You want to make the right choice for you and your family... But which sweetener is really the best? In reality, there is not a one-size-fits-all answer to this question. The right answer depends on a number of factors, because each sweetener has its pros and cons. Which sweeteners have a low glycemic index? Which ones can upset your digestive system? Which one can aggravate high blood pressure? Which ones work best for baking? This book gives you the science-based information you need to make the sweetener choice that's best for you and your family. This book tells you the advantages and disadvantages of sucrose, brown sugar, turbinado, molasses, fructose, glucose, lactose, isomaltulose, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), honey, agave nectar, sorbitol, isomalt, lactitol, maltitol, mannitol, xylitol, inulin, fructooligosaccharides, tagatos, erythritol, glycerol, acesulfame, aspartame, neohesperidin dihydrochalcone, neotame, saccharin, sucralose, cyclamate, alitame, stevia (stevioside and rebaudioside), luo han guo (mogrosides), glycyrrhizin, thaumatin, brazzein, monellin, mabinlin, curculin, and miraculin. It tells you about the taste quality, calories, glycemic index, stability, and safety of each of these sweeteners.

Sugar substitutes have been a part of American life since saccharin was introduced at the 1893 World's Fair. In Empty Pleasures, the first history of artificial sweeteners in the United States, Carolyn de la Pena blends popular culture with business and women's history, examining the invention, production, marketing, regulation, and consumption of sugar substitutes such as saccharin, Sucaryl, NutraSweet, and Splenda. She describes how saccharin, an accidental laboratory by-product, was transformed from a perceived adulterant into a healthy ingredient. As food producers and pharmaceutical companies worked together to create diet products, savvy women's magazine writers and editors promoted artificially sweetened foods as ideal, modern weight-loss aids, and early diet-plan entrepreneurs built menus and fortunes around pleasurable dieting made possible by artificial sweeteners. NutraSweet, Splenda, and their predecessors have enjoyed enormous success by promising that Americans, especially women, can "have their cake and eat it too," but Empty Pleasures argues that these "sweet cheats" have fostered troubling and unsustainable eating habits and that the promises of artificial sweeteners are ultimately too good to be true.

“The very first compendium of the sweet substances we typically eat and what happens once they’re in our body.” —New York Journal of Books Today, supermarkets and natural food stores feature a bewildering variety of sugars and alternative sweeteners. The deluge of conflicting information doesn’t help. If choosing a sweetener leaves you scratching your head, this handy guide will answer all of your questions—even the ones you didn’t know to ask:Which sweeteners perform well in baking?Will the kids notice if I sub in stevia?What’s the best pick if I’m watching my waistline, blood sugar, or environmental impact?Are any of them really superfoods . . . or toxic? Perfect for foodies, bakers, carb counters, parents, chefs, and clinicians, this delightfully readable book features more than 180 alphabetical entries on natural and artificial sweeteners, including the usual suspects (table sugar, honey), the controversial (aspartame, high-fructose corn syrup), the hyped (coconut sugar, monk fruit sweetener), and the unfamiliar (Chinese rock sugar, isomaltulose). You’ll also find myth-busting Q&As, intriguing trivia, side-by-side comparisons of how sweeteners perform in classic baked goods, and info on food-additive regulations, dental health, the glycemic index, and more. Your sweet tooth is in for a real education! “An honest, comprehensive book based on facts, for those who want to see the meeting of history, science, and common sense. It covers every sweetener you have heard of, plus many you may never encounter. One of the few books that put sugar and sweetness in context so you can make a wise judgment.” —Glenn Cardwell, author of Gold Medal Nutrition

This book provides a comprehensive and accessible source of information on all types of sweeteners and functional ingredients, enabling manufacturers to produce low sugar versions of all types of foods that not only taste and perform as well as sugar-based products, but also offer consumer benefits such as calorie reduction, dental health benefits, digestive health benefits and improvements in long term disease risk through strategies such as dietary glycaemic control. Now in a revised and updated new edition which contains seven new chapters, part I of this volume addresses relevant digestive and dental health issues as well as nutritional considerations. Part II covers non-nutritive, high-potency sweeteners and, in addition to established sweeteners, includes information to meet the growing interest in naturally occurring sweeteners. Part III deals with the bulk sweeteners which have now been used in foods for over 20 years and are well established both in food products and in the minds of consumers. In addition to the "traditional" polyol bulk sweeteners, newer products such as isomaltulose are discussed. These are seen to offer many of the advantages of polyols (for example regarding dental heath and low glycaemic response) without the laxative side effects if consumed in large quantity. Part IV provides information on the sweeteners which do not fit into the above groups but which nevertheless may offer interesting sweetening opportunities to the product developer. Finally, Part V examines bulking agents and multifunctional ingredients which can be beneficially used in combination with all types of sweeteners and sugars.

The fourth edition of Alternative Sweeteners follows the same formula as the previous three books by discussing each sweetener in terms of its characteristics. Qualities covered include means of production, physical characteristics, utility, and relative sweetness (compared to sucrose). Technical qualities covered include admixture potential, application, availability, shelf life, transport, metabolism, carcinogenicity, and other toxicity evaluation data. A new chapter on the sweetener Advantame has been added, and new contributors have updated information throughout the book. Also new is a section on how stevia sweeteners have been examined and deemed safe by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives and the US FDA.

Millions of dieters using chemical sweeteners will be shocked by firefighter Janet Starr Hull's story. Diagnosed with a deadly case of Grave's Disease after she collapsed on the job, Hull was told she would die. Searching for the cause of her illness, Hull discovered that the chemical sweetener aspartame found in Nutrasweet was to blame.