Not Only Sugar Is Sweet
by Alexandra Greeley

Plain table sugar and its numerous taste-alikes may be one of our most
popular food commodities. People come by their love for sweetness naturally.
According to the experts, humans are born generally preferring sweet over
bitter or sour tastes.

Sweeteners make many foods taste better. And natural sugars have a host of
other valuable culinary?and practical?uses, including adding bulk to baked
goods, helping foods to brown, and facilitating fermentation. But despite
their immense popularity, sweeteners, particularly table sugar, have
generated their share of sour publicity because of health concerns.

What Is Sugar?

Traditionally for most consumers the generic term ?sugar? means simply the
white sugar crystals, or table sugar, that are stirred into or sprinkled on
foods.

These familiar crystals are technically known as sucrose. Sucrose is a
disaccharide--that is, it's composed of two simple sugar units, in this case,
glucose and fructose. White sugar comes from sugar cane or sugar beets that
have undergone a rigorous refining process. White sugar crystals can be used
as is, compressed into cubes, or further pulverized to superfine, then to
confectioner?s, or powdered, sugar. Brown sugar results from mixing white
sugar crystals with molasses. Other forms of sucrose are beet sugar, maple
sugar, turbinado sugar, and raw sugar.

Sucrose, however, is only one of a subgroup of sugars (see accompanying
chart), and all sugars are carbohydrates. Monosaccharides, or single sugar
units, include glucose, fructose and galactose. Monosaccharides also are the
digestive end product of polysaccharides, the complex carbohydrates
(starches) in fruits, grains and vegetables. Other disaccharides besides
sucrose include lactose (glucose and galactose), also called milk sugar, and
maltose (two units of glucose), also called malt sugar.

For labeling use and for making comparative claims, the Food and Drug
Administration defines sugars as all mono-, di-, tri-, and tetrasaccharides
and their derivatives, such as sugar alcohol, says Youngme Park, Ph.D., a
nutritionist with FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. He says
this includes all carbohydrate sweeteners with the same functional and
physiological effect that can be used interchangeably in the food supply.

After complex carbohydrates are broken down to simple sugars (most sugars and
carbohydrates are eventually broken down to glucose), the sugars are absorbed
into the bloodstream and go to the liver. There they may be stored as
glycogen or used immediately as glucose for energy by the body or brain.

"The body uses glucose as its simplest form of energy," says Judith Wurtman,
Ph.D., research scientist in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "So for people who need
calories, that is, those who are recovering from an operation or who are
shipwrecked, sugar can keep them alive."

Thomas Jukes, Ph.D., professor of biophysics at the University of California
at Berkeley, tells of his experiments feeding laboratory rats protein,
vitamins, minerals, and sugar as the sole source of carbohydrates. The rats
thrived, he says. "Fish is not a brain food," concludes Jukes. "Glucose is."

Sucrose occurs naturally in most green plants, says Sarah Setton, vice
president for public affairs, The Sugar Association, Washington, D.C. It is
produced by photosynthesis, which is the use of the sun's energy in the
formation of food by plants. People would have to stop eating fruits and
vegetables and any products incorporating them to cut sugar out of their
diet. People seem to think that there is a difference between sugar in an
apple and sugar in the sugar bowl," she adds. "But the way the body uses
sugar is all the same. The body can?t tell where the sugar is from."

A Taste for Sweets

Americans have become conspicuous consumers of sugar and sweet-tasting foods
and beverages. We have developed a relentless sweet tooth, "a severe
addiction to sweetness," says Joan Gussow, Ed.D., professor of nutrition and
education at Columbia Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City.

According to U.S. Department of Agriculture data on the amount of caloric
sweeteners used in food, there has been an increase of more than 16 percent
on a per person basis over the past two decades, and more than half of the
increase has occurred in the past five years. Caloric sweeteners include
sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, pure honey, and edible syrups.

