Sweeteners are divided into nutritive sweeteners (NS) and non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS). As the names suggest, the first group provides energy as well as taste and the second group are artificial and provide virtually no taste. Regular sugar provides about 4kcal or 17kJ per gram. These are found in all fruits, dairy products etc and are also added by food manufacturers as “added sugar”. Other nutritive sweeteners include mannitol, xylitol, sorbitol etc. These provide very little energy per gram but can cause side effects such as diarrhoea and abdominal discomfort due to their slow and incomplete absorption. Foods containing these substances can be labelled as “sugar free”. The WHO (World Health Organisation) recommends that no more than 25g (6tsp) of sugar be consumed per day. These sugars include glucose, fructose, sucrose, added sugars (by the manufacturer or consumer) and naturally sweet foods such as honey, syrup, fruit juices etc. Fruits and dairy products are excluded from this allowance.
Recent studies have shown that up to 10% of Type 2 Diabetes onset (independent of weight) may be induced by sugar-sweetened beverages. Do I really need to give examples of these? In other words, a person who regularly consumes these drinks is placing himself at additional risk of diabetes even if he is not obese! Rather consider tea, coffee, water or if you absolutely have to, artificially sweetened beverages. But please see read the next paragraph very carefully.
Artificial sweeteners (NNS) have virtually no energy content and are usually sweeter than sugar per gram. These may include aspartame, sucralose and advantame. HOWEVER, more recent evidence suggests that these sweeteners interfere with our body’s learned responses and sweet taste receptors which, in turn, may also affect glucose metabolism and insulin secretion. Furthermore they may also interfere with gut microbes and lead to glucose intolerance. Bottom line is – there’s more to diet drinks than meets the eye!