It always amuses me when an advertisement for a product emphasizes the absence of sugar and presents this as a huge selling point. But if we look at the ingredients list for that very product, we often discover, much to our disappointment, that instead of ordinary natural sugar, it contains a host of unusual chemical substitutes. Surely these are far more harmful and dangerous! Of course, there are exceptions, but we’ll come to those a little later.

Let’s briefly look at the most popular sugar substitutes commonly used in the food industry and their effects on the human body:

Aspartame – can cause seizures and headaches, and may contribute to cardiovascular disease and even cancer.
Saccharin – carries a high risk of bladder cancer.
Acesulfame potassium – may cause kidney damage.
Sucralose – high likelihood of causing intestinal problems.
Erythritol – may cause digestive upset; less commonly, it can trigger allergic reactions and skin rashes.
Xylitol – daily intake should not exceed 50 g. Exceeding this amount may cause diarrhea, bloating, nausea, increased appetite, or allergic reactions.
Stevia – often presented as a healthy product, but highly controversial; it was banned in the US as far back as 1991.
Allulose – approved in many countries, but banned in Canada and Europe due to “potentially serious concerns,” which have also raised suspicions among scientists studying erythritol and xylitol.

The list above is by no means exhaustive, and there is little point in delving too deeply into the intricacies of these industrial chemicals. To conclude today’s article, let’s simply mention the more or less decent sugar substitutes, especially since there are only a handful of them. Broadly speaking, these are fructose and coconut sugar, and we can also add cane sugar, which has a glycemic index of 55 compared to 70 for ordinary beet sugar.

Even these remaining sweet substances are not ideal and are occasionally criticized. But at least all of them, together with stevia and beet sugar, are natural and not produced from some of the most unexpected elements of the periodic table, like their chemical counterparts. And that alone, as you can imagine, is a major and undeniable advantage, especially in these difficult times of sugar abstinence.