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Depending on who you talk to, artificial sweeteners are a useful alternative to sugar or a chemical minefield. So what are the facts about these sweeteners and what is their impact on our health? Dietitian JeniPearce investigates.
Food is sweetened using a wide variety of ingredients, including sucrose (cane sugar), fructose (fruit sugar), lactose (milk sugar), glucose, honey, brown sugar, icing sugar, raw sugar and sweet syrups (maple, golden). These sweeteners all have an energy value (17kJ per gram).
‘Artificial sweeteners’ should really be called ‘alternative sweeteners’ as many of the latest types are not artificial but made from sugars that have been altered. Alternative sweeteners provide a sweet taste with few or no kilojoules. Often these sweeteners have a very intense sweetness which results in very small amounts being used in food.
Three common sweeteners you’ve probably heard of are aspartame, saccharin and sucralose. Other lesser known sweeteners, used in table sweeteners and in foods and drinks on our supermarket shelves, are acesulphame potassium (Ace K), cyclamate, neotame and mannitol.
• Saccharin was the first sweetener discovered in the late 1800s. It is 300 times sweeter than sugar and is the oldest and possibly most well known of the alternative sweeteners. It has a slightly bitter taste and contains no energy (no kilojoules). Used as a table top sweetener, in drinks and in foods.
• Aspartame is one of the most widely used and popular alternative sweeteners in food and beverages and has 200 times the sweetness of sugar. Made from two amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) it breaks down at high temperature so it can’t be used in baking or cooking. It is commonly used in cold beverages and is one of the most studied sweeteners. It does have an energy value (64kJ per gram) but as so little is used to sweeten food, the energy contribution is virtually zero. Used as a table top sweetener, in drinks and in foods.
• Sucralose is actually derived from sugar but is 600 times sweeter and contains no energy. Sucralose is stable when heated making it ideal for cooking and baking. It can be found in an increasing range of foods like chewing gum, dressings, drinks, desserts, canned fruit and baked items. Used as a table top sweetener and in foods.
THE HEALTH IMPACTS
Aspartame:
Aspartame is broken down into aspartic acid, phenylalanine and methanol in our bodies. The methanol and other compounds mentioned are not in any way sinister, they are found naturally in other foods and our bodies are able to absorb, metabolise and excrete them.
A large Italian study raised concerns suggesting a link between aspartame and an increased risk of cancer in rats. This report received wide media coverage. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) assessed this aspartame study along with currently available evidence and concluded that there is no need to further review the safety of aspartame nor revise the acceptable daily intake (ADI) for aspartame. The National Cancer Institute in the US recently conducted a beverage consumption study with nearly half a million people and the results indicated that there is no relationship between aspartame use and cancer in humans.
There is a requirement to label any food containing aspartame or aspartame-acesulphame to the effect that the product contains phenylalanine.
Saccharin: In the 1970s concerns were raised following studies using rats fed high does of saccharin which linked it to bladder cancer. Since then it has been established that the mechanism causing the tumours in rats is not relevant to humans. Saccharin is not metabolised in humans but passes out of the body unchanged.
Despite extensive research over the last 20-30 years there is no conclusive evidence of a link between saccharin and bladder cancer (or any other cancer) in humans.
Sucralose: Sucralose caused shrunken thymus glands and enlarged liver and kidneys when fed to rats in extraordinarily large doses. (It’s worth remembering that many food constituents would be harmful at such exceptionally high doses.)
NZ FOOD SAFETY
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) undertake safety assessments before any food additive can be used. They check the safety of the additive at the levels requested to be permitted in a food and that there are good reasons for the use of the additive. As part of the safety assessment they look at the likely level of consumption of the additive for different groups of people if the additive were permitted. This is then compared to the acceptable daily intake. If it is well within safe limits they then define the maximum level of the additive that can be used in particular foods. Aspartame and sucralose are the only sweeteners recommended during pregnancy.
For more information on the Food Standards Code and the food additives permitted in New Zealand, go to www.nfsa.govt.nz.
ACCEPTABLE DAILY INTAKE
The acceptable daily intake (ADI) is an estimate of the amount that could be consumed every day over a lifetime without adverse effects. It’s worth noting that the ADI is set at a very conservative level. And usual intake is well below the acceptable daily intake.
BOTTOM LINE
Alternative sweeteners have their place when used sensibly. They are useful to help satisfy a desire for sweet foods without adding the kilojoules. Used in moderation alternative sweeteners are safe and effective for reducing the energy value in food and beverages that would otherwise contain sugar.
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