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Sugar.  Fructose.  Brown Rice Syrup.  Corn Syrup.  Honey.  Sorbitol.  Mannitol. 

Every single one of these words means “SUGAR”. 

Some products have more than one of these words listed in their ingredient list.  That simply means there is more sugar in that product.  Tricky, isn’t it?

So what’s the problem with sugar?

Nothing, really.  And organic sugar isn’t “more healthy” than plain old generic cane sugar.  Even the “sugar in the raw” or brown sugar isn’t healthier than that regular can sugar.  It may seem like it might be because of words like “unrefined” or “raw” or “brown sugar” (does this remind you of brown versus white rice?) but the truth of the matter is – they are all sugar and they all have empty calories.

The reason sugar gets a bad rap is because it can be hidden in a lot of foods.  Did you know that Mott’s applesauce has added sugar, making one serving of it more “sugarful” than a Hershey’s milk chocolate bar?  This means that we consume a lot more sugar than we realize.  THAT is where the problem can be because too much of anything, particularly something with no nutrients, can be bad for us.  Too much sugar leads to diseases like osteoporosis, diabetes, obesity, and many more chronic lifestyle illnesses.  Why?  It is a combination of too much sugar and not enough of other nutrients that we don’t get.

I hear a lot about sugar substitutes because people want to avoid the calories of sugar and still have foods taste sweet.  Some sugar substitutes are safe – these are natural sugar substitutes – not chemically produced ones.  Things like stevia, chicory root, Lo Han or xylitol are good no-calorie substitutes.   Agave and honey are good natural substitutes but be aware – there are still many calories in these two sugar substitutes. 

Then there are the artificial sweeteners like aspartame and splenda.  Although aspartame has been proven to cause cancer in lab animals, it has only been in high doses.  However, why take a chance?   One of the components of aspartame is methanol, also known as “wood alcohol”.  When broken down by the body, methanol is converted to formaldehyde – yes, embalming fluid.  Splenda has recently been introduced as “made from sugar” so it seems to be the better choice.  But did you know that splenda is also a chemically altered form of sugar that has been shown to cause joint pain, shortness of breath and depression?  Splenda has only been on the market for a few years so more negative effects from splenda may soon come to light.

What should you choose?

In small quantities, I recommend choosing the natural sweeteners when at all possible.  Try to cut down on aspartame use and start watching ingredient labels to find hidden sugars.  Again, in moderation, sugar has a place in the diet.  Have the ice cream once or twice a week – with real sugar! 

Warmly,

Dr. Mudge-Riley