'Tis the season of treats: chocolate is practically inescapable, home bakers are whipping out cookies and babkas to no end, and cafés are slinging gallons of holiday-inspired sweetened drinks. At the centre of all these delicious goodies is sugar. Now sugar in and of itself is not bad for you, but excess sugar added to things during cooking or manufacturing, is not the best for us. Lucky for us, self-proclaimed health gurus have allegedly found a workaround! By substituting white table sugar or corn syrup with natural sugars like honey, maple syrup, or agave, we mysteriously avoid the gluttonous sins of indulging in something sweet. But does this kind of sugar swap actually make a difference? Or is it just another marketing tactic? Tune in to find out.
Want to recommend an episode topic? Send me a message on Instagram @nutritionbitespodcast
Credit to MonoSheep for the theme music.
'Tis the season of treats: chocolate is practically inescapable, home bakers are whipping out cookies and babkas to no end, and cafés are slinging gallons of holiday-inspired sweetened drinks. At the centre of all these delicious goodies is sugar. Now sugar in and of itself is not bad for you, but excess sugar added to things during cooking or manufacturing, is not the best for us. Lucky for us, self-proclaimed health gurus have allegedly found a workaround! By substituting white table sugar or corn syrup with natural sugars like honey, maple syrup, or agave, we mysteriously avoid the gluttonous sins of indulging in something sweet. But does this kind of sugar swap actually make a difference? Or is it just another marketing tactic? Tune in to find out.
Want to recommend an episode topic? Send me a message on Instagram @nutritionbitespodcast
Credit to MonoSheep for the theme music.
Welcome to Nutrition Bites. The no nonsense podcast where you get the truth about food so you can eat what you want, and be healthy. I’m your host Maggie and welcome to Episode 25 of this series! We are now entering into one of the tastiest times of the year, and regardless of what you celebrate, the focus of this season is food, especially the sweet stuff. On the menu today, natural sugars.
Whether you are partaking in a holiday or not this December, the world around us is collectively celebrating treating yo’ self and each other. Indulgence around this time comes in many forms: getting a facial, purchasing a new fit, or getting extra whipped cream on your Frap, just because. One of the most universal ways of showing a little love is through food - especially anything sweet. Chocolate is practically inescapable right now, and cafés, and bars, are dishing out gallons of holiday-inspired sweetened bevvies. And of course, home bakers are preparing to battle for the title of best cinnamon babka or gingerbread cookie at the next family gathering. At the centre of all these delicious goodies is sugar. Now sugar in and of itself is not bad for you, but excess sugar added to things during cooking or manufacturing, is not the best for us. Lucky for us, self-proclaimed health gurus have allegedly found a workaround. By substituting white table sugar or corn syrup with quote unquote natural sugars like honey, maple syrup, or agave, we mysteriously avoid the gluttonous sins of indulging in something sweet. But does this kind of sugar swap actually make a difference? Or is it just another marketing tactic selling false hope like cheesy Christmas movies sell instantaneous love. Let’s find out.
For a substance that a lot of people are concerned about, there is a surprising amount of misinformation about what exactly sugar is. Sugar is not just the white stuff that we stir into our coffees or measure out for baking, it’s an entire category of molecules within the carbohydrate family. Just like how amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, sugars are the building blocks of carbs. For adults who grew up in a cold climate, you’re probably familiar with the childhood craft of making paper snowflake chains. Fold a piece of paper a bunch of times, cut out a weird shape leaving one corner of the paper intact, unfold it all, and reveal the chain of identical wonky looking snowflakes. Now imagine the structure of a carbohydrate like one of these paper snowflake chains. Each individual snowflake is a sugar molecule, and the length of the chain determines which type of carb it is classified as.
