Should you eat non-caloric sweetener?

Short Answer:

Fructose < Sucrose (Normal Table Sugar) < Artificial non-caloric sweeteners (Saccharin < Sucralose < Ace-K < Aspartame) < Natural non-caloric sweeteners (Stevia < Monk Fruit Sweetener) < No sweetener.

Don’t consume non-caloric sweeteners on their own; instead, include them as part of your meal.

Evolutionarily, our brain associates sweetness with energy because, in nature, a sweet taste is accompanied by reserves of glucose (the main energy source for all cells). So, when humans discovered how to extract just the sweetness and leave the glucose behind, it had globally echoing consequences. Let’s go over each category and see how it impacts our health.

Fructose is the most common sweetener found in nature. It is what gives fruits and table sugar their sweetness. Table sugar is one molecule of fructose combined with one molecule of glucose, so 5g of table sugar contains 2.5g of fructose. Fruits generally contain less than 10% fructose by weight.

Fructose can’t be used by cells for energy, so your liver has to convert it into glucose. When you consume more fructose than your liver can process (upwards of 50g per day), it gets stored in adipocytes, a.k.a. fat cells.

Artificial non-caloric sweeteners don’t add any calories because our bodies can’t process the sweetener molecules. They still taste sweet because our taste receptors can bind to them and send a signal to your brain that you are consuming something sweet.

Since artificial non-caloric sweeteners are a recent discovery, we don’t have ample data on their very long term effects. Some suspect there could be problems, but it’s not conclusive yet. So far, they seem to be safe and definitely a better option than using table sugar regularly.

Natural non-caloric sweeteners are similar to their artificial counterparts, with the added bonus of having been used for a long time. Conclusively, these are the best options if you want to add sweetness to your dish.

All non-caloric sweeteners (also called non-nutritive sweeteners) are many times (more than 100 times) sweeter than normal table sugar. When you buy them, each packet will have very little sweetener, with the remainder consisting of a bulking agent like inulin to match table sugar volumes.

Some early studies have shown that non-caloric sweeteners can alter the gut microbiome, but those rats were given excessive dosages of these sweeteners. If you consume these sweeteners in moderation, as part of a meal, it isn’t a cause for concern.

Just like with table sugar, if you consume large amounts of non-caloric sweeteners, you will develop a tolerance to their sweetness and consequently crave more sweetness. Simply because they don’t add any calories doesn’t mean you should become a stevia junkie.

Culinary Implications: You can find non-caloric sweeteners that you can replace with table sugar without worrying about differences in their quantities or sweetness levels. Another implication is that some people report an aftertaste with some sweeteners (our team doesn’t), so you should give them a try and see which one you like the most.

Stay healthful! See you on another Good Food blog.