Paul Lachance, chairman of the department of food science at Rutgers
University in New Jersey states it another way. He estimates that, based on a
2,000-calorie-a-day diet, the average American consumes about 300 calories
from sugars added to food. That comes to nearly 14 teaspoons of table sugar a
day.

Gussow has her own theory about why sugar is so prominent in the American
diet. It's for taste, she says. "I grow my own vegetables and fruit. And when
I pick, cook and eat my parsnips, for example, they are as sweet as sugar,"
she says. "But food is shipped all over the place, and when food gets too
old, much of the sugar turns to starch. The natural sweetness is gone, and
people sugar food to give it flavor."

As yet, no scientist has established any limits for sugar consumption. In the
typical American diet today (composed of about 45 percent carbohydrates, 20
percent protein, and 30 to 35 percent fat) all added and naturally occurring
sugars account for about 21 percent of the total daily caloric intake. A 1986
FDA report estimated that sugars added to food accounted for 11 percent of
calories consumed.

Yet if people eat increasingly larger quantities of caloric (nutritive)
sweeteners in general, these could compete with and crowd out other
nutrients, warns Jane Hurley, associate nutritionist at the Center for
Science in the Public Interest, Washington, D.C. People may consume many of
their calories each day from a sugary soft drink or candy bar. "Those foods
have few important nutrients we need," she says. "People are better off
having an apple as a snack than a candy bar."

The Safety Issue

Over the last several decades, sugar has taken on the villain's role in the
American diet. General sugar-bashing has led to "sugarphobia" as Jukes calls
it and the unfounded fear that eating refined sugar causes many health
problems, including heart disease, diabetes, anxiety, fatigue, depression,
hyperactivity, and even criminal behavior.

But, in fact, added sugar at current levels is not detrimental to health.
According to the landmark 1986 FDA Report of Sugars Task Force, sugar, when
consumed normal or moderate quantities, cannot be linked to any disease, nor
does it create a dependency.

Walter Glinsmann, M.D., FDA's associate director for clinical nutrition and
senior author of the task force report, explains that members of the task
force estimated the intake figures and trends of both added and naturally
occurring sugars, based on USDA data. They also reviewed the scientific
literature dealing with possible harmful effects of sugar consumption on
numerous conditions, including tooth decay, glucose tolerance, diabetes
mellitus, lipidemias (high blood fat), cardiovascular diseases, obesity,
gallstones, and cancer. "Based on that work," says Glinsmann, "we decided
that sugars are safe as they are now used in the food supply." If there is a
significant change in the way Americans consume sugars, he adds, then
scientists must reevaluate their role.

As Glinsmann observes, FDA does not say that eating unlimited amounts of
sugars is safe. "There are not good or bad foods, only good or bad diets," he
says. "If half your diet is pure sugar, that is not healthy. ... In a normal,
varied diet, there are no adverse effects of sugar itself."

The task force did find that sugar can cause dental cavities, he says, but
adds that so can other fermentable carbohydrates, such as dried fruit and
honey, under the right conditions.

Despite the report, some consumers persist in linking sugar consumption with
assorted ills, such as hyperactivity and aggressive behavior in children.
This is often reported by parents who say that their children are
uncontrollable after eating candy and other sugary sweets.

Glinsmann points out that sugar has not been shown to be a factor in
hyperactivity. Studies of children and adolescents at the National Institutes
of Health in Bethesda, Md., and elsewhere have looked at groups of
individuals served sugar or a placebo (an inactive substance given as a
control when testing another substance). Glinsmann points out that no
researcher has found that sugar has had any discernible negative effect on
children's behavior. To the contrary, sugar often has a soothing effect.

It also calms adults, says Wurtman, who has studied the relationship between
carbohydrate consumption and mood. When people report having a sugar high or
jitters, Wurtman asks them what was happening before they took a mouthful of
something sweet. "When people feel the need to eat," she says, "They usually
are jittery. But 20 minutes after eating, they are no longer jittery." In
fact, the opposite happens: After eating sugar, people become calm or even
sleepy, she says, an effect caused by sugar raising the level of a calming
brain chemical called serotonin. Sugar in its pure form is the best
nonprescription antidepressant, she says.