If we just have one snowflake on it’s own, we call that a monosaccharide (mono is latin for one, saccharide is latin for “sweet sand” - fitting right?). Glucose and fructose are monosaccharides. These individual units are the molecules that our body can absorb and use for energy and other functions. When two monosaccharides are linked together, like two snowflakes in a paper chain, we call that a disaccharide (di meaning two). Lactose and sucrose are examples of this molecule. Now when scientists and health professionals refer to sugar, they’re referring to all mono and disaccharides. That’s because these molecules taste sweet! As soon as the carb chain gets longer in length, it doesn’t taste as sweet, nor does it have the same effects in the body. Examples of these long-chain molecules, called polysaccharides, include fiber and starch.
When it comes to adding sugar to foods and drinks, there are dozens of sweetening options available. Browse through the website of any old school baker, like Martha Stewart, and you’ll find recipes with classic sweeteners like white table sugar, molasses, and corn syrup. But if you hop on over to the Instagram profile of an online health influencer, you’ll likely find revised recipes using maple syrup or honey instead. Many times these “naturally sweetened” recipes come with names like “clean brownies” or “guilt-free cake”. A big RED (Taylor’s version) flag in my books. Not only are these names cringeworthy, but they also give the wrong impression about these sweeteners. Because when we’re thinking about the health impacts of added sugar, how it acts in our body is more important than how it was made.
On a molecular level the sugars we know and love are a mix of monosaccharides and disaccharides. Glucose, the most common monosaccharide, is the main building block of carbs, and so it’s found in almost everything sweet. The second most common monosaccharide we consume is fructose, but unlike with glucose, it’s a bit more VIP in terms of where it’s naturally sourced. Fructose is almost exclusively found in fruits, and also in honey and agave syrup. Both glucose and fructose can be found in the same sweeteners - but the percentages of each varies. For example, corn syrup is pure glucose while white table sugar provides an equal amount of both monosaccharides. Honey has slightly more fructose than glucose, and it’s the reverse for maple syrup.
Now the reason it’s important to understand the mix of glucose and fructose in these sweeteners is because these two molecules are not metabolized in the same way. As I’m sure you’ve heard me repeat over and over again, glucose is the preferred source of energy for our cells. So when we digest it, it makes its way into our bloodstream to be used by every cell in the body. Fructose on the other hand, requires extra special attention. Instead of being shuttled around the body as an energy source, it is only metabolized in the liver. It’s purpose is to replenish liver glycogen, and to create triglycerides, a type of fat. Because of these metabolic differences, the health effects of eating too much glucose or fructose also differ.
When you consume sweeteners with a lot of glucose in them, like corn syrup, your body reacts with a spike in blood sugar. This is often followed by a big decrease, or crash, which can leave you feeling fatigued and hungry. I’m sure you’re familiar with this birthday cake-induced glucose rollercoaster. In the long term though, this drastic up and down cycle may lead to the development of diseases like Type 2 Diabetes. One way to try to ensure a more stable blood sugar level is through choosing foods and drinks with a low glycemic index. The glycemic index, or GI, is a numeric way to represent how quickly a food causes an increase in blood sugar. Any food or beverage assigned a value over 70 is a high GI item, and pure glucose tops the chart with a value of 100. Now because fructose mostly stays in the liver, it doesn’t spike your blood sugar in the same way as glucose. It’s GI value is only 25, which is really low. This is one reason why fructose fans think this monosaccharide healthier. While it may be recommended for those with blood sugar issues to choose fructose-forward sweeteners, it’s not a magical solution. The result of eating too much fructose is the creation of extra fat, remember one of it’s main roles is to build triglycerides. This can lead to an accumulation of fat in the liver, called fatty liver disease, and any excess fat may also be released into the bloodstream which can lead to cardiovascular disease. When it comes to processed vs. More “natural” sweeteners - there’s no metabolic winner. You have high glucose options and high fructose options in both categories, and an excess of either, is no bueno.
So are there any benefits to the popular au natural sweeteners? Well, a common defense for these Gwyneth Paltrow-approved sugars is that they are less processed. For some sugars that is true - the number steps to produce honey compared to brown sugar is a lot fewer, but that’s not necessarily the same for other sweeteners, like coconut sugar. But often the argument for less processed foods is the thought that these items retain other helpful nutrients, and you definitely see this in the sweetener debate circles.
