products without side effects for a long time. The specific chocolate and caramel flavored syrups shown here are made with the Splenda trademark, yet contain mostly maltitol, sorbitol, glycerin, with one of the last ingredients being sucralose or the “original Splenda” sweetener. While this seems misleading, Splenda is a parent brand working in partnership with Smucker’s on this product, and Splenda now creates an array of artificial sweetener products. 

This does though cause for some concern as many have consumed Splenda sweetened products for a majority of their lives with no digestive aftermath. With this product using blends containing up to 16g of sugar alcohols, this could unknowingly cause serious GI concern, with the additional note of “excess consumption may cause a laxative effect” being required on the bottle.

 Additionally, while these products are noted as sugar free; not a low-calorie food, the calorie count is confusing at best as the macros (using the caramel flavor) as this product contains 0g fat, 0g protein, 25g total carbohydrates; with a whopping 15g being Sugar Alcohol. 

To put it casually, 

THIS COULD WRECK YOU. 

Additionally, at 90 calories for the Caramel flavored, this is still confusing as with 25g carbs, one would think there are 100kcal but label amounts can be rounded. Additionally, 60kcal or over half of this product is again sugar alcohols which is confusing in terms nutrient value with variances in how the calories in this group of products are displayed on labels. For example other products in this group show 0kcal, and yet reflect 8g total carbs, while others showed 0 for all categories listed on the food label. This shows the type of inconsistencies that may be seen when comparing how these sugar-free or low sugar products in how they are reported as requirements can vary on what seems like similar products. While this is in alignment with labeling based on the specific type of sugar substitute, this can be confusing again for consumers.

Allulose: The New Kid On the Block

A new sweetener that you may see popping up on store shelves is Allulose. This is actually considered a "rare sugar" and is noted in human and animal studies as having anti-hyperlipidemic properties, anti-inflammatory effects, and offering beneficial improvements in insulin resistance and impaired glucose tolerance 1.  Additionally impressive are findings of possible anti-obese properties offering postprandial increased fat oxidation 2 although the usefulness and application of these claims is still dependent on the amount necessary for these effects but also how well this sweetener is tolerated by many digestion wise. 

Vegan? Plant-Based? What's the Difference?

Well, a little but also a lot. I would also like to offer some insight as this caught my attention a well. The powdered version, (Splenda Brand) packaging includes the statement of being plant based. While this is accurate with Allulose being a corn derivative, it made me wonder why stating this claim seemed important to convey to consumers, as this can be said for many sugar or substitute products. 

This is because while the process of producing these artificial sweeteners is not always a natural one, many are found in some manner in trace amounts (at some point in their existence anyway) in nature and even white sugar is made from beet sugar or sugar cane. 

One reason for vegan labeling on sugar or sweetener products is due to steps involved in processing. While sugar does come from plants, it is not all considered “vegan” as sugar and many sweetener products are charcoal filtered to achieve their white color and remove impurities. This often consists of utilizing either bone char (a biproduct of animal processing) or granulated activated charcoal of which are made of other non-animal material although it is regarded to be not as dense or stable for providing as white a product.

This is one reason why a plant-based claim on a label, does not mean the same as vegan but may instead be used to imply a healthier connotation, less artificial or chemical processing involvement, and still attracts health conscious consumers to this product. The liquid form did bare the vegan label while the powdered version did not but does bare the Parve label. 

This may seem confusing at first as to why some products which may seem “obviously” vegan may be and others may not be able to portray a vegan label, and not just because the label is expensive to use. This filtering process is just one example so if this is something that matters to you, this may take some extra research but again hoping to help make people aware and help clarify, as this process is used in things that range from fluoridated toothpaste, to sugars used in other products such as cereals and baked goods which then would also not be considered vegan (I am not vegan, but do wish to inform those who are of these aspects to offer clarity on product terminology).

Overall as a whole, these products definitely have their place in the SAD (Standard American Diet), with diabetes rates increasing and many consumers becoming more aware of added sugars and artificial ingredients. These ingredients also are not only limited to sugar substitutes, but also find their way into sauces and bars as well, so making note of which ones agree or disagree with you could involve a deeper dive than one may initially realize. I can say though that they are not all created equally. When in doubt, check the nutrition content and serving size, ingredient list, be aware of caloric content, and when in doubt if blood sugar fluctuations or digestive health is a concern stick with products you can be confident will agree with Your body, whether that means sticking with the yellow packet or keeping a dropper bottle of a more expensive liquid stevia tucked in your purse.

For those wishing to read more, visit Dietary Guidelines.gov for a full copy of the 2020-2025 update "Make Every Bite Count", as well as additional resources for new moms, infants, and seniors, as well as learning material and resources for making healthy choices in your day to day life. 

Home | Dietary Guidelines for Americans 

References: 

1. Hossain A, Yamaguchi F, Matsuo T, et al. Rare sugar D-allulose: Potential role and therapeutic monitoring in maintaining obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Pharmacol Ther. 2015;155:49-59. doi:10.1016/j.pharmthera.2015.08.004
2. Kimura T, Kanasaki A, Hayashi N, et al. d-Allulose enhances postprandial fat oxidation in healthy humans. Nutrition. 2017;43-44:16-20. doi:10.1016/j.nut.2017.06.007

Also!

For those curious about the digest-ability, blood glucose, and blood ketone response of these sweetener substitutes, I ran across this video online. While not an official case study or anything of the sort I appreciate these two offering the insight at the expense of their own tummy troubles. 

 

Ultimate Guide to Low Carb Sweeteners | Blood Testing | Be Sure to Avoid These 3!! - YouTube (Links to an external site.)