Sugar by Other Names

Numerous nutritive and nonnutritive substitutes for sucrose vie for its place
as a sweetener. All nutritive substitutes - such as honey, concentrated fruit
juices, dextrose (also known as glucose), maple and corn syrups, fructose
(levulose or fruit sugar), sugar alcohols, and high-fructose corn syrup
contain and contribute calories.

Perhaps the most commonly used nutritive sweetener is high-fructose corn
syrup, a sweet product manufactured from cornstarch and containing a high
level of fructose, explains Kyd Brenner, director of public affairs for the
Corn Refiners Association in Washington, D.C. High-fructose corn syrup is
very close to the composition and calorie content of cane sugar, he says, and
the syrup can be used as a direct and inexpensive substitute for cane sugar
when liquid sweeteners are called for. It is used extensively in soft drinks,
condiments, jams, jellies, and wine and is not available for home use.

Of the sugar alcohols, sorbitol (60 percent as sweet as sucrose with about
the same number of calories per gram) is used in such products as hard and
soft candies and chewing gums. Xylitol, another sugar alcohol, has limited
FDA approval for special dietary uses. A third sugar alcohol, mannitol, has
been removed from the GRAS (generally recognized as safe) list, and is
regulated as an 'interim' food additive. This means that its current use is
considered safe, but some questions have been raised that must be resolved to
fully determine what limitations, if any, should be imposed. Mannitol is
still being used in some products.

Both mannitol and sorbitol, when taken in large amounts, can cause diarrhea.
Products whose reasonably foreseeable consumption may result in a daily
ingestion of 50 grams of sorbitol or 20 grams mannitol must bear the labeling
statement: "Excess consumption may have a laxative effect."

The sugar polymer polydextrose, because of its bulking properties, is used to
replace a number of the technical effects of sucrose in various baked goods,
salad dressings, frozen desserts, and candies. Because of its structure,
polydextrose is not readily digested, so it is a low-calorie sucrose
substitute. But it does not provide sweetness, so it is likely to be used
with a nonnutritive sweetener. FDA is presently considering petitions for its
use in other products such as in fruit and peanut butter spreads, sweet
sauces, toppings, and syrups, and as a formulation aid in film coatings in
vitamin and mineral supplement tablets.

Nonnutritive Sweeteners

Nonnutritive, or high-intensity, sweeteners satisfy America's sweet tooth
without adding calories. Presently, manufacturers are using three such
sweeteners to replace sugar in a variety of food and nonfood items such as
mouthwashes and pill coatings.

One of these is saccharin, 300 times sweeter than table sugar and with zero
calories. It is sold in liquid, tablets, packets, and in bulk. Saccharin has
had a stormy past, with studies in the United States and Canada implicating
it in the development of certain cancers. In the late 1970s, FDA contracted
with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to study cancer-causing agents
and toxic substances in foods, including saccharin. NAS reports showed that
saccharin is a potential cancer-causing agent in humans. A congressional
moratorium protecting saccharin's continued use has been renewed periodically
by Congress. The required label warning on saccharin states, "Use of this
product may be hazardous to your health. This product contains saccharin
which has been determined to cause cancer in laboratory animals."

Aspartame - about 200 times sweeter than table sugar and with the same number
of calories per teaspoonful has been shown to be safe. However, some people
have reported that they are sensitive to it, although such a sensitivity has
not been confirmed by scientific studies. Certain individuals suffering from
a rare genetic disease called phenylketonuria cannot tolerate the amino acid
phenylalanine, one of the building blocks of aspartame as well as naturally
occurring proteins. Therefore, products containing aspartame must bear on the
label a statement that they contain phenylalanine. Aspartame is available in
packets and is used in numerous foods, including cereals, beverage bases, and
ready-to-drink iced tea, but because it is not generally heat stable, it is
not used for cooking. Food technologists have been working on ways to
overcome this instability.

