Sweeteners are food additives used to impart a sweet flavor to foods. Their “light” side can attract but pay attention to their repercussions on metabolism and health.
Definition: what is a sweetener?
A sweetener is a food additive that imparts a sweet taste to food by providing fewer calories than the benchmark sugar, sucrose. There are two types of sweeteners: bulk sweeteners whose sweetening power is close to table sugar (sucrose) and intense sweeteners whose sweetening power is very high. “The sweetening power of polyol type sweeteners is low (0.5 to 1 times that of sugar), on average 2 kilocalories (Kcal)/g against 4 Kcal/g with sucrose. While intense sweeteners have a very high sweetening power (100 to 600 times that of sugar) for a negligible caloric intake as they are integrated in very small quantities in foods“, explains Pauline Fernandez, dietitian and nutritionist. These are in fact very chemically diverse, of plant origin or obtained by chemical synthesis.
Sweetener Examples
Sweeteners come in different forms: white powder, tablets (candy) or in the form liquid. They are intended for the preparation of dishes, are contained in certain dietetic foods or are used to replace table sugar.
► Bulk sweeteners are mainly sweeteners natural polyols, such as sorbitol (E 420), mannitol (E 421), isomalt (E 953), maltitol (E 965) lactitol (E966) and xylitol (E 967).
► Intense or synthetic sweeteners, produced in the laboratory, are additives from plant extracts (stevia) and synthetic sweeteners (aspartame, sucralose or acesulfame potassium).
“We mainly find polyols in sugar free chewing gum. The best known intense sweeteners are aspartame, acesulfame potassium, sucralose… There is also the steviaextracted from a plant native to South America (Stevia rebaudiana), which was the fashionable sweetener a few years ago because its composition is more natural“, emphasizes Pauline Fernandez.
What is the composition of a sweetener?
Each sweetener has a chemical composition which is unique to him. Two examples with a synthetic sweetener, aspartame and a natural sweetener, stevia. Aspartame, which is a synthetic sweetener (its name: E 951), is made from the assembly of two amino acids: L-aspartic acid and L-phenylalanine (protein component) and a small amount of methanol. Stevia is composed of steviol glycosides, sweeteners from the leaves of Stevia rebaudiana, picked, dried and reduced to powder. To allow you to compare100 g of aspartame provide an energy value of 398 kilocalories (kcal), while stevia for the same quantity provides 239 kilocalories (kcal).
What are the dangers of a sweetener for health?
Recent studies have highlighted precautionary measures in the consumption of sweeteners.
An opinion from the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (handles), published in 2015, concluded that available studies do not prove that the consumption of sweeteners is of interest on weight control or on glycemic control in diabetics. At a minimum, so there is no benefit to consuming intense sweeteners (the most used by the food industry being sucralose, aspartame and acesulfame potassium). Some studies even suggest that their consumption may promote weight gain (study joint INRA and University of Adelaide published in 2019). Finally, the link between the consumption of intense sweeteners and the disturbance of the intestinal flora, engendering various metabolic imbalanceshas recently been observed (work by Suez et al. in 2014).
What are natural sweeteners?
natural sweeteners and sugars natural are two different things. Fructose, galactose, lactose, glucose… are sugars naturally present in food and are not sweeteners. Here is a summary list of natural sweeteners:
- maltitol;
- stevia;
- tagatose;
- xylitol or birch sugar;
- and the sukrin.
What are healthy sweeteners?
“No study has yet proven that a sweetener is bad for your health. : synthetic sweeteners all have acceptable daily doses (ADI) depending on the weight of the person and it is on this basis of safety quantities not to be exceeded that the studies are carried out. Now it all depends on the actual consumption, the weight of the person, the desired benefit : slimming instead of sugar“, she insists. Stevia has, for example, an ADI of 4 mg per kg (weight) per day. There is no ADI for polyols as they are in case of poorly digested excess , the consequences are observed very quickly (diarrhea, bloating, impact on the intestinal flora…).The consumption of sweeteners must be studied on a case-by-case basis people and especially their motivations. Some consume sweetened products not for pleasure but to lose weight, which can lead to frustration. It is important to inform them so that they can make conscious food choices and maintain a peaceful relationship with food“, she concludes.
Thanks to Pauline Fernandez, dietitian and nutritionist in Toulouse.