1. Sugar Substitutes Two types: Artificial Sweeteners Sugar Replacers
Not metabolized by the body (no kcals)
Metabolized by the body
Sugar Replacers

2. Sugar Substitutes: Artificial Sweetners
Not metabolized by the
body:
Saccharin (Sweet and Low)
Rapidly excreted in the urine; does not accumulate in the body
x as sweet as sugar
Used in soft drinks and as a tabletop sweetener (coffee, on cereal)
Believed not to cause cancer. NO
WARNING LABEL REQUIRED

3. Sugar Substitutes: Artificial Sweetners
Not metabolized by
the body:
Acesulfame – K
200 x as sweet as sugar
Used in chewing gum, dry beverage mixes, breath mints, cough drops

4. Sugar Substitutes: Artificial Sweetners
Not metabolized by
the body:
Sucralose (Splenda)
Derivative of sucrose – replaced 3 hydroxyl groups of sucrose with chlorine atom  not recognized as CHO so it passes through GI tract unabsorbed
600 x as sweet as sugar: SWEETEST
can be used in baking, table top sweetener, dairy products, soft drinks

5. Sugar Substitutes: Artificial Sweetners
Metabolized by the body:
Aspartame (Equal-approved in 1981 as Nutrasweet)
made up of 2 amino acids and a methyl group so has 4kcal/gm like protein, but since so little is used no caloric effect
dangerous for people with PKU – phenylketonuria since it continues the a.a. phenlalanine which people with PKU cannot metabolize  accumulation causes mental retardation
200 x as sweet as sugar
used as a tabletop sweetener

6. Sugar Substitutes: Sugar Replacers
Sugar Alcohols
occur naturally in fruits and vegetables: mannitol, sorbitol, xylitol, isomalt, lactitol, maltitol
used in “sugar free foods” but yield kcalories (1/2 much as sucrose): hard candies, jams, jellies, gum, cookies
side effects: gas, abdominal pain, diarrhea – may act as a laxative!
body absorbs sugar alcohols less quickly than sugar – have a lower glycemic effect