Artificial Sweeteners, a Comparison

My interest in recipes and differences in them sometimes leads me into a direction other than the one I thought I was headed for. It's "what I discovered while looking up other things" that does it. While I'm on my computer I thought I would browse various recipes for pomegranates and ways to use them. What I discovered, however, was a splenda website, then a truvia website which led me to a stevia website and finally to a website for diabetics which compares the different artificial sweeteners. Hmmmmmmmmm---maybe I should look at this.
My husband has type 2 diabetes, which runs through all sides of all our families. His father had diabetes, my father had diabetes, my mother has diabetes and lots and lots of other family members. So far, I have been able to escape having it, but I don't count my chickens, either.

The artificial reference chart is a federal guideline for diabetics and should probably be read by or handed out to every diabetic. According to diabetes.about.com Americans ingest an average of 20 teaspoons of sugar a day. That is only in the foods we know about, such as candy, sodas and packaged baked goods. (I think I'm about to get a lesson from the man/woman upstairs---I told you prayers are answered, just not in the way we want). I like sweets as well as anyone else, heck I dieted myself right up to 298 pounds then I had my gastric bypass. It took me 30 years of dieting to get that big, not only dieting but I also liked to walk (evidently not enough). It took having a really rare medical problem that set the wheel turning for my bypass. I lost 150 pounds and I've been wearing the same size clothes for 6 and 1/2 years. In fact, some of my clothes are getting pretty ragged. That had never happened. I was always having to buy bigger and bigger sizes.

So, here I sit.....writing about recipes. I like writing about cookies, cakes and things that are sweet because that's what I grew up on. I guess I write about them because they are something that we really can't have much of in our house. However, my eating habits have had to change over the last 6 and 1/2 years. I love and actually crave fruits and vegetables. My bypass forces me to chew everything about a hundred times (I'm exaggerating) before I can swallow it. Sometimes certain meats won't go down so I've learned to just avoid something that's not going to make it down the pipe.

Another item mentioned in the article regarding artificial sweeteners is that because artificial sweeteners are sweeter than regular sugars, not as much is needed which is what minimizes the calorie count and they don't contribute any carbohydrate so "people with diabetes can enjoy their favorite foods without affecting their blood glucose levels."

Saccharin is the oldest artificial sweetener and is 200 to 700 times sweeter than sugar. Saccharin is considered safe for human consumption and is marketed under the names "Sweet N Low, Sweet Twin and Necta Sweet."

Aspartame was approved in 1981. It is 200 times sweeter than sugar and is considered safe for the general public. It is marketed under the names "Equal and Nutrasweet."

Sucralose comes from sugar, but is 600 times sweeter. It isn't absorbed by the body and does not add calories to food. It was approved for home use in 1999 and can be used in home baking. It is marked under the name "Splenda."

Neotame is a cousin to aspartame and is 7,000 to 13,000 times sweeter than sugar and was approved in 2002.

According to the article, Neotame doesn't have a brand name. I then "googled" neotame and discovered neotame.com where there is a section for FAQ's. It is mentioned that neotame "enhances" food. (Maybe like MSG?) and if I'm reading it right, the most current information is from March of 2008.

Then we have Stevia and Truvia.

Stevia is a plant native to portions of Paraguay and has been used as a sweetener for 200 years. It is a member of the chrysanthemum family.

Truvia sweetener is a zero calorie sweetener made with the best tasting part of the Stevia plant. I'm getting confused. I think Stevia is the plant, but Truvia is the sweetener made from the Stevia plant, however, it seems that Truvia is being marketed as being better than Stevia. If you wish to investigate for yourself there is a truvia.com website.

So, there we have it. What I discovered while looking up something else. I'll have to try that again, sometime.