The Perils of Too Much Sugar

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Honey: By far the best known of the alternative sweeteners. Honey has antibacterial properties — in fact, it outperforms conventional antibiotics when used as a dressing to treat burns, and actually promotes healing. Versatile honey can be used in just about anything. Use one-half as much honey as you would sugar in a recipe.

Maple syrup: Made by boiling down the sap of maple trees, it takes about 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. Maple syrup contains several trace minerals and some calcium and iron. A longtime favorite for dressing waffles and pancakes, it’s also wonderful in baked goods.

Molasses: A byproduct of making sugar, molasses contains most of the nutrients that are spun out of cane juice as it’s refined into crystals. Rich in potassium, molasses also contains calcium, as well as some iron, magnesium and trace amounts of several other minerals.

Naturally milled sugar: Unlike white sugar which is refined several times and whitened, naturally milled sugars go through a single crystallization process that leaves some of the trace nutrients of the cane juice behind. Available organically, these full-flavored sugars, such as turbinado, are cream-colored to light brown in color, depending upon the amounts of molasses present.

Artificial Sugar Substitutes

Saccharin, which is sold as Sweet’N Low, was developed in 1879. While it’s widely used in consumer products, high doses of saccharin were found to cause bladder cancer in lab animals, so the FDA requires all products containing saccharin to carry a warning label.

In 1981 aspartame became available, and is labeled as NutraSweet when added to foods, or Equal when it’s sold as a powder. While it doesn’t promote tooth decay, aspartame can’t be used for cooking since its sweetness is decreased by heat. High levels of the amino acid phenylalanine found in aspartame can cause brain damage in people with a genetic disease called phenylketonuria (PKU) and pregnant women with high levels of phenylalanine in the blood, so all products containing aspartame must include a warning label.

Sucralose, sold as Splenda, was approved for use by the FDA in 1998. While sucralose is a heat-tolerant option for baking, it’s made through a chemical process that adds chlorine atoms to sucrose.

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