Artificial Sweeteners

Whether or not you think the artificial sweeteners are for you and your family is a personal decision. Before you choose, you should consider a few facts.
  • Artificial sweeteners are chemicals that offer the sweetness of sugar without the calories. They are usually much sweeter than sugar and thus a much smaller amount is needed to create the same sweetness of sugar.
  • Because artificial sweeteners are so intensely sweet, dextrose or maltodextrin, or both, must be added to dilute their intense sweetness in order to imitate the sweetness of a sugar.
  • The dextrose or maltodextrin carriers add calories to the artificial sweeteners sold to consumers. Food and Drug Administration regulations permit any food product that has 5 or fewer calories per serving to be labeled as containing “0” calories. Additionally, diabetics must count these starch-based sweeteners as part of their carbohydrate limits since insulin is required for their metabolism.
  • By removing sugar from foods does not necessarily make them low-calorie foods. If you eat too many, you'll still get more calories than you need, and you may not get enough nutrients. Further your body still has to metabolize the products which often confuse the metabolism.
  • Artificial sweeteners are used in one of two ways. They may be used directly in commercially processed foods, or they are mixed with one or more starch-based sweeteners before sale to consumers.
  • Artificial sweeteners cannot be sold directly to consumers since only infinitesimally small amounts are required to mimic sugar’s sweet taste.
  • The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved five low-calorie sweeteners for use in a variety of foods, and has established an “acceptable daily intake” (ADI) for each sweetener. This is the maximum amount considered safe to consume each day over a lifetime. ADI’s are intended to be about 100 times less than the smallest amount that might cause health concerns.
So, artificial sweeteners packaged for sale to consumers are chemicals that do have calories, and do not have the same clean sweet taste of pure, natural sugar. Unless you have a medical condition, consider using an all natural sweetener.