"Fuel your body...Delight your senses"
Stephanie Brina-Herres, MS, RD, CDN
- Jul
20
2012
In Part 1 of 2 in this blog post series, we addressed some infotainment after the release by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) in conjunction with the American Heart Association (AHA) of a scientific statement relative to nonnutritive sweeteners that the press considered newsworthy.(Sweetener image courtesy of wax114 at rgbstock.com)
On July 9, 2012, the ADA/AHA scientific statement provided a current use and health perspective on Acesulfame-K, Aspartame, Neotame, Saccharin, Stevia Glucosides, and Sucralose, which are 6 of the 7 nonnutritive sweeteners currently approved for use in the US by the FDA. The 7th nonnutritive sweetener also approved for use in the US by the FDA, luo han guo fruit extract, was not addressed in the scientific statement. At this time, certain other nonnutritive sweeteners such as Alitame, Cyclamates, Neohesperidine, and Thaumatin that are approved for use in the food supply in use in other parts of the world are NOT approved for use in the US as of the date of this blog post.
We noted in that Part 1 of 2 blog post that sweeteners fall into one of two major categories: Nutritive (which include sugar alcohols and various carbohydrates), or Nonnutritive.
Nutritive sweeteners can occur naturally in food items or can be added during food preparation or processing. They include carbohydrate as well as sugar alcohol forms.
Unlike nonnutritive sweeteners, nutritive sweeteners refer to sweetening products that contribute calories to the diet.
Some of these nutritive sweeteners are obviously alternatives to the most common table sugar (i.e. sucrose). These carbohydrate based nutritive sweeteners (NOT sugar alcohols) typically provide close to 4 calories per gram of product consumed. The sugar alcohol based nutritive sweeteners, on the other hand, are types of polyols formed from the partial breakdown and hydrogenation of edible starches. Sugar alcohols are sweet, but contribute ~ 0.2-2.6 calories per gram of product consumed.
In this Part 2 of 2 in this blog series, let’s review through infotainment some of what has been written about various nutritive sweeteners focusing on evidence-based facts and dispelling some fictional myths.
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