There are many natural sweeteners to choose from if you want to avoid
sugar, but don’t want any of the artificial sweeteners over which there
are a few questions. You can choose from xylitol, luo han, stevia and
others, but before discussing these, let’s have a look at the problems
with sugar, artificial sweeteners and the American sugar industry.
Sugar as most people know it originates either from sugar cane or sugar
beet, though by far the biggest American industry is in the cane. There
are many different types of sugar, though that obtainable from cane
sugar is sucrose. Sucrose is a disaccharide and carbohydrate, stored by
plants as a reserve energy source to be used when needed. Humans cannot
directly use sucrose, and it is metabolized in the body to glucose
which needs the hormone insulin to help convert it into energy.
Insulin is produced in the pancreas, and a lack of it, or the body’s
failure to use it properly, is referred to as diabetes. There are two
types of diabetes:
Type 1: A total lack or deficiency of insulin due to the pancreas
producing insufficient quantities of insulin, or even none at all. This
is often seen in young people and is generally cause by the immune
system attacking the insulin-producing sells in the pancreas. The
treatment for type 1 diabetes is to introduce insulin to the blood,
normally by means of injections, plenty exercise and the adoption of a
high carbohydrate low fat diet.
Type 2: This is strongly associated with obesity and weight, and is due
either to insufficient insulin production by the pancreas (but not as
deficient as for Type 1 diabetes) or an inability of the cells of the
body to properly use insulin. Type 2 diabetes does not always require
insulin injections, and can be treated by exercise, diet and weight
control. However, there are occasions where insulin injections are also
required. It tends to affect people older than those with Type 1
diabetes and 90% of cases are of this type.
Both types, however, are connected with an excess of glucose in the
blood, into which most sugars are converted. A diet low in sucrose will
go a long way towards helping people that suffer from either type of
diabetes, and control of carbohydrate intake should include a reduction
in the intake of sucrose in the form or beet or cane sugar. This
accepted, then if you need a sweetener, a saccharide free natural
sweetener would appear to be the logical choice.
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