Acesulfame K (K is the chemical symbol for potassium)-130 times sweeter than
table sugar?was approved by FDA in July 1988 as a sugar substitute in packets
or tablets and as an ingredient in such products as chewing gum, dry drink
mixes, and gelatins. The body does not metabolize acesulfame K so it
contributes no calories. Soluble in water, it is stable at normal
temperatures and does not break down during cooking.

FDA banned the use of the sweetener cyclamate in 1970 because of concerns
over its safety, but cyclamate is again under consideration for use in
specific products, such as tabletop sweeteners and nonalcoholic beverages.

Under Development

Scientists continue to develop new sugar substitutes. For example, among the
nutritive sweeteners, petitions for the use of the sugar alcohols isomalt (in
gelatins, hard and soft candies, and baked goods), maltitol (in candy and
cough drops), lactitol (in candy, chewing gum, baked goods, and frozen dairy
desserts), and hydrogenated starch hydrolisates (in candy, chewing gum, and
confections) are under current FDA review, says Art Lipman, Ph.D., a
supervisory consumer safety officer with FDA's direct additives branch.

FDA has also received numerous inquiries about the regulatory status of a
naturally occurring high-intensity sweetener known as stevia> (or stevioside),
says Lipman. Extracted from a plant grown in South America, <stevia is 300
times sweeter than table sugar and is used for sweetening in Japan and other
countries. Lipman says no petition has been filed for its use in the United
States.

Two nonnutritive sweeteners are being studied, says George Pauli, Ph.D.,
chief of the novel ingredients and policy development branch. These are
alitame (Pfizer), which is chemically similar to aspartame, and sucralose
(McNeil Specialty Products Co.), a chlorinated sucrose that has been made
indigestible. FDA is also considering petitions for additional uses of the
sweetener acesulfame K in beverages and baked goods and of aspartame for bulk
use and in breakfast cereals, malt beverages, candies, and cooked foods.

Eating foods sweetened with nonnutritive sweeteners rather than sugar is an
individual choice, says Laura Tarantino, an FDA consumer safety officer. Our
law says only that we [FDA] need to assess the safety of a new food additive
and its technical effect," she says. "Nonnutritive sweeteners are safe to
use. But we don't tell people to replace sugar with artificial sweeteners."

In the future, consumers wanting to know which sweeteners are present in
their foods need only read the label. According to an FDA labeling proposal,
all sweeteners will be listed together in the ingredient list, under the
collective term 'sweetener,' when more than one sweetener is used in a
product (following the collective term, each sweetener would be listed in
parentheses in descending order of predominance by weight of the sweetener in
the food). According to an FDA proposal published late in 1991, it would be
mandatory for all complex carbohydrates and simple sugars to be listed on the
nutrition label, says Lynn Larsen, Ph.D., director of the Center for Food
Safety and Applied Nutrition's Executive Operations Staff.

People may have an inherent preference for sweetness, and that may have
helped our ancestors survive, since bitter-tasting plants are generally not
fit to eat. But beyond survival, people seem to have discovered that sweet
flavors really help make eating pleasurable.

Alexandra Greeley is a freelance writer in Reston, Va.
Sweet Talk

Type of Sweetener Regulatory Status

Common Sugars
Monosaccharides
Glucose (also called dextrose) GRAS
Fructose (also called levulose) GRAS
fruit sugar
Galactose none; cannot be directly added
to food

Disaccharides
Sucrose (glucose + fructose) GRAS
white table sugar, beet sugar,
turbinado sugar, raw sugar
Lactose (glucose + galactose) GRAS petition under
consideration
milk sugar
Maltose (glucose + glucose) GRAS
malt sugar

Sugar Alcohols
sorbitol GRAS
xylitol limited FDA approval for
special uses,
mannitol removed from GRAS; regulated as
"interim food additive"

Nonnutritive and High-Intensity Sweeteners
Aspartame approved
Acesulfame K approved
Cyclamate banned
Saccharin remains on market through
congressional moratorium