Sweeteners are the essential part of food and drinks. It is unimaginable to think of a sugar free world. Sweeteners not only increase the taste of food they are used as preservatives to keep the freshness of food and acts as base for the fermentation for breads. They are essential for making cakes, ice creams and carbonated beverages. But the caloric level of sweeteners is high and excessive use results in health related problems like weight gain and diabetes mellitus.
Artificial sweeteners are an alternative for such nutritive (caloric) sweeteners. Artificial sweeteners are free of calories and are many times sweeter than sugar. The problem with nutritive sweetener is that it contains 4 calories per gram. People using nutritive sugar in large quantities get these calories which are converted to fat deposits resulting in increased body weight. The nutritive sweeteners can come into your body from corn sweeteners, confectionery sugar, dextrose, invert sugar, natural sweetener or sugar, turbinado sugar, sucrose, glucose, fructose, lactose, maltose, mannitol, maple sugar, molasses, honey and sorbitol.
Artificial sweeteners can be made from chemicals or directly from sugar molecules. They can provide the sweetness of nutritive sugar without adding any extra calorie to the body. This helps to maintain the body weight without any need to avoid sweetness from your life. They will not raise the sugar level in the body and people with diabetes can use them without any fear. Aspartame, Saccharine, Cyclamates, Acesulfame K and Sucralose are low calorie sweeteners and most of them are many times sweeter than sugar.
All artificial sweeteners except aspartame are stable to heat and can be used for cooking and baking. There were certain concerns on artificial sweeteners that they are harmful to health and are carcinogenic. But latest studies prove that they don’t produce any harmful effects in the human body. Lead acetate was used as an artificial sugar in the past but it can cause lead poisoning and is no more used. Artificial sweeteners cannot be consumed like sugar; it can be used only as a food additive. Only very small quantity is required to substitute large quantities of sugar. Sometimes artificial sweeteners generate an unpleasant taste after eating.
Food and Drug Administration have set a limit called “acceptable daily intake” (ADI) for all artificial sweeteners to avoid its overuse. The maximum amount of artificial sweetener that is safe to consume everyday is:
1. Aspartame – 50 mg per kg of body weight
2. Saccharin – 5 mg per kg of body weight
3. Acesulfame K – 15 mg per kg of body weight
4. Sucralose – 5 mg per kg of body weight
5. Neotame – 18 mg per day
