Sugar substitute, sugar or honey: Which is best?

In an occasional series of posts, I’ve written before about ingredients of various foods in my diet. Sometimes I’ve found out that there are things in my foods I’d rather not be eating, and it has caused me to change my habits.

I’ve written about coffee creamer and bagels. Today, I’m tackling various sweeteners – namely, sugar substitutes, good ol’ sugar and honey.

Let’s look at sugar substitutes, first as a category, then at the specific one I use in my diet.

According to Wikipedia, sugar substitute is a food additive that duplicates the effect of sugar or corn syrup in taste, but usually has less food energy. Some sugar substitutes are natural and some are synthetic. Those that are not natural are, in general, referred to as artificial sweeteners.

In the United States, five intensely-sweet sugar substitutes have been approved for use. They are saccharin, aspartame, sucralose, neotame, and acesulfame potassium. There is some ongoing controversy over whether artificial sweeteners are health risks.

The food and beverage industry is increasingly replacing sugar or corn syrup with artificial sweeteners in a range of products traditionally containing sugar. Artificial sweeteners cost the food industry only a fraction of the cost of natural sweeteners.

The particular brand of artificial sweetener in my kitchen is Splenda, made from sucralose. It is also available in generic brands, such as Kroger’s Apriva. Sucralose is approximately 600 times as sweet as table sugar, twice as sweet as saccharin and four times as sweet as aspartame. Unlike aspartame, it is stable under heat and over a broad range of pH conditions and can be used in baking or in products that require a longer shelf life. Sucralose also does not promote tooth decay.

Now for the sweetener we all grew up with: table sugar. Sugar is a class of edible crystalline substances including sucrose, lactose and fructose. Common table sugar (sucrose) is made from sugar beets or sugar cane. Sugar also appears in fruit, honey, sorghum, sugar maple (in maple syrup) and in many other sources. It forms the main ingredient in most candy. "Excessive" consumption of sugar has been associated with increased incidences of type 2 diabetes, obesity, tooth decay and gout.

The Sugar Association lists many sugar myths and debunks them with evidence.

As I read through them, some of them made sense, but I kept in mind that the Sugar Association would have a vested interest in debunking myths that would harm the sale of its product. That doesn't mean their evidence isn't true, but I like to keep in mind that they're not exactly objective.

And finally, let’s look at honey, that sweet and viscous fluid produced by bees and derived from the nectar of flowers.

Honey gets its sweetness from fructose and glucose and has approximately the same relative sweetness as granulated sugar.

Honey is a mixture of sugars and other compounds. With respect to carbohydrates, honey is mainly fructose (about 38.5%) and glucose (about 31.0%). Honey's remaining carbohydrates include maltose, sucrose and other complex carbohydrates.

Honey contains trace amounts of several vitamins and minerals, but it is not a significant source of either. Honey also contains tiny amounts of several compounds thought to function as antioxidants, including chrysin, pinobanksin, vitamin C, catalase and pinocembrin.

The specific composition of any batch of honey will depend largely on the mix of flowers available to the bees that produced the honey.

The World's Healthiest Foods site has some charts and information about the health benefits of honey. In addition to its reputation as nature's nutritive sweetener, research also indicates that honey's unique composition makes it useful as an antimicrobial agent and antioxidant.

For more information, also see the National Honey Board.

Of the three major sweeteners I’ve examined, I think the blue-ribbon winner overall is honey. It sweetens your foods naturally while delivering some health benefits. I don’t think table sugar in and of itself is bad for you – like anything else, it has to do with how you use it and what you eat it in. It’s all about moderation as part of an overall healthy diet.

As for artificial sweeteners, I think I’ll try to stay away from them. I wouldn’t say they’re the most horrible thing you could eat – and if they’re my only choice, I’ll go for it. But it falls in line with my recent efforts to stay away from things with the word “artificial” when I can.

Lately, I’ve switched to sweetening some of my foods with honey. I previously used sugar substitute in my coffee, but in my effort to use more natural ingredients in my foods whenever possible, I’ve been putting honey in it, and it tastes good. I have also been putting honey on my oatmeal for breakfast. All-natural oats topped with all-natural honey. It doesn’t get much better than that.

What type of sweetener do you use most often? Have you made any switches lately?

Bagels: What’s really in them?

This is my second in an occasional series of posts where I will examine the ingredients in one of the foods I eat on a regular basis. In my first post on coffee creamer, I mentioned that I do pretty well with staying away from too many processed or high-fat foods.

But still, as I examine the ingredients in the foods I eat, I am discovering that I can do better. And that's what living a healthy life is all about. Always doing better.

