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Sugar free celebrities - can you trust them?

Looking at a copy of the Mail on Sunday there was an article about how some of the advice given out by cerebrate to reduce sugar could not always be trusted .  This is something I have blogged about before.

 Some of the claims were fairly unbelievable like the use of glucose in stead of sugar

Sugar free examples that are not

Example is 'The No sugar Recipe Book'  uses Dextrose instead of glucose.  Dextrose is just a form of glucose. (Glucose is one of the 2 sugars that make up sugar the other being fructose.)  Dextrose has the same problems of regulating blood sugar levels as sugar. The author claimed that it's fructose that is bad not glucose. Certainly some studies do not support this at all http://www.precisionnutrition.com/research-review-fructose-vs-glucose

Another  book called  'I quit sugar for life'  has a sugar free Nutella recipe.  Instead of using a sweetener such as Xylitol or stevia it recommended that you use  rice malt syrup instead of sugar.  Rice malt syrup is basically glucose extracted from brown rice and has very few benefits over normal refined sugars. The general opinion is that it is not better than glucose.  For more information go to   http://authoritynutrition.com/brown-rice-syrup-good-or-bad

Sweetened with fruit juice not equal to sugar free

One of the common ways to reduce sugar in recipes is to sweeten with fruit juice instead of sugar. Most of the sweetness of fruit juice come from fructose which is also a component of table sugar. 

A recipe that is sweetened with fruit juice is no better for you than one which uses table  sugar.

So what about the sweeteners in my sugar free sweets?

The sweeteners used in sugar free sweets are,  in a lot of cases, treated by like dietary fibre so are not absorbed by the body during the digestive process . Though each individual sweetener has a slightly different. effect. 

If you want to learn more we covered many of the more common sweeteners in earlier blog posts

 Who should I listen to?

If you have a sweet tooth and want some sugar free or no added sugar cakes and chocolate you are better off using xylitol or stevia in your cooking.  Even these sweeteners should be used  in moderation. .

There are many people out there giving dietary advice but they often have no more expertise than you and could mislead you.  Be careful, think about the advice and what qualification and experience they have for giving out that advice.  It is all too easy to be seduced by a glossy cook book or a magazine article written about a model or TV celebrity. 

 Do you need to be careful about what I say because I am not a qualified dietician?  Maybe, but I try to give  the basic information about the sugarfree sweets without making any specific claims about possible health benefits.   I know from the queries I get from customers that many people have concerns about their health and I suggest that they seek help from real experts and professionals. 

 

 

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