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Benefits Of Sugar Substitutes

By Ben Mester

Republish: EasyPublish™
Published: 10Feb2011
Word count: 548
Viewed: 170 time(s)

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Sugar substitutes are starting to become very beneficial to the standard diet. With ailments like diabetes on the rise, it's definitely to a person's advantage to cut out as much refined sugar from their diet as they can manage. But adding in artificial sweeteners isn't always the right answer. Artificial sweeteners have a very limited set of uses, and are generally only added to drinks, and not to things like pies or cakes. That's where sugar substitutes come in handy. Up until recently, there haven't been a lot of options in the way of sugar substitutes. Honey was pretty much the only real alternative to using sugar in drinks and in other things, and honey has just about the same amount of sugar and calories as regular refined sugar does.

Nowadays, manufacturers have started coming up with what most consider to be great alternatives to sugar in that, the products resemble the sweetness and the consistency of sugar, but have fewer calories. There are many products on the market these days which very closely resemble the texture and the taste of sugar, but boast only half of the calories and glycemic index. Glycemic index, for those who haven't heard the phrase, refers to the way that food impacts blood sugar. Foods with high glycemic index can cause spikes in blood sugar levels. Conversely, foods with low glycemic index cause their energy to be released slower into the bloodstream for more consistent energy. Most sugar substitutes aim to have both a minimal amount of calories and a low glycemic index.

In order to add a sugar substitute into food, it has to have a very similar flavor sweetness to sugar. If it doesn't, the recipe won't taste right and most likely won't get eaten. It's one thing to add artificial sweeteners to drinks, but another thing entirely to use them in baking. But if a person is to seriously endeavor to cut down on their consumption of refined sugar, they really need to cut out their sugar intake in multiple arenas of their diet. That's why, sugar substitutes have been created which have been specifically formulated for use in baking. There are many different types of sugar substitutes that combine refined sugar with another type of artificial sweetener to make the overall product still usable for baking desserts, but having less calories and less of a glycemic index than just using regular refined sugar.

In the past, people used to love to experiment with ingredients in order to fashion unique creations and come up with great flavors. In this day and age, people are having an equally good time coming up with ways of using less sugar and still maintaining the original flavor of a thing. I've personally grown to like sweets that have less sugar in them than regular desserts often do. Now that I'm conscious of my sugar intake, most desserts at restaurants taste far too sweet for me. It's fun being able to eat what you enjoy while still being able to limit the amount of refined sugar and calories taken in. Hopefully everyone will think of ways to cut out more and more sugar from their diets.

There are many new sugar substitutes on the market these days, things like stevia and truvia. It's good to keep track of your sugar intake, and even to consider things like a hypoglycemic diet if you're really concerned about diabetes or how much sugar seems to affect your body.

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