“Nutritive” Sweeteners in the Diet – What are the Differences?

Posted by Dr. Doucette on March 20, 2007 under Nutrition |

The typical North American derives 40 to 50% of his/her total daily caloric intake from carbohydrates.  Approximately 50% of those carbohydrates come from simple (refined) sugars that have been added to food. Many processed foods have added sweeteners in the form of high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, honey, molasses, refined sugars, aspartame, sucralose, and/or saccharin.

Even though there has been much negative press associating sugar intake with diseases/conditions such as dental caries, heart disease, diabetes, hyperactivity, and obesity, the only condition showing a direct cause-and-effect relationship with sugar consumption is dental caries.  Due to sugar’s bad reputation, many Americans have switched from the more refined sugars such as common table sugar to the less refined sweeteners such as honey and molasses.  But what are the differences in these “nutritive” sweeteners and is one form of sweetener healthier than another?  Let’s find out!   

Types of “Nutritive” and “Nonnutritive” Sweeteners:
We are all born with the capacity to sense sweetness.  To what extent we sense sweetness, along with the types and amounts of sweeteners we consume vary from individual to individual.  There are several ways dietary sweeteners can be classified or grouped.  One way is to classify sweeteners as either “nutritive” or “nonnutritive.”  The nutritive sweeteners provide a sweet taste and calories whereas the nonnutritive sweeteners are sweet tasting without the calories.  Examples of nutritive sweeteners include refined table sugar, syrup, molasses, and brown sugar.  Saccharin, sucralose, and aspartame are some popular types of nonnutritive sweeteners.

On a larger scale, nutritive sweeteners are part of the carbohydrate family.  All carbohydrates are made up of single sugar molecules called monosaccharides.  The three most important monosaccharides in the diet are glucose, fructose, and galactose.  When two sugar molecules combine this is called a disaccharide.  Two common disaccharides are sucrose (glucose + fructose), which is common table sugar and lactose (glucose + galactose), the sugar found in milk.  Monosaccharides and disaccharides are referred to as simple sugars whereas carbohydrates containing more sugar units linked together (oligosaccharides) are called complex carbohydrates (e.g. starch and fiber).

One of the distinctions between simple sugars and complex carbohydrates is that the simple sugars are sweet to the taste.  Simple sugars can be ranked as to their level of sweetness. Following are some common simple sugars listed from most to least sweet:

• Fructose – most sweet
• Honey
• Molasses
• Sucrose (white refined sugar), brown sugar, maple syrup
• Glucose
• Maltose
• Lactose – least sweet

Common Table Sugar vs. Other Less Refined Sugars:
White sugar, honey, and molasses are all made up of varying levels of sucrose and its individual sugar molecules, fructose and glucose. When any of these sweeteners are consumed, all of the intact sucrose is broken down into fructose and glucose before being absorbed.  Thus, by the time the sweetener is absorbed, our bodies cannot distinguish whether the fructose and glucose came from honey, molasses, or common table sugar.  The key differences between these three sweeteners are the food source and amount of processing each product goes through.  Even though these sweeteners all provide the same amount of energy (4 calories/gram carbohydrate), the less refined sweeteners provide slightly more vitamins and minerals.