Loading...
Stevia vs Splenda
Low sugar or ‘sugar free’ diets are becoming more prevalent as the health industry becomes more aware of the ill-health effects of sugar, and particularly as the amount of added sugars in pre-prepared foods has more than doubled in the last thirty years. The head of Amsterdam’s health authority, Paul van der Velpen, has labelled sugar as addictive and points to the links between sugar and diabetes, obesity, and other chronic diseases as to reasons why he believes sugar use should be regulated.How sugar becomes addictive
When we eat sugar our blood sugar levels rise strongly and this causes an aggressive surge of insulin production (because insulin is needed by the body to ‘burn’ sugar). A lack of other nutrients to keep our blood sugar up makes it crash down quickly, and this brings on a craving for more sugar.Sugar also causes an electrical reaction in our brain that gives pleasure, though, through evolution, it’s the sweetness that is the trigger rather than sugar per se. A healthy diet together with a good metabolism restricts our desire to continue eating when we are full: sugar’s addictive qualities negate this reaction, making us want to eat more and more (perhaps why food manufacturers have increased added sugar levels so aggressively). It is this that causes weight gain and can lead to diabetes and other health problems.
To combat this, maintaining the ‘happiness’ caused by consuming sweet foods while ridding ourselves of sugar’s harmful effects requires the use of sweeteners. Here we look at the difference between Splenda and Stevia.