The 4 Best, and 3 Worst, Sweeteners to Have in Your Kitchen

What to use to sweeten your food is a popular subject, given that so
many people have an affinity for sweets, and it's widely known that
refined sugar is one of the worst foods you can eat.
You have to be cautious when choosing an alternative, though, because
some may actually be worse for you than the real thing, including some
sweeteners that are widely regarded as "healthy" but in reality are
anything but.

MSN Health actually did a fairly good job in assembling a list of the best and the worst for your health, which I expand on below.

The Best:

1. Stevia
   
2. Sugar alcohols
   
3. Honey (I recommend Manuka honey, or raw honey in very small quantities)
   
4. Pure glucose
   

The Worst:

1. Aspartame
   
2. Agave (which I would expand to include all sources of fructose)
   
3. Sucralose (Splenda)
   

Sweetener lesson 101 is to avoid artificial sweeteners like the
plague. There's little doubt in my mind that artificial sweeteners can
be even worse for you than sugar and fructose, and there is scientific
evidence to back up that conclusion.

In 2005, I wrote the most comprehensively documented book I ever wrote called Sweet Deception,
in which I expose the many concerns related to the consumption of
artificial sweeteners. It's an extremely well-researched book, and it's
as valid today as it was when I first wrote it. I spent over three years
and had five health care professionals work on it with me, as the maker
of Splenda, Johnson & Johnson, had their legal firm write me a
20-page letter threatening to sue me if I published the book. Needless
to say, the book was published and they did not sue me as the
information was all true.

Here's a breakdown of what you need to know:

Aspartame

Aspartame is a synthetic chemical composed of three ingredients – two
amino acids and a methyl ester bond. The amino acids are phenylalanine
and aspartic acid, two common components of many foods that are usually
completely safe for consumption. But not in the case of aspartame.

Why?

Aspartame is the ingredient found in NutraSweet. It is also found in
Equal, Spoonful, Equal Measure, AminoSweet, Benevia, NutraTaste,
Canderel, and many popular "diet" foods and beverages. I've gone on
record saying that aspartame is a bigger public health threat than high
fructose corn syrup and can lead to birth defects, cancer and weight gain. It's also been linked to brain tumors.

Forgetting for a moment that aspartame is metabolized inside your
body into both wood alcohol (a poison) and formaldehyde (which embalms
tissue and is not eliminated from your body through the normal waste
filtering done by your liver and kidneys), the trouble with the
component parts of aspartame is one of volume.

In a normal protein like meat, fish or eggs, phenylalanine and
aspartic acid comprise 4-5 percent each of the total amino acid profile.
This is how nature intends the human body to encounter these two amino
acids and there is nothing wrong with these substances if they occur
naturally in a proper balance with other amino acids.

But in aspartame the ratio of these two amino acids is 50 percent
phenylalanine and 40 percent aspartic acid (with 10 percent methyl ester
bond, aka wood alcohol, a known poison). In other words, on a
percentage basis this is a massive quantity of two unnaturally isolated
amino acids that are simply not found in this ratio in nature, bonded
together by a known poison.

The result of this chemical cocktail is a sweet tasting neurotoxin.
As a result of its unnatural structure, your body processes the amino
acids found in aspartame very differently from a steak or a piece of
fish. The amino acids in aspartame literally attack your cells, even
crossing the blood-brain barrier to attack your brain cells, creating a
toxic cellular overstimulation, called excitotoxicity. MSG is also an
excitotoxin, and works synergistically with aspartame to create even
more damage to your brain cells.

Sucralose (Splenda)

Sucralose is a synthetic chemical created in a laboratory. In the
five-step patented process of making sucralose, three chlorine molecules
are added to one sucrose (sugar) molecule.

