The Science of Sweet

Post by **reinhard** » Fri May 19, 2006 2:26 pm

There's a great article on sugar and artificial sweeteners in the current issue of the New Yorker "The Search for Sweet." Unfortunately it's not available online.

Some highlights (no big surprises):

1. "Before Columbus, most Europeans had never eaten sugar." Can you even imagine this?

2. "By 1700 the English were eating 4 pounds per person per year." By 1800, 18 pounds, by 1900, 90 pounds.

3. "Last year average American consumed about 140 pounds of cane syrup, corn syrup and other natural sugars -- 50 percent more than the Germans or the French and 9 times as much as the Chinese."

4. Taste researchers are pretty much just giving up on sugar substitutes. Nothing tastes quite as good, and most of it looks pretty scary, even if it hasn't yet been discovered to be harmful. What they're focused on now is chemicals that will enhance the flavor of smaller amounts of sugar so you can get the same taste at a fraction of the calories.

5. The problem? "Our sweet receptors evolved in environments with so little sugar that they may not have a shutoff point... Artificial sweeteners, far from diminishing that appetite, often seem to reinforce it. Americans ate about 24 pounds of sugar substitute last year, nearly double what they did in 1980, yet sugar consumption rose about 25 percent in the same period."

6. The good news? "The less sugar people eat, the less of a taste for it they have." (This was difficult to study because subjects couldn't stick to sugar free diets -- too bad they didn't try no-s)

It's a fascinating article, and worth plunking down four bucks for, even if you aren't normally a high falutin new yorker type.

Reinhard

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Fri May 19, 2006 2:31 pm

What they report (your condensed version) is exactly what my personal experience has been...

Thanks Reinhard!
Have a great weekend!
Peace and Love,

Deb

ps... The New Yorker also has great cartoons!

sanity · Post by **sanity** » Fri May 19, 2006 6:49 pm

I wonder... When I think of something sweet that doesn't have sugar, I don't think of scary chemical substitutes. I think of honey and fruit. Possibly together -- honey in a fruit salad.

So yes, I can easily imagine life without cane sugar or its substitutes.

ironized yeast · Post by **ironized yeast** » Fri May 19, 2006 7:12 pm

Well, sanity, I hate to break it to you but honey contains the same basic sugar units as cane sugar (fructose and glucose).

I'm a big fan of sugar in all it's wonderful forms, but since it packs so much energy in such a little space I do try to consume as little as possible until the weekend. Speaking of which...

Donna O · Post by **Donna O** » Sat May 20, 2006 3:25 am

I have heard rumors for many years that artificial sweeteners do indeed

stimulate your appetite...for ALL foods, but especially for sweets..

... i think that i will try this as an experiment on myself

i welcome anything that would decrease my ever present food cravings

very cool, thanks Reinhard

Donna O

Jennifer · Post by **Jennifer** » Sat May 20, 2006 5:41 am

I need to give up my diet coke habit one of these days...

Sinnie · Post by **Sinnie** » Sat May 20, 2006 11:50 am

I used to have a pretty nasty diet coke habit. I loved the taste of it with meals and could usually finish a large size if I was eating fast food. I think I thought it would help fill me up. Then, I just started buying less of it to a point where I don't buy it at all anymore. I would say it has been roughly three or four months and I don't miss it at all. I actually was eating out the other day, got a diet pepsi and it I couldn't drink much of it, it tastes awful to me, waaay too sweet, and made me feel a little sick. I have definitely brought my taste buds back to some kind of normalcy.

I have replaced diet coke with water, and it has become second nature. I'm not sure if this is a direct result of it, but my skin has improved tremendously.

Jammin' Jan · Post by **Jammin' Jan** » Sat May 20, 2006 12:34 pm

I used to really love Dr. Pepper. But, since giving up sugar, I can't drink it any more. It is so sweet as to be cloying. On the other hand, I still look forward to S-Days, so I can put a little honey on my toast, or maple syrup on pancakes. It's all the same sugar, but at least I am the one deciding how much of it to use (not much!).

You should taste Coca Cola in Guatemala. It's about 50% pure sucrose, I think. You can just feel your teeth crumbling as you drink.

terryval · Post by **terryval** » Mon May 29, 2006 1:39 am

I can attest to the addictive effects of sugar. A while back I tried eliminating all refined sugars (cereals, sugar in the tea and coffee, jelly, even the "healthy" granola bars; but fruit was ok) on non-S days, and by week's end I didn't really want anything sweet. And I lost weight.

