Sunday, March 29, 2009

Artificial Sweeteners & Diabetes

Everyone loves sugar but with the rampant increase in obesity and diabetes, the role of sugar in our diet is being questioned. We all tend to eat too much sugar and that is not good. To avoid sugar, many individuals now use artificial sweeteners also sometimes known as sugar substitutes.

Artificial sweeteners
have been around for many decades and most are naturally occurring chemicals but there are also a number of synthetic compounds. These sweeteners provide the sweetness without as many calories. Because the sweeteners are many times sweeter than sugar, only a small amount is required to create the same sweetness as sugar. Adoption of artificial sweeteners in the diet is often one of the first changes made by people who are trying to lose weight.

The other group of individuals who also use artificial sweeteners are diabetics. These individual want the food to taste sweet but without the extra calories or raising the blood sugar levels. As such, artificial sweeteners are okay for use by diabetics but all diabetics have to watch out for many other “sugar free products”.

These sugar free products tend to contain artificial sweeteners made of sorbitol and mannitol; both of which come packed with calories and can immediately increase your blood sugar levels. In addition, in some individuals, these sugar alcohols (sorbitol) can also cause diarrhea.

Common “sugar free foods”, which are known to contain sorbitol include sugar free cookies, chocolates and even some types of flour. These sugar free substitutes are quite misleading and can undermine one’s effort to lose weight or control the diabetes.

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