Diabetes: what are the sweetening agents?


        DIABETES: WHAT ARE THE SWEETENING AGENTS?

Sugar is a sweetening agent, and as such has always been used as a food. Whether it is really safe for anybody to have unlimited sugar is not known, though the harmful effects of tooth decay and obesity are well recognized. What is certain, however, is that unlimited sugar is dangerous for persons with diabetes, so that they must either severely limit the sugar they take or find another alternative. There have been several alternative chemical substances used as substitutes for sugar. They taste sweet, are apparently quite safe to take, and do not have any energy food value. The first of these is saccharin, which has been used since the beginning of this century. It is, by weight, 400 times as sweet as sugar, so that very little is needed to give food a sweet taste. Its main disadvantage is that it is destroyed by heat, so it cannot be added to food before cooking. There are no harmful effects from using this substance, it is excreted in the urine so is not used by the body and does not accumulate there. Another sweetening agent is cyclamate. This has been widely used in the USA and elsewhere since 1950 and was used to sweeten a wide variety of foods and drinks. There has never been any evidence that it has harmful effects on humans. There is another sweet substance called sorbitol. This is related chemically to ordinary sugar but is not as sweet. It is absorbed very slowly when it is eaten, so that it enters the bloodstream so slowly that it does not have the same harmful effects as ordinary sugar for a person with diabetes. It is often used in making jams and confectionery. On the other hand it is eventually used in the body as sugar, so that foods containing sorbitol should be taken only in moderation. Taken in excess it can cause diarrhea, but apart from this it has no harmful effects and is a naturally occurring substance.

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DIABETES
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