Natural Sweeteners

Varieties

Amasake

Amasake is a traditional Japanese product made by fermenting sweet brown rice into a thick liquid. It is a creamy, quickly digested beverage used by athletes after a workout or as a sweetener in cooking or baking.

Barley malt

Barley malt is a thick, dark, slow-digesting sweetener made from sprouted barley. It has a malt-like flavor. Some say barley malt is to beer as grapes are to wine. It is ideally suited to brewing for many reasons: Malted barley has a high complement of enzymes for converting its starch supply into simple sugars; it also contains protein, which is needed for yeast nutrition. Another important element is its flavor. Pure malt extract, which is relatively expensive, is sometimes adulterated with corn syrup, which is cheap. Barley malt extract (available in powder and liquid forms) is also used medicinally as a bulking agent to promote bowel regularity.

Brown rice syrup

Brown rice syrup is a naturally processed sweetener, made from sprouted brown rice. It is thick and mild-flavored.

Date sugar

Date sugar is a powder made from dried, ground dates.

Fructose

Also known as levulose and fruit sugar, fructose is the sweetest of all the simple sugars (e.g., glucose, fructose, galactose). Fruits contain between 1 and 7% fructose, although some fruits have much higher amounts. Fructose makes up about 40% of the dry weight of honey. It is also available in crystalline form, but its sweetness rapidly declines when dissolved in water.

Fruit juice concentrates

Fruit juice concentrates are made by cooking down peach, pineapple, grape, and pear juices to produce a sweeter, more concentrated product. The product is then frozen to increase shelf life.

FruitSource®

FruitSource is the brand name of a granulated sweetener made from grape juice concentrate and rice syrup.

Glucose

This is the most widely distributed sugar in nature, although it seldom occurs simply as glucose. Typically, glucose is found as a component of starch and cellulose (vegetable fiber).

Honey

Honey is a sweet substance made from plant nectar (sucrose) by the honeybee. The source of the nectar determines the color, flavor, and texture of honey. Alfalfa and clover honey are the most common types, but blackberry, heather, and acacia honeys are also popular. Honey is sold in liquid or crystallized form, and is available raw or pasteurized. Commercial honey is heated to 150 to 160°F (65.5 to 71°C) to prevent crystallization and yeast formation. “Organic” or “raw” honey has not been heat-treated. About 40% of the sugar in honey is fructose. Honey may contain Clostridium botulinum spores, the bacterium that causes botulism. Heat treatment is not sufficient to destroy C. botulinum spores, but the high sugar content of the honey prevents the spores from germinating, thus preventing the risk of deadly botulism. Normal adults are not at risk of botulism from eating honey; however, the gastrointestinal tracts of young infants (under one year of age) may promote spore germination. For this reason, infants under one year of age should not consume honey in any form.

Maple syrup

Maple syrup is made from the boiled sap of sugar maple trees, primarily in the Northeastern United States and Canada. The taste and color vary depending on the temperature at which the sap was boiled, an

Health benefits and concerns

Diabetes

Stevia has been used as a traditional remedy for diabetes among the indigenous people of Paraguay and other South American countries. Preliminary scientific evidence suggests that stevia may improve the function of cells in the pancreas required for insulin production, and may also improve glucose tolerance in people with diabetes.

Diarrhea

Some foods contain sugars that are absorbed slowly, such as fructose in fruit juice or sorbitol in dietetic confectionery. Through a process called osmosis, these unabsorbed sugars hold onto water in the intestines, sometimes leading to diarrhea. By reading labels, people with chronic non-infectious diarrhea can easily avoid fruit juice, fructose, and sorbitol to see if this eliminates the problem.

Hypertension

Preliminary evidence suggests that stevia possesses blood-pressure lowering properties and may be a useful treatment for hypertension. Further research is needed.

Immune function

Nearly all forms of sugar (including honey) interfere with the ability of white blood cells to destroy bacteria. In one study, when healthy volunteers consumed a large amount (100g) of refined sugar, their white blood cells’ ability to destroy bacteria was impaired for at least five hours. The importance of these effects in the prevention of infections in humans remains unclear. Nevertheless, many doctors recommend a reduced intake of sugar for prevention and treatment of infections (e.g., colds, flu, bronchitis, and urinary tract infections). Unlike other sweeteners, stevia has been reported to possess anti-viral activity.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)

Preliminary evidence suggests that some people with IBS have greater trouble than healthy people absorbing the sugars lactose (as found in milk), fructose (as found in high concentration in fruit juice and dried fruit), and sorbitol (as found in some dietetic candy). In this report, restricting intake of these sugars led to reduction of symptoms in 40% of people with IBS symptoms. Therefore, when attempting to uncover food sensitivities, people with IBS should consider the possibility that fruit juice and dried fruit might trigger symptoms.

Retinopathy

Animal studies suggest that dietary fructose may contribute to the development of retinopathy (damage to the eye’s retina). Although such an association has not been demonstrated in humans, some doctors advise their diabetic patients to avoid foods containing added fructose or high-fructose corn syrup. On the other hand, the fructose that occurs naturally in some fruits has not been found to be harmful.

Urinary tract infection (UTI)

In one study, when healthy volunteers consumed a large amount (100g) of refined sugar, their white blood cells’ ability to destroy bacteria was impaired for at least five hours. For this reason, many doctors recommend a reduced intake of sugar for prevention of UTI recurrences.

Wound healing

Topical application of honey to infected wounds is an ancient remedy, and one that has been validated by modern scientific studies.

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The information presented in Foodnotes is for informational purposes only and was created by a team of U.S. registered dietitians and food experts. Consult your doctor, practitioner, and/or pharmacist for any health problem and before using any supplements, making dietary changes, or before making any changes in prescribed medications.

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