What’s Good and What’s Bad About Artificial Sweeteners
It is early in the morning, and your coffee is a little too bitter. Those colorful packets call your name, but how healthy are they? Artificial sweeteners clutter our tabletops in a collage that calls to our sweet teeth, but are these low-calorie substitutes truly good alternatives to sugar? They are found in a variety of food and drinks marked as “sugar-free,” such as chewing gum, soft drinks, candy and fruit juice, while natural substitutes such as agave nectar and honey are widely ignored. While these sugar substitutes are helpful in maintaining a healthy weight and preferable for those individuals with diabetes, they are often the topic of controversy in the medical arena. As everything should come in moderation, use the 90/10 rule, meaning eat healthy fruits with natural sugars 90 percent of the time, and use other sweeteners to spruce your foods up the other 10 percent.