This time, I'll take on bagels. I specifically eat Thomas' Whole Wheat Bagels. I really like the texture and taste, but what about the ingredients? What am I really eating?

I searched Thomas' Web site, and I found the product listings for all of their varieties of bagels and other foods, including the whole wheat bagels. However, they did not have their ingredients, nor their nutrition information, listed. To find that, I have to look at a package of bagels.

First, let's look at the nutrition facts. One bagel has 240 calories, 2 grams of total fat, of which 0.5g is saturated, 400 mg sodium, 49 grams of carbs, of which 7 grams is dietary fiber, and 10 grams of protein.

Next, the ingredients, in the order in which they are listed.

Whole wheat flour. From Wikipedia: a powdery substance derived by grinding or mashing the wheat's whole grain. It is used in baking, but typically added to other "white" flours to give nutrition (especially fiber and protein), texture, and body to the finished product. The word "whole" refers to the fact that all of the grain (bran, germ, and endosperm) is used and nothing is lost in the process of making the flour.

Water. Good ol' H20. I hope I don't need to define this one.

Flaked wheat. The only place I could find definitions of flaked wheat specifically were in reference to brewing beer. From How to Brew, unmalted wheat is a common ingredient in wheat beers. It adds starch haze and high levels of protein.

Wikipedia does have an entry on wheat, which is defined as a staple food used to make flour for leavened, flat and steamed breads; cookies, cakes, pasta, noodles and couscous; and for fermentation to make beer, alcohol, vodka or biofuel.

Sugar. An ingredient we're all familiar with. Here's what Wikipedia says: Sugar is a class of edible crystalline substances including sucrose, lactose, and fructose. Common table sugar (sucrose) is made from sugar beets or sugar cane.

Yeast. Most of us are familiar with yeast, and we at least know that it is used to make bread rise. Thus, it makes sense that it would be in bagels. But what is yeast? Wikipedia defines it as a growth form of eukaryotic microorganisms classified in the kingdom Fungi ... The yeast species Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been used in baking and fermenting alcoholic beverages for thousands of years.

Wheat gluten. From Wikipedia: Wheat gluten is a made from the gluten of wheat by washing wheat flour dough with water until all the starch dissolves, leaving insoluble gluten as a gummy mass, which is subject to further processing.

Wheat bran. From Wikipedia: Bran is the hard outer layer of grain and consists of combined aleurone and pericarp. Along with germ, it is an integral part of whole grains, and is often produced as a by-product of milling in the production of refined grains.

Salt. We all learned about this one in baby chemistry class -- sodium chloride -- and most of us have it in the kitchen. I still found the Wikipedia definition interesting: Salt is a dietary mineral essential for animal life. Salt flavor is one of the basic tastes, and salt is the most popular food seasoning and a key preservative. Salt is also the only rock eaten by humans.

The only rock eaten by humans? Hmmm ... I was not aware of that.

Cornmeal. From Wikipedia: flour ground from dried corn. Steel ground yellow cornmeal has the husk and germ of the maize kernel almost completely removed. Stone ground cornmeal retains some of the hull and germ, lending a little more flavor and nutrition to recipes.

Mono- and diglycerides. These came up on the list of ingredients in my previous analysis of Coffee-mate creamer.

To review the definitions, a monoglyceride consists of one fatty acid chain covalently bonded to a glycerol molecule through an ester linkage. A diglyceride consists of two fatty acid chains covalently bonded to a glycerol molecule through ester linkages. Both are common food additives used to blend together certain ingredients, such as oil and water. They can come from either animal or vegetable, derived primarily from soybean and canola oil. They may also be synthetically produced.

So as I mentioned in the coffee creamer post, I have no idea whether I am eating a real or synthetic product in these bagels, nor where these mono- and diglycerides come from.

Preservatives (Calcium propionate, sorbic acid). First, here’s how Wikipedia defines preservative: a natural or synthetic chemical that is added to products such as foods, pharmaceuticals, paints, biological samples, wood, etc. to prevent decomposition by microbial growth or by undesirable chemical changes.

The ingredient label on the bagels lists two preservatives specifically. The first, calcium propionate is defined as the calcium salt of propionic acid. Okay, so what’s propionic acid? It is a naturally-occurring carboxylic acid, which in its pure state is a colorless, corrosive liquid with a pungent odor.

Um … corrosive liquid with a pungent odor? I’m not sure if I feel comfortable putting such a thing in my body.

The other preservative listed, sorbic acid, is a natural organic compound used as a food preservative. Sorbic acid and its mineral salts are antimicrobial agents often used as preservatives in food and drinks to prevent the growth of mold, yeast and fungi.

