Backgrounder On Sweeteners It's not easy to find someone who doesn't like sweet tastes. Indeed, the human predilection for sweets is thought to be a basic survival adaptation. When presented with a variety of basic tastes such as sweet, salty, bitter or sour, infants favor the sweet choice. Scientists believe this preference may be an evolutionary design that ensures infants accept life-sustaining milk with its slightly sweet taste that comes from milk sugar (lactose). Sugars While many people associate sweetness with sucrose or table sugar, sucrose is just one type of sugar that provides this taste. Fruits contain simple sugars such as glucose and fructose; other foods contain sugars such as corn syrup, honey and high fructose corn syrup, which are combinations of glucose and fructose. Another simple sugar known as lactose is a combination of glucose and the simple sugar galactose. All sugars are carbohydrates and contain four calories per gram. They also are used in the same way by the body. After digestion, sugars travel through the bloodstream to body cells where they are used for energy, help metabolize fat, form proteins, or are stored for future use. Sugar Alcohols While sweet flavors have traditionally come from sugars, today there are many other types of sweeteners that add to the enjoyment of foods. Sugar alcohols such as sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol, maltitol and isomalt provide the sweet taste found in many sugar-free candies, cookies and chewing gums. Sugar alcohols occur naturally in a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, but are produced from other carbohydrates such as sucrose, glucose and starch when used commercially. Sugar alcohols affect blood glucose levels less dramatically than sugar and therefore require little or no insulin for metabolism. Thus, sugar alcohols are often used in foods for persons with diabetes. People with diabetes either do not make adequate amounts of insulin or cannot use it properly. Intense Sweeteners A boon to people with and without diabetes, intense sweeteners provide a sweet taste with few or no accompanying calories. Intense sweeteners currently approved for use in the United States include aspartame, saccharin and acesulfame-K. As the first sweetener of this type to have a clean, sweet taste, aspartame ranks as the most widely-used intense sweetener. A combination of two protein components -- the amino acids phenylalanine and aspartic acid -- aspartame contains four calories per gram. Because it is 200 times sweeter than sugar, however, very little aspartame is needed to adequately sweeten foods, and hence adds very few calories to foods. Saccharin and acesulfame-K contain no calories. Sweeteners and Health Whether it be sugars, sugar alcohols or intense sweeteners at work to produce the prized taste of many favorite foods, nutrition experts agree sweet foods can be part of a healthful diet. The key is moderation to ensure sweet foods that contribute few nutrients to the diet do not crowd out more nutrient-dense foods. Further, many experts warn against attempting to eliminate sweet foods from the diets of most people who enjoy such foods. Not only is it unnecessary -- sugars and other sweeteners have not been linked with hyperactivity, diabetes or other chronic diseases -- denial of sweet foods can increase their attractiveness. And that can lead to overeating and guilt when people inevitably "give in." Subsequent attempts at elimination can establish a vicious cycle of denial and overindulgence, which can ultimately lead to failure at achieving dietary goals. Reprinted from the International Food Information Council Foundation, 1995

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