Human evolution itself has been declassifying tools to identify if a food was safe and to be able to survive. The bitter taste of the plants indicated that they were not edible, producing a rejection in their consumption, unlike those that were sweet , which when consumed produced a feeling of well-being.From the beginning, we are programmed to accept sweetness as something necessary and pleasurable. For this reason, his search is a constant struggle to find the balance between the benefits of its flavor and doing it in a healthy way . Therefore, one way to replace the harmful industrial sugar is artificial sweeteners., which provide a sweet taste with few or no calories. But are they healthier

There are many different types of sweeteners in thousands of different products, including diet foods and beverages. We will start by defining what sweeteners are. According to the RAE, a sweetener is that substance that sweetens food, drinks or medicines, whether of natural origin (such as honey or sugar) or synthetic (saccharin, aspartame…).
Many are synthetic, but some sweeteners can be made from natural substances. For example, stevia is made from the leaves of a plant. And the fact that some of them are does not mean that they are unhealthy, but it should be indicated on the label what it contains and in what dose.
Therefore, the purpose of both sugar and sweeteners is the same, to sweeten any food.Some like saccharin , sucralose , acesulfame K , and aspartame are intensely sweet in small doses, making them ideal for use in low-calorie sodas and sugar-free gum.
Others like sorbitol and xylitol are bulkier, like real sugar, so they are useful as a replacement in confectionery.

DO THEY GET LESS FATTENING

If we talk in terms of health, limit the doses of sugarr is always good news for our body (and our weight). However, the sweeteners that are classified as “healthier” are those of natural origin, which are less caloric and have a greater nutritional value compared to refined sugars.
It is true that they are much lower in calories, which may be a feasible dietary alternative.Of course, even if a product is sweetened instead of sugary, many times we find an ultra-processed product that is still not a healthy option. Taking these products will not ensure you lose weight if it is not combined with exercise and other balanced eating habits andhealthy.
Some studies have claimed that they might make people hungrier and alter blood sugar levels, but there is no convincing evidence of the supposed harm .Professionals like Antonio Rodriguez, creator of the SinAzucar.org project,First of all, it clarifies that all authorized sweeteners can be consideredsafe within the doses established by the regulations.

Of course, one of the problems that can arise comes when sweeteners, being more powerful in sweetness than sugar itself, emit a more powerful signal of pleasure, generating a brain reward that causes more product to be consumed.In addition, the palate can get used to this threshold of sweetness.

Which one to choose
The ”IDA”

As explained on the @NutreCiencia instagram , a factor to take into account when choosing our sweetener is the indicator called ”IDA”.This parameter tells us what is the healthy doseof each product that we should ingest daily. Here we leave the graph of each of them.
To comment, what stands out are the STEVIA indexes , with an ADI of 4/day much lower than other products considered “more harmful” such as saccharin.Likewise, as they indicate, the STEVIA that we buy in supermarkets contains the compounds that are supposed to be “natural” from the plant, steviol glycosides in tiny doses (5%).
It is also important not to confuse sugary products with sweetened ones.The former indicate that they obtain their sweetness through natural substances such as sugar, honey or panela,they do it with some type of the sweeteners mentioned.
For this reason, sweetening a dish without any type of sugar or sweetener is important to begin to get used to the sweet taste that foods have naturally and try to reduce the consumption of any sweetener or sugary product progressively.

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