In recent years, sugar substitutes have just slowly appeared on our radar, and many people have begun to use sweeteners/sugar substitutes to replace sugars in their daily diets, so erythritol, stevia... What exactly are these? Are they artificial or natural? What to choose? This article will detail a comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of various sweeteners, and from today onwards we will start to cut out sugar together!
I. Natural Sweeteners / Sugar Substitutes
Sugar Alcohols:
Sugar alcohols name sounds very "chemical", there are many people mistakenly think that it is synthetic, in fact, not, they are natural Oh! They exist in small quantities in fruits and vegetables, or can be obtained by fermenting plant sugars. Because the human body can not be fully decomposed and utilized, so they produce very few calories, but some sugar alcohols can cause gastrointestinal discomfort, commonly used for the following types:
1. Erythritol (Erythritol)
Erythritol is a ketogenic dieters preferred, he is the metabolic forest with sugar, because it does not make blood sugar or insulin rise, no calories, unlike other sugar alcohols will not cause gastrointestinal discomfort, because it is absorbed in the small intestine, will not run to the large intestine. A small amount of use will not produce any strange aftertaste, but a large number of use will have a cool aftertaste, like licking the ice, such a situation can be erythritol with a grinder into a powder to improve, or it will reduce the amount of use, and stevia with the use of.
It is in the liquid solubility is poor, sometimes in the finished product to eat particles, the same, after grinding into powder can be improved, the market has been ground into powdered erythritol is also available. Erythritol sweetness is 70% of sugar, use it instead of sugar when the ratio is: 1.3:1.
2. Xylitol (Xylitol)
Xylitol and erythritol, are natural, but unlike erythritol, xylitol will slightly elevate blood glucose, xylitol glycemic index (GI) of 13 (63 sugar), in contrast, compared with sugar, it is much better. The good thing about xylitol is that it is the same sweetness as white sugar and can be substituted 1:1, which is very convenient. In addition to this, several studies have pointed out that it prevents tooth decay, which is why it is added to many chewing gums. Xylitol can cause gastrointestinal distress when used in large quantities, and some people can become deketotic from xylitol. If you use xylitol, monitor your urine ketones or blood ketones closely. And if you have a dog, it's best not to store xylitol in your home, as it can be fatally toxic to dogs.
3. Sorbitol (Sorbital), Maltitol (Maltitol)
These two sugar alcohols are often sold in sugar-free products will see, but do not recommend the use of maltitol syrup to rise the glycemic index (GI) of 52, powdered maltitol for 36 (63 sugar); and sorbitol although the GI of 9, but it 1g 2.6 calories, and sweetness of only half of the sugar, so in order to achieve the same sweetness as sugar, the use of the amount must be doubled, in the same In order to achieve the same sweetness as white sugar, the amount used must be doubled, and under the same measure of sweetness, it has more calories than white sugar! (1g of white sugar has 4 calories), sorbitol, maltitol cause gastrointestinal discomfort is more serious.
Plant derived sweeteners:
1. Stevia (Stevia)
Stevia is a natural sweetener derived from a plant called stevia, the liquid stevia is 300 times sweeter than white sugar. Stevia does not raise blood sugar and has zero calories, making it a very good sweetener. The only drawback is that it has a metallic bitter taste, which becomes more pronounced when used in large quantities, so it is usually used with other sweeteners, such as erythritol. It is available in powder, liquid and syrup form:
① powder stevia: many commercially available powder stevia, in order to bake the use of convenience, will add maltodextrin or glucose, so that the weight of the stevia to increase the weight to achieve the sweetness of the weight of sugar and white sugar 1:1, so that in the baking can be equal to the amount of replacement of sugar, but the maltodextrin and glucose will make the rise in blood glucose, in particular, maltodextrin's glycemic index of 110 glucose is 100! Do not use stevia containing maltodextrin and glucose! We recommend using pure stevia powder.
② Liquid stevia: usually put in a dropper bottle, because of its high concentration, baking conversion is a little difficult, and each businessman to extract the sweetness is a little different, you have to grasp its sweetness, usually when cooking 1 drop as a unit to slowly add, add to their favorite sweetness.
(3) syrupy stevia: because of the relatively rare commercially available, this side will not do to expand.
2. Lohan Fruit Sugar (Monk Fruit)
The sweetness of monk fruit concentrated syrup is 200-300 times that of white sugar, does not raise blood sugar, it is not like stevia has a bitter taste, and there is no erythritol cool flavor, is a very good natural sweetener, is also a ketogenic diet instead of a good choice of sugar. Again, because it's so concentrated, many powdered rooibos sugar substitutes have added maltodextrin or dextrose, so read the label carefully before buying.
Natural Sweeteners:
Cane sugar, honey, coconut sugar, date sugar, maple syrup, agave syrup, molasses, and more!
Some low-sugar products will use these sugars, claiming that because these sugars contain nutrients and are less likely to raise blood sugar, in fact, although these sugars contain nutrients, but the proportion is very low, you have to eat several liters to make up for the nutrients, and the glycemic index is still very high! For example: honey glycemic index GI = 50, coconut sugar glycemic index GI = 35, maple syrup glycemic index GI = 54... The above sugars are not recommended for use during ketogenic period.
II. Artificial Sweeteners
Artificial sweeteners are synthesized by laboratories and are aspartame, sucralose, saccharin .... The latest 2018 study states that these artificial sweeteners do not help in weight loss but rather weight gain, sucralose still carries calories and is usually added with maltodextrin or dextrose and inhibits the absorption of zinc and iodine, two minerals that are important for thyroid function, the long term effects of these synthetic sweeteners on the human body we do not yet know, so none of these artificial sweeteners are recommended for use.