Artificial Sweetners

There are several different kinds of sugar substitutes on the market. Some of the most widely used are Aspartame (Equal, Nutra Sweet), Saccharin (Sugar Twin, Sweet n Low), Sucralose (Splenda), Stevia (Truvia) and Xylitol. The first three are completely chemical based (note how all of these items were discovered...the lab!)

Aspartame (Equal, Nutra Sweet) http://aspartame.mercola.com/ is made out of these ingredients: Aspartic Acid, Phenylalanine, Methanol, Diketopiperazine. Nothing sounds sweet about those ingredients! It was discovered by accident in 1965 when James Schlatter, a chemist of G.D. Searle Company, was testing an anti-ulcer drug.


Saccharin (Sugar Twin, Sweet n Low) is made from a compound of toluene, which is derived from petroleum. Chemical formula: C₇H₅NO₃S. Saccharin was first produced in 1878 by Constantin Fahlberg, a chemist working on coal tar derivatives in Ira Remsen's laboratory at the Johns Hopkins University. Hmmmm, something else I know of is made out of petroleum, and it ain't sweet either! Remember the labels on gum... WARNING saccharin has been known to cause cancer in lab rats... yeah that's the one.


Sucralose (Splenda) http://www.splendaexposed.com/ is basically chlorinated sugar. It is made from sucrose by substituting three chlorine atoms for three hydroxyl groups to yield 1,6-dichloro-1,6-dideoxy-BETA-D-fructofuranosyl-4-chloro-4-deoxy-alpha-D-galactopyranoside. Sucralose was discovered in 1976 by scientists researching ways to use sucrose (sugar) as a chemical intermediate in non-traditional areas, one of the scientists was told to test a chlorinated sugar compound. He thought that they asked him to taste it, so he did and realized  the compound exceptionally sweet.


So far we have drugs, gas and chlorine... WHAT IS GOING ON??!! This is all to avoid a few calories? (Obviously for the diabetics and other people that can't have sugar for health reasons there is more involved than that). Now I am not saying go out and buy a bag of white sugar (that has been bleached), but if you need a sweetener, use something your body can at least attempt to process. I use sucanat or FL Crystals non bleached sugar in my baked goods. I use honey in my beverages.


So on to the "natural" sweeteners I mentioned above.

Stevia (Truvia) Comes from a a variety of species of herbs and shrubs in the sunflower family, native to subtropical and tropical regions from western North America to South America. Although not in the US, Stevia has been used in other countries for centuries. I guess they prefer the man made chemicals as opposed to the natural ones.

Xylitol is a sugar alcohol sweetener used as a naturally occurring sugar substitute. These can be found in the fibers of many fruits and vegetables.