Guar gum. Guar gum, also called guaran, is primarily the ground endosperm of guar beans. The guar bean is an annual legume grown mostly in India.

DATEM. I added all caps to this one because it is actually an acronym, for Di-Acetyl Tartaric Ester of Monoglyceride. It is an emulsifier primarily used in baking to strengthen the dough by building a strong gluten network.

Citric acid. If you eat citrus fruits, such as oranges, you’re familiar with citric acid. It is defined as a weak organic acid. It is a natural preservative and is also used to add an acidic, or sour, taste to foods and soft drinks.

Maltodextrin. From Wikipedia: a polysaccharide used as a food additive. Maltodextrin is easily digestible, being absorbed as rapidly as glucose. Maltodextrin can be derived from any starch, usually rice, corn or potato in the U.S.

If you type this term into Wikipedia, you are redirected to an entry for dextrin, which is way too full of long chemical names. This disturbs me a little. I shouldn’t have to work that hard to understand what I’m eating.

Algin. Wikipedia redirects you to the entry for alginic acid, which is a viscous gum that is abundant in the cell walls of brown algae.

What? I’m eating algae!?! Eeeewww!

Soy lecithin. Wikipedia defines lecithin as any of a group of yellow-brownish fatty substances occurring in animal and plant tissues, and in egg yolk. Lecithin is an integral part of cell membranes, and can be totally metabolized. There are studies that show soy-derived lecithin has significant effects on lowering cholesterol and triglyceride, while increasing HDL ("good cholesterol") levels in the blood.

Okay, so this ingredient doesn’t sound quite as bad as some of the others.

Soy flour (trivial amount). Wikipedia takes you to the main entry on soy. If you scroll down, you see this: Soy flour refers to defatted soybeans where special care was taken during desolventizing (not toasted) in order to minimize denaturation of the protein.

I found that a little confusing, so I went to Soy Foods. It says soy flour is made from roasted soybeans that have been ground into a fine powder. Rich in high-quality protein and other nutrients, soy flour also adds a pleasant texture and flavor to a variety of products.

So, what's my verdict after examining all of these ingredients? Some of them aren't so bad, but there are some other strange things in these bagels that make me think twice about eating too many of them. My habit has been to eat half a wheat bagel covered with natural peanut butter (which has one ingredient: peanuts) for breakfast. Perhaps I'll try instead oats. That is, plain oats from the big canister, not the packaged, flavored stuff. The ingredients in oats? Whole grain rolled oats. Simple and pure.

Do you eat bagels? Check the ingredient list and see if any of these show up in the brand you eat. What do you think, now that you know what some of them are?

Coffee creamer: What's really in it?

They say you are what you eat. If that's the case, I've been inspired to examine the ingredients in some of the items I eat or drink on a regular basis.

This inspiration comes from a couple of other blog posts I've read recently. Scott Kustes of Modern Forager urges us to eat real food, and Mark Sisson of Mark's Daily Apple discusses foods that contain high fructose corn syrup.

After reading these posts, I caught myself looking at the ingredient labels of various foods around my kitchen. I feel like I do pretty well with focusing my diet on vegetables, fruits and meats. For the most part, I stay away from too much processed or high-fat foods. But in our highly-processed world, it’s hard not to let a few creep into my kitchen.

But still, these posts made me wonder if I was doing all I could to help my body be healthier. Sure, I keep the fat and carbs pretty low, but what about all that weird stuff in my foods that I can't pronounce? As Scott says, real food doesn't need an ingredient label.

So what about the ingredient labels on the foods I eat? I plan for this to be an occasional series of posts where I'll take one of the foods in my diet and try to define as many of the ingredients as I can. And then see what I can do about decreasing my intake of those foods or eliminating them altogether.

First, I'll take on coffee creamer, specifically Coffee-mate Original powdered creamer. The reason I pick this one (and here's the disclaimer so the folks at Coffee-mate don't get mad at me) is because I put it in my coffee at work, five days a week.

First let's look at the nutrition facts. As you can see in the nutrition label, which I've pulled from Coffee-mate's Web site, a serving size is 1 teaspoon, and it has 10 calories, 0.5 grams of total fat -- all of which is saturated -- and not much else in the way of nutrients.


All of this comes from the ingredients, which I will look at in the order in which they are listed.

Corn syrup solids. From Wikipedia: Corn syrup is a syrup, made using cornstarch as a feedstock, and composed mainly of glucose. … Its major use is in commercially-prepared foods as a thickener and for its moisture-retaining (humectant) properties which keep foods moist and help to maintain freshness.

I further found an entry on The Fit Shack that says corn syrup solids are manufactured from corn syrup liquid through a process that removes 97 percent of the water from the liquid.

