Sweeteners: Satisfying Your Sweet Tooth

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Sweeteners Satisfying Your Sweet Tooth

• The University of Georgia
• Cooperative Extension Service

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Why Do We Use Sugar?

• Sweet taste
• The desire for sweet taste increases with age in
  many people

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Why Do We Use Sugar?

• Preserve jams and jellies
• Volume and texture in baked goods and
  ice-cream
• Fermentation in breads

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Types of Sweeteners

• Nutritive sweeteners
• Contain calories
• Nonnutritive sweeteners (high intensity
  sweetener)
• Contain little or no calories

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Nutritive Sweeteners

• Sugars
• Glucose
• Sucrose
• Fructose
• Lactose
• Maltose

• Honey
• Corn syrup
• High fructose corn syrup
• Brown sugar

• All are equivalent in calories about 4
  calories per gram or about 16 calories per
  teaspoon

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Nutritive Sweeteners
Sugar alcohols or polyols

• Sorbitol
• Mannitol
• Maltitol
• Erythritol
• Xylitol
• Lactitol

• Isomalt
• Hydrogenated starch hydrolysates (combination of
  polyols)

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Sugar alcohols/Polyols

• Used in many sugar-free, low-carb, and
  reduced calorie products
• gum, candy, desserts, ice-cream, cough drops and
  syrup
• Absorbed more slowly than sugar

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Sugar Alcohols/Polyols

• Advantages
• Do not promote tooth decay
• May have less effect on blood sugar in people
  with diabetes
• Most have fewer calories than sugar (about 2
  calories per gram compared to 4)

• Disadvantages
• May have laxative effect (gas, bloating,
  diarrhea)
• May be in foods that are not that low in calories
  or fat

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Nonnutritive Sweeteners (high-intensity)
Approved by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

• Acesulfame potassium
• Sunette, Sweet-One
• Aspartame
• Equal, NutraSweet

• Neotame
• Saccharin
• Sweet n Low, etc
• Sucralose
• Splenda

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High-Intensity Sweeteners

• Advantages
• Little or no calories
• No effect on blood sugar in diabetes

• Disadvantages
• Some have unpleasant aftertaste
• Cannot replace sugar entirely in baked products

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Read the Label!

• Foods with high intensity sweeteners may be
  combined with other ingredients
• Check the Nutrition Facts label for calories,
  carbohydrate, and fat

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When Can You Use a High-Intensity Sweetener?

• Beverages
• Cooking and baking when sugar is not needed for
  volume, texture, structure
• Fruit cobblers and pies
• Sauces
• Puddings

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What Foods Work Better With Sugar?

• Cakes
• Cookies
• Yeast breads

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Sugars Role in Baked Goods

• Sugar provides to baked goods
• browning
• tenderness
• structure
• volume
• texture

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Why Reduce Sugar Intake?

• Contains calories, but no nutritional value
• Medical conditions
• Overweight/obesity
• Diabetes
• High triglycerides

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How Can You Cut Back on Sugar?

• Reduce added sugar by up to ½
• Replace some or all of the sugar with a
  high-intensity sweetener
• Check guidelines for specific sweeteners for use
  in recipes
• Use canned fruit packed in juice

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How Can You Cut Back on Sugar?

• Replace high-sugar beverages with sugar-free
  beverages
• Size Calories
• Super-size 410
• Large 320
• Medium 220

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Points to Remember

• High-sugar foods and beverages are usually high
  in calories and low in nutritional value
• Cut back on sugar by using less added sugar or
  substituting high-intensity sweeteners
• Many sugar-free foods are not calorie-free
• Baked products often require some sugar for
  acceptable quality