How to satisfy your sweet tooth without consuming sugar? It is possible, with substitutes!
Alternatives to the rescue. We love its softness, but it appreciates less calories it brings and the concerns that cause people with diabetes.

Sugar substitutes, also called sweeteners, have the advantage to provide few - if any - of calories and not to escalate the rate of glucose (sugar) in the blood as the regular sugar. These sweeteners can be an interesting choice for diabetics and those watching their weight because they can afford sweets from time to time. "They can be used sparingly as needed," says Marie-Claire Barbeau, dietitian at Diabetes Quebec. "They are useful, for example, to sweeten the coffee, but they are not essential, even for making desserts. The proof: the hundreds of recipes compiled in the book The dessert is light, written by Manon Robitaille and Daniel Lavoie and published by Diabetes Quebec, uses no substitute for sugar.
Are they safe?

Health Canada has the mandate to approve the sugar substitutes before marketing. Only sweeteners have accumulated sufficient evidence of their safety receive approval. All of our substitutes table have been endorsed by Health Canada. However, some side effects in high doses or cause controversy within the scientific community. Therefore it is recommended to use them with caution. In all cases they should be eaten in moderation as sugary foods, artificially or not, are not the most nutritious.

In the coming years could well see the list of sweeteners helped Canada grow, especially with the addition of tagatose and Neotame, found recently in some foods in the United States. A dossier forward.

sucralose sugar

A sucralose sugar (sucrose) modified at the molecular level so that the body can not absorb it and use it as an energy source.
It is found in the sweetener Splenda and certain brands of yogurt and frozen dessert.
It has no known risk to health.
It can be used in many recipes, but we will not get the same results as with sugar. It gives for example less volume to cakes to muffins and cookies. The icings sucralose is less smooth. It does not dore and modify the cooking time of breads and pastries. For several types of pastries and sweets (candy, caramel, angel food cake or pound cake), it is advisable to replace only 25% of sugar by sucralose.

Fructose

Fructose is a sugar found naturally in fruits, vegetables and honey. To obtain the form of white granulated sugar, one must isolate the plants that contain (on the most often with corn). It is then refined as white sugar extracted from cane or beet sugar.

Fructose is sold in grocery and health food stores under various brands. It is also in the composition of many commercial products.

It has the advantage of being more slowly absorbed by the body and therefore has less effect on our blood sugar levels as regular granulated sugar. It sounds interesting for diabetics, but the American Dietetic Association advises fructose. Why? Because it could increase the rate of LDL cholesterol - bad cholesterol - and triglycerides, and cause gastrointestinal ailments if we consume in large quantities (more than 30 g per day for an adult let alone children).

It can be used in hot or cold preparations. In cooking, it more than the brown sugar and provides as many calories. However, its sweetness is 1.6 to 1.8 times that of granulated sugar, thereby reducing the quantities used. For example, instead of using 180 ml (3 / 4 cup) of sugar in a recipe for 12 muffins, we could use about 110 ml (less than 1 / 2 cup) of fructose. A saving of about 15 to 20 calories per muffin. Unless duty monitor what you eat to the gram, the difference is not so significant ...

Acesulfame-potassium

Acesulfame-potassium (or acesulfame-K) A synthetic sweetener.
It is found especially in chewing gum without sugar. It is often used in combination with aspartame or saccharin.
People with an allergy to sulfa drugs should be avoided. In the opinion of several experts in the field of health, other tests should be performed to confirm its safety.
It is not available for use in cooking.

Aspartame

Aspartame A synthetic substance consisting of phenylalanine and aspartic acid, two amino acids.
Aspartame is a widely used ingredient. There are among others in the yogurt, diet sodas, chewing gum and some breakfast cereals. In trade, it is sold under the brand names Equal and Sweet'N Low (blue bags).
The sweetener is generally safe for health, but it is not recommended for people suffering from phenylketonuria, because the disease causes a rare congenital intolerance to phenylalanine. Because of this indication against the presence of aspartame is always indicated on the label.
Since sucralose, aspartame does not give as much volume to cooking and did not have the same capabilities as burnishing conventional granulated sugar. In addition, it can not be heated to high temperature for a long time, because then it will lose its sweetness. This greatly restricted its use in cooking.

Stevia

The stevia a sweetener from the Stevia rebaudiana, a plant native to South America and whose leaves have a sweet taste.
It can be bought in grocery stores and health food stores in liquid form or powdered green or white. The green Stevia is made from crushed or ground leaves of the plant. In volume, the sweetness of stevia green is 10 to 15 times higher in sugar, while those of stevia liquid stevia white and perhaps up to 300 times higher.
In theory, it may be a natural alternative to artificial sweeteners like saccharin and cyclamate, but its use as a food additive is banned in Canada, the United States and the European Union countries. Why? Because some studies on rodents suggest that it might be carcinogenic and have adverse effects on the reproductive system. It should be used with moderation pending evidence which refutes this hypothesis.
It is added to hot or cold drinks and cereals. In cooking, it requires substantial changes. Better to use it in recipes that require little sugar.

Saccharin

Saccharin A synthetic sweetener.
Saccharin is sold only in pharmacies under the brand name Hermesetas.
Because of its potential carcinogenic in some animals, it is forbidden to use the sweetener for the industrial preparation of foods and beverages. Regulations Food and Drugs Act requires companies to be declared on the label that the continued use of saccharin can be harmful to health and that the product should not be used except on the advice of the doctor, by pregnant women. CSPI advises to avoid it.
It is not recommended.

In small doses

Sweeteners have a sweetness that can be up to 500 times higher than the granulated sugar, which means it takes a small amount to procure a sweet taste. Companies that incorporate only a few grams to food use and therefore in a trickle. As for substitutes sold as table-top sweeteners (for coffee and cooking), they are mixed with maltodextrins and / or dextrose. These additives give the volume of sugar substitutes and are the only way you can use them in recipes, because otherwise they would be impossible to measure both the quantities required would be small. The sweetener Splenda, for example, can replace sugar with equal amount in some recipes. It should be noted that the similarity between the sugar and sweeteners stop their sweetness, since both behave clearly different culinary preparations.