Vegetable oil (partially hydrogenated coconut or palm kernel, hydrogenated soybean). From Wikipedia: Vegetable fats and oils are substances derived from plants that are composed of triglycerides.

As for the “partially hydrogenated” part, Wikipedia says: Triglyceride-based vegetable fats and oils can be transformed through partial or complete hydrogenation into fats and oils of higher melting point. The hydrogenation process involves "sparging" the oil at high temperature and pressure with hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst, typically a powdered nickel compound. … Partial hydrogenation results in the formation of trans fats, which have increasingly been viewed as unhealthy since the 1970s.

So, by ingesting this coffee creamer, I’m drinking nickel compounds and trans fats. That doesn’t sound healthy.

Sodium Caseinate (a milk derivative). If you search for this term, Wikipedia redirects you to an entry for casien: Casein (from Latin caseus "cheese") is the predominant phosphoprotein that accounts for nearly 80 percent of proteins in milk and cheese. … Casein is often listed as sodium caseinate, calcium caseinate or milk protein.

I have to wonder why a product described on Coffee-mate’s own Web site as “The original rich and deliciously creamy non-dairy creamer” has a milk derivative in it. I am not lactose-intolerant myself, but what does such a product do to people who are?

Dipotassium phosphate (moderates coffee acidity). From Wikipedia: Dipotassium phosphate -- also phosphoric acid, dipotassium salt; dipotassium hydrogen orthophosphate; potassium phosphate, dibasic -- is a highly water-soluble salt which is often used as a fertilizer, food additive and buffering agent. It is a common source of phosphorus and potassium.

So I’m putting a product that is also used as a fertilizer in my coffee? Ick!

Mono- and diglycerides (prevents oil separation). This requires a search for two different terms on Wikipedia: A monoglyceride, more correctly known as a monoacylglycerol, is a glyceride consisting of one fatty acid chain covalently bonded to a glycerol molecule through an ester linkage.

A diglyceride, or a diacylglycerol (DAG), is a glyceride consisting of two fatty acid chains covalently bonded to a glycerol molecule through ester linkages. … Mono- and diacylglycerols are common food additives used to blend together certain ingredients, such as oil and water, which would not otherwise blend well. … The commercial source may be either animal (cow- or hog-derived) or vegetable, derived primarily from soy bean and canola oil. They may also be synthetically produced.

So I have no idea where the mono- and diglycerides in this particular creamer came from. Are they real? Synthetic? Also, if oil and water weren’t meant to blend together, should we be forcing them to do so?

Sodium aluminosilicate. From Wikipedia: Sodium aluminosilicate, also referred to as sodium silicoaluminate, is a chemical with the formula AlNa12SiO5 and CAS 1344-00-9. It is an aluminosilicate compound with sodium cations, taking the form of a white crystalline solid.

All this definition told me is that sodium silicoaluminate is an aluminosilicate compound. No, really?! I had figured out that much from looking at the word. So I clicked on the term aluminosilicate and found this: Aluminosilicate minerals are minerals composed of aluminium, silicon, and oxygen.

I’m still not sure this tells me anything. And since I’m not sure what it is, I would rather not put it in my body.

Artificial flavor. Note that the ingredient list does not say what this artificial flavor entails. But if you type the term “artificial flavor” into Wikipedia, you are redirected to the entry on flavor, and specifically to the part about flavor creation, where you read this: Most food and beverage companies do not create their own flavors but instead employ the services of a flavor company. … The flavor creation is done by a specially trained scientist called a "flavorist." The flavorist's job combines extensive scientific knowledge of the chemical palette with artistic creativity to develop new and distinctive flavors.

Hmmm … so a flavorist has decided now my creamer should taste, and has added who-knows-what to it. So, again, I have no idea exactly what I am putting into my body.

Annatto color. From Wikipedia: Annatto, sometimes called Roucou, is a derivative of the achiote trees of tropical regions of the Americas, used to produce a red food coloring and also as a flavoring. Annatto is produced from the reddish pulp which surrounds the seed of the achiote.

This last ingredient doesn’t sound too bad. At least it comes from a natural fruit. But the entry does say it can cause allergies in some people. Personally, I can take it or leave it.

So what's my verdict after defining all of these ingredients? I'm not so sure I really need that creamer in my coffee. In fact, for the past few days, I've been leaving it out of my coffee. There is a little more bitterness to the coffee’s taste, but it's something I can get used to, especially if it means leaving these unnatural ingredients out of my body.

I consider the loss of coffee creamer a worthy sacrifice to live a healthy life.

So how do you take your coffee? Creamer? Milk? Black? Will knowing what these ingredients are change your mind about putting powdered creamer in your coffee?