Medical doctors often advise diabetics to shift from sugar to sweeteners for better health. Many will fumble as they try to break their sweet love affair, but for Marissa George (50) living sugar-free has been a breeze.
“I started using sweeteners more than 25 years ago. I was already not fond of the sugar taste, so it was not that difficult to stop using sugar. For the most part I started using sweeteners because I was avoiding the disadvantages of using sugar. Diabetes is too dangerous,” says the Cape Town resident.
Reading food labels has become second nature to George. “Sweeteners, add virtually zero calories to your diet,” she says.
“I tend read labels a lot to see what the sugar amount is, and hopefully keep diabetes at bay. This has made a significant change in my life, because more often people my age are diagnosed with diabetes due to high intake of sugar containing foods, and I refuse to fall on that wagon.”
Deciding between sweeteners and sugar
Diabetics should not be shunned for using sugar, but a little moderation can do your diet a world of good, says a Pretoria-based dietitian, Jason van Heerden.
“Even though sugar is one of the major causes of diabetes to some, that does not mean diabetics cannot use sugar at all, but moderation is key. If used or consumed adequately, little to no harm might be done,” he says.
Natural sugars are often labelled as the healthier option when compared to sugar and sugar substitutes. Be sure to read labels, van Heerden cautions.
“It’s important that people study their food labels and that they understand that some sweeteners might not be as healthy as others. There are two different types of sweeteners: nutritive and non-nutritive sweeteners, and their food labels are different too.”
Registered dietitian Jason van Heerden
Nutritive vs. non-nutritive sweeteners
According to Van Heerden, nutritive sweeteners offer nutrition. While nutritive sweeteners contain more calories, non-nutritive sweeteners contain close to no calories.
“Nutritive sweeteners essentially contain calories and are found in natural foods. With these sweeteners – such as fructose also known as fruit sugar – the body also gains nutrients like fibre, vitamins and minerals,” he says.
Nutritive sweeteners include:
- fruit juices and nectars;
- honey;
- molasses; and
- maple syrup.
“Non-nutritive drinks are found in all zero sugar carbonated drinks like your famous Coke Zero or Sprite Zero. These sweeteners have a maximum of 17 kilojoules of calories which is basically nothing,” Van Heerden says.
“These sweeteners are often very sweet, and people often say that some non-nutritive sweeteners have an after taste. This is due to the addition of Aspartame (an artificial non-saccharide sweetener) in that particular food item (normally your cooldrinks),” he adds.
Struggling to let go of sweet coffee?
Meanwhile, it is no secret that many people love a cup of sweetened coffee in the morning. Health experts actually believe that a morning coffee could be one of the healthiest beverages around, but what about the sugar?
Believe it or not, you do not need sugar or milk in your morning brew, says John Koopman, an actor who is also the owner of Dash Coffee in Paarl in the Western Cape.
“For some people, sugar and milk work in harmony with some of the flavours of coffee,” Koopman says. “In my experience as a coffee barista, I have noticed that people who use sweeteners tend to take their coffee without milk. They would order an Americano, which is just an espresso shot with water.”
For Koopman, drinking coffee is a subjective experience and there no particular way of enjoying your coffee. Where coffee and sweeteners are concerned, it all has to do with what your doctor ordered or what your taste buds crave. It’s all in your hands.
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