Date: 09-Sep-2015
Category:
Your Health
Just a spoonful of sugar helps a lot of things go down – including our morning tea and coffee. 
That’s not our only option for sweetening our morning brew though. These days, Mary Poppins could replace a spoonful of sugar with everything from Stevia to Sweet and Low. Here’s a quick overview of the most popular sweeteners on the market and what’s in them.
Equal and NutraSweet (Aspartame)
Aspartame is a widely used, calorie-less, sweetener. In recent years, aspartame has come under fire for its artificial properties with many believing that it can cause both short and long-term side effects. However, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) still says that aspartame is safe for human consumption.
Splenda (Sucralose)
Sucralose is derived from sugar and created by a chemical process that results in the sweet substance. Like all artificial sweeteners, negative health claims about Splenda abound. Similar to Aspartame though, the FDA maintains its stance that Sucralose is safe for humans.
Truvia and Purvia (Stevia)
The Stevia plant has a long history of being used as a sweetener in South America, but it’s only been on the U.S. market since 2008. Stevia, in its purest form, is a natural, calorie-less sweetener that does not increase insulin levels. Unfortunately, a lot of the most common products on the market like Truvia (a Coca-Cola product) and Purvia (a Pepsi Co. product) are not natural because of the process used to extract the sweetness from the plant. If you’re all about natural, look for sweeteners that say “whole leaf stevia” instead of “rebaudioside” or “stevia extract.”
Sweet N’ Low (Saccharin)
Saccharin, like aspartame and sucralose, is a 0-calorie sweetener. While saccharin has been around since the 1800s, questions about the safety of the product still exist over 100 years later - though most studies published do not show it to be dangerous.
So what should you be having just a spoonful of?
The key to all of this may simply be having “just a spoonful” of sweetener. While there are natural options like molasses and honey, these are best used in moderation. The American Heart Association recommends, for women, staying below 25 grams of sugar a day, and, for men, below 37.5 grams per day. If you have diabetes or other health conditions, talk to your doctor about how much sugar you should be having and adjust the size of your “spoonful” accordingly.