Some will argue that natural foods also contain chloride, which is
true. However, in natural foods, the chloride is connected with ionic
bonds that easily dissociate.. But in Splenda, they're in a covalent
bond that does not dissociate. In fact, there are NO covalent chloride
bonds to organic compounds in nature—they only exist in synthetic,
man-made form. Aside from Splenda, other examples of synthetic
covalently bound chloride compounds include:

• DDT
  
• PCB's
  
• Agent orange
  

Now, your body has no enzymes to break down this covalently bound
chloride. Why would it? It never existed in nature, so the human body
never had a reason to address it. And since it's not broken down and
metabolized by your body, they can claim it to be
non-caloric—essentially, it's supposed to pass right through you.

However, the research (which is primarily extrapolated from animal
studies) indicates that about 15 percent of sucralose IS in fact
absorbed into your digestive system, and ultimately stored in your body.

You've probably heard the claims that the FDA has reviewed over 100
studies on Splenda and are satisfied that it's a safe product, but what
you don't hear is that most of those studies were on animals, and that
they actually revealed plenty of problems! For example, some of these
studies revealed:

• Decreased red blood cells -- sign of anemia -- at levels above 1,500 mg/kg/day
  
• Increased male infertility by interfering with sperm production and vitality, as well as brain lesions at higher doses
  
• Enlarged and calcified kidneys
  
• Spontaneous abortions in nearly half the rabbit population given
  sucralose, compared to zero aborted pregnancies in the control group
  
• A 23 percent death rate in rabbits, compared to a six percent death rate in the control group
  

Only two human trials on sucralose were completed and published prior
to the FDA approving Splenda for human consumption, and these two
trials included a total of just 36 human subjects. Worse yet, the
longest running trial lasted only four days, and looked at sucralose in
relation to tooth decay, not human tolerance. As for determining the
absorption of Splenda into the human body, a mere eight men were
studied.

Based on that singular human study, the FDA allowed the findings to
be generalized as being representative of and regarded as "safe" for the
entire human population!

Now that artificial sweeteners are out of the picture, it's time to
eliminate another health-harming sweetener that's masquerading as a
healthy sugar alternative: fructose.

There is no question in my mind that fructose is the most toxic
natural sugar known to man. However, it really is only toxic in large
doses taken chronically. Just as smoking a few cigarettes will likely
not cause lung cancer, small doses of fructose are not an issue since it
is a natural sugar found in all fruits. However when it is consumed in
doses that most people use, which is 500% of the dose that people
consumed in pre-industrial times, then metabolic toxicity occurs. At
these dosages I believe it is likely more toxic than even artificial
sweeteners.

Please remember this is a dosing issue, small doses are harmless and large doses over time are pathogenic.

You've probably heard the news about high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) being bad for your health, and as a result many people interested in staying healthy have switched to agave as a safer "natural" sweetener.
However, most agave is actually WORSE than HFCS because it has a higher
fructose content than any commercial sweetener -- ranging from 70 to 97
percent, depending on the brand, which is FAR HIGHER than HFCS, which
averages 55 percent.

Part of what makes fructose so unhealthy is that it is metabolized to fat in your body far more rapidly than any other sugar. The entire burden of metabolizing fructose falls on your liver, and it promotes a particularly dangerous kind of body fat, namely adipose fat. This is the fat type of fat that collects in your abdominal region and is associated with a greater risk of heart disease.

Further, fructose:

• Tricks your body into gaining weight by fooling your metabolism,
  as it turns off your body's appetite-control system. Fructose does not
  appropriately stimulate insulin, which in turn does not suppress ghrelin
  (the "hunger hormone") and doesn't stimulate leptin (the "satiety
  hormone"), which together result in your eating more and developing
  insulin resistance.
  
• Rapidly leads to weight gain and abdominal obesity ("beer
  belly"), decreased HDL, increased LDL, elevated triglycerides, elevated
  blood sugar, and high blood pressure—i.e., classic metabolic syndrome.
  