Both honey and maple syrup are known sources of minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants. But apart from a few exceptions, like the incredibly high level of the mineral manganese in maple syrup, most of the nutrients are found in minuscule amounts. The levels of these nutrients are so small that they really don’t make any difference to your overall health. When it comes to honey, in specific, it has an additional selling point. It’s known to be antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial, essentially the Marvel superhero of the syrup world. But these properties are dependent on the presence of bee pollen, which is often removed from the honey you buy in stores. Unless you’re purchasing raw honey directly from a beekeeper, you’re likely missing out on these important properties. Which leads me to a major point for both of these popular sweeteners. A lot of honey on the market is cut with cheaper processed sweeteners, and often “pancake syrup” (which is just flavored corn syrup), is mistaken for real maple syrup - a blasphemous crime in Canada. So while honey and maple syrup have some small bonus nutrients, you may not be even getting them if you’re buying the wrong thing.
Let’s move on to another popular sweetener thought to be a healthy choice: coconut sugar. Now, whoever is in charge of marketing coconut products in general deserves some sort of award. Not only do they have us convinced that we need to drink coconut water and cook with coconut milk, but now, we have to bake with coconut sugar too. For a funky looking fruit, it sure is multi-talented! But unfortunately, when it comes to our health, there’s not much nutritional difference between coconut sugar and table sugar. It’s like the Gucci effect - it sounds better because it’s usually more expensive.
Agave syrup is another sweetener that’s become quite popular in the healthy influencer sphere. This sugar is made from the sap of a cactus-like plant and is overwhelmingly composed of fructose. Because of this, it doesn’t spike blood sugar, and so it’s often a recommended sweetener for diabetics. What’s also unique about agave is that it’s much sweeter than white sugar - so you get more bang for your buck. Surprisingly, not all sugars carry the same level of sweetness. For example, lactose, the sugar found in milk, carries only 20% of the sweetness of table sugar. Fructose, on the other hand, is rated as 1.5x more sweet than table sugar. So theoretically, you can use less agave syrup to achieve the same level of sweetness as white sugar, and using less is usually healthier. But despite this upper hand, agave syrup, just like coconut sugar, honey, and maple syrup, is a still source of added sugar. And no matter where it comes from, or any small advantages it may have, too much is not good for us.
While the saccharine battle of social media may be focused on these so-called “natural” versus processed sugars, the real enemy is being overlooked: added sugars. Most of our fruits, vegetables and dairy contain natural sugars. But you’re not going to find a doctor who tells you to cut back on the kiwis because of this. You may find a keto bro who yells at you, but that’s covered in Episode 23 of the podcast. The reason that we don’t find any health issues associated with consuming foods with naturally occurring sugars is because these items also contain fibre, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients in bulk. In addition to this benefit, the sugars within these foods are trapped in plant cells or mixed amongst other molecules. This results in a slower release of monosaccharides into your body, and this kind of pace is much easier to handle. Now despite their “natural” status, maple syrup, honey and agave are all sources of free sugars which means the mono-and di-saccharides are not trapped by plant cells or matter - they are just floating around, ready to be absorbed SUPER quickly by our bodies. This can cause our blood sugar to instantly spike and our livers to become overwhelmed. Another issue with these sources of “free” sugars is that we tend not to get full when we consume them. This is why ingesting a lot of foods and drinks with added sugars has been linked with weight gain and obesity, along with the development of other issues like high blood pressure and heart disease. And the scariest part about all this is the neurological hold that sugar has over us. Consuming sugar, whatever the source, causes a surge in dopamine - our feel-good hormone. And we can become addicted to feeding this high, which makes sense if you reflect back on all the times you’ve ferociously devoured a bag of peanut M&Ms.
It shouldn’t be a shock to hear that typically, most people living in developed nations over consume added sugar. Public health bodies recommend that the average woman limits her daily intake to 50 grams, and for an adult man, around 70 grams. In food speak, 50 grams of added sugars is covered by one grande Hazelnut Latte from Starbucks and 4 Ferrero Rocher chocolates. And