I like sweetener in my tea, though, and I can't drink coffee at all without sweetener, so Splenda (R) gradually crept its way in, and the sugar cravings returned. I've started trying this method again, this time with only sweetener in the coffee and tea, since sometimes I do need some caffeine.

I think this cuts down on a lot of snacking, since if I can't have sugar, most of what I would nibble on is off-limits.

I never could take the artificial sweeteners, though; the aspartame in diet soda makes me ravenous. (And this is consistent with what I've read about the Shangri-la Diet; supposedly calories with no taste suppress the appetite, so it would make sense that taste without calories would increase it.) I'm not entirely at peace with using Splenda, but I only use it for hot beverages and cook/bake with good old-fashioned sugar. I may go back to real sugar entirely, or to some natural, but less-refined substitute, like "raw" sugar or honey. They may still be sugar and carry the same calories, but at least they also carry some nutritive value.

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Mon May 29, 2006 2:10 am

Someone here mentioned that Splenda is closer in chemical compostion to DDT than sugar...

I say just have a teaspoon of sugar... How much harm can sixteen calories do to you unless you drink ten cups of tea a day?

Peace and Love,

Deb

terryval · Post by **terryval** » Mon May 29, 2006 5:35 am

Alas, one teaspoon is usually not enough....especially with coffee. I can get away with less when I drink tea. I just use Splenda as a compromise between cutting out sugar and having my caffeine. And I'm afraid even a little bit of sugar would negate the effects of "no sugar" that I experienced before (see previous post).

I may take your advice to heart, nonetheless; I've been leaning back in that direction but feel compelled to at least use up the Splenda I have left. I hadn't read the bit about DDT, but I have come across one or two sites that are less than favorable toward sucralose. Everybody thought margarine was the cat's meow when it was introduced, and now it's all "no trans-fat; use butter!" (which I do and have for years now). In another 5 or 10 years they may "officially" decide sucralose is dangerous as well.

terryval · Post by **terryval** » Mon May 29, 2006 5:41 am

Cynthia, I think the improvement in your skin's appearance has everything to do with drinking water instead of Diet Coke, especially if it was the regular, "caffienated" kind. When I've drunk coffee or tea too many days in a row (or even too much soda), my pores stand open and my face gets blotchy. I suspect it is the dehdration (since caffeine is a diuretic), but it may be the excess sugar as well. Cutting out all that caffeine, plus drinking lots of water, can only be good for your skin. Water has been my "default" beverage for years now and I consider it to be the "original" beauty fluid. Kudos to you, and best wishes!

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Mon May 29, 2006 1:46 pm

One more thing to consider Terry......
Artificial sweeteners "Clog" your sensory brain... You might feel one teaspoon of sugar isn't enough because your perception is so warped from ingesting them..... My personal experience was that when I cut out Equal, I had to take four teaspoons of sugar to match that sweet effect... Then I switched to Splenda (a while back now for both) and I still felt I needed a lot... I ended up using two teaspoons in my coffee and right now that's about what I have since I use a little powdered chocolate and one teaspoon of sugar with soymilk...

Both Equal and Splenda are neuroexcitatory toxins.... They will make you feel wired, hungry and contribute to general illness because they destroy the cells of the nervous system... How? Well their byproducts left in our bloodstream are formaldehyde... And they are both able to transcend the blood/brain barrier... So they can hit the brain cells directly... This destroys the hypothalamus, the master regulator for all the organ systems in body...
I used to get common colds and bronchitis and all kinds of stuff when I used Equal and was very on edge... When I cut it out, I instantly stopped getting so sick so often and felt immediately more calm....

This subject is one I feel very passionate about, so sorry if I'm ranting a bit, but I feel the public has been really wronged by the introduction of these "harmless" food products which are really poison... You can be sure that the director of the Food and Drug administration during the time of their approval got very very rich off of making the deal which approved these products, and you see that they are in *everything* out there now...

Anyway..
Trust your body and good luck!
Peace and Love,
8)Deb

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Mon May 29, 2006 1:51 pm

By the way.. Why not try going a whole week "Cold turkey" without the splenda and just switch to 1.5 teaspoons of sugar... I'm sure by the end of the week you will have totally reprogrammed your tastebuds

Everyday Systems

The Science of Sweet

The Science of Sweet

Hmmmm...