• Over time leads to insulin resistance, which is not only an
  underlying factor of type 2 diabetes and heart disease, but also many
  cancers.
  

According to Dr. Robert Lustig,
fructose is 'isocaloric but not isometabolic." This means you can have
the same amount of calories from fructose or glucose, fructose and
protein, or fructose and fat, but the metabolic effect will be entirely different despite the identical calorie count.

Further, because most fructose is consumed in liquid form (i.e. soda
and sweetened beverages of all kinds) its negative metabolic effects are
magnified. So while HFCS has about the same amount of fructose as cane sugar, the fructose in HFCS is in its "free" form and not attached to any other carbs.

New research published in the European Journal of Nutrition
once again showed that high-fructose corn syrup may be particularly
detrimental to health, as it contains fructose in its 'free'
monosaccharide form. In rats given access to sugary beverages, all of
them displayed markers of increased risk of diabetes and heart disease,
but those given 'free' fructose has the most significantly disrupted
glucose homeostasis, which means they had the greatest risk of
developing type 2 diabetes.

The fructose in fruits and in cane sugar is bonded to other sugars,
which results in a decrease in its metabolic toxicity. That said, even
consuming an excess of fruits is not recommended, as consuming any foods
that contain high amounts of fructose -- even if it's a natural product
-- is, to put it bluntly, the fastest way to trash your health.

Among the health problems you invite with a high-fructose diet are:

As a standard recommendation, I strongly advise keeping your TOTAL
fructose consumption below 25 grams per day. The average American is
consuming THREE times this amount, so this is a fairly substantial
reduction for most people.

For most people it would also be wise to limit your fructose from
fruit to 15 grams or less, as you're virtually guaranteed to consume
"hidden" sources of fructose if you drink beverages other than water and
eat processed food. Here's a quick reference list of some of the most
common fruits that you can use to help you count your fructose grams:

Fruit Serving Size Grams of Fructose Limes 1 medium 0 Lemons 1 medium 0.6 Cranberries 1 cup 0.7 Passion fruit 1 medium 0.9 Prune 1 medium 1.2 Apricot 1 medium 1.3 Guava 2 medium 2.2 Date (Deglet Noor style) 1 medium 2.6 Cantaloupe 1/8 of med. melon 2.8 Raspberries 1 cup 3.0 Clementine 1 medium 3.4 Kiwifruit 1 medium 3.4 Blackberries 1 cup 3.5 Star fruit 1 medium 3.6 Cherries, sweet 10 3.8 Strawberries 1 cup 3.8 Cherries, sour 1 cup 4.0 Pineapple 1 slice (3.5" x .75") 4.0 Grapefruit, pink or red 1/2 medium 4.3

Fruit Serving Size Grams of Fructose Boysenberries 1 cup 4.6 Tangerine/mandarin orange 1 medium 4.8 Nectarine 1 medium 5.4 Peach 1 medium 5.9 Orange (navel) 1 medium 6.1 Papaya 1/2 medium 6.3 Honeydew 1/8 of med. melon 6.7 Banana 1 medium 7.1 Blueberries 1 cup 7.4 Date (Medjool) 1 medium 7.7 Apple (composite) 1 medium 9.5 Persimmon 1 medium 10.6 Watermelon 1/16 med. melon 11.3 Pear 1 medium 11.8 Raisins 1/4 cup 12.3 Grapes, seedless (green or red) 1 cup 12.4 Mango 1/2 medium 16.2 Apricots, dried 1 cup 16.4 Figs, dried 1 cup 23.0

Sugar alcohols such as xylitol are not as sweet as sugar, but they
contain fewer calories. One reason that sugar alcohols provide fewer
calories than sugar is because they are not completely absorbed into
your body. Because of this, eating many foods containing sugar alcohols
can lead to abdominal gas and diarrhea.

However, sugar alcohols -- including xylitol -- do not make
"sugar-free" foods calorie free. If foods containing sugar alcohols are
eaten in large enough quantities, the calories can be comparable to
sugar-containing foods. As with all foods, you need to carefully read
the food labels for calorie and carbohydrate content, regardless of any
claims that the food is sugar-free or low-sugar.

Maltitol, another commonly used sugar alcohol, spikes blood sugar
almost as much as a starchy new potato. Xylitol, in comparison, does not
spike blood sugar much at all. Pure xylitol also does not usually
produce the gas or bloating associated with other sugar alcohols.

So in moderation, some sugar alcohols can be a better choice than
highly refined sugar, artificial sweeteners, agave or high fructose corn
syrup. Of the various sugar alcohols, xylitol is one of the best. When
it is pure, the potential side effects are minimal, and it actually
comes with some benefits such as fighting tooth decay. All in all, I
would say that xylitol is reasonably safe, and potentially even a mildly
beneficial sweetener.

As an aside, xylitol is toxic to dogs and some other pets, so be sure to keep it out of reach of your family pets.

High-quality honey contains natural antioxidants, enzymes, amino
acids, vitamins, and minerals. Unfortunately, most of the honey eaten
today has been heavily processed. Like most foods that have been
chemically refined, many of the healthful benefits have been reduced or
eliminated. Commercial honey is often treated with an excessive heating
process that can destroy some of the critical natural enzymes, vitamins,
and minerals.

If you do consume honey, make sure it is unprocessed Manuka honey,
which has such potent antibacterial properties it is now being used in
medical products such as wound dressings. However, remember that all
honey is very high in fructose, so it would be best to limit your use of
even Manuka honey to less than one TEASPOON per day. Raw honey is
another option but doesn't have the same potent antibacterial
properties.

This would give you about 20 grams of fructose and leave you with a
little room for a healthy serving of fresh fruit, or some of the
inevitable fructose that is added to so many other foods that you
normally eat.

The herb stevia is one of my favorite options for an occasional
sweetener. It's a safe, natural plant that's has been around for over
1,500 years and is ideal if you're watching your weight, or if you're
maintaining your health by avoiding sugar. It is hundreds of times
sweeter than sugar and truly has virtually no calories.

Further, research suggests it may actually have some beneficial
properties, as a new study revealed that diabetic rats given stevia had a
delayed but significant decrease in blood glucose level, without producing hypoglycemia, while also demonstrating a loss in body weight.

Personally I believe stevia is the best sweetener available today.
Many complain about a bitter aftertaste with stevia, but this is
typically related to the processing. I prefer to use it in its liquid
form in flavors like English Toffee and French Vanilla (it only require a
few drops to sweeten a drink). That said, like most choices, especially
sweeteners, I recommend using it in moderation, just like sugar.

Another safe alternative to sugar is pure glucose. You can buy pure glucose (dextrose)
as a sweetener for about $1 a pound. It is only 70 percent as sweet as
sucrose, so you'll end up using a bit more of it for the same amount of
sweetness, making it slightly more expensive than sucrose—but still well
worth it for your health as it has ZERO grams of fructose. Remember,
glucose can be used directly by every cell in your body and as such is
far safer than the metabolic poison fructose.

When it comes to sugar, virtually all forms will be toxic to your
health in the long run. Switching from refined white sugar to cane
sugar, date sugar, coconut sugar, brown rice syrup, fruit juice,
molasses, maple syrup, sucanat, sorghum, turbinado or agave syrup will
NOT ameliorate any of the risks as they all contain HIGH amounts of
fructose. But, if you want to RADICALLY reduce, and in many cases
virtually eliminate, your risk of the following diseases

• Cancer
  
• Heart Disease
  
• Obesity
  
• Diabetes
  
• Alzheimer's
  

… then start getting VERY serious about restricting your intake of sugar, and particularly fructose. My nutrition plan offers a no-fuss guide to help you revise your current diet into one that's very low in sugar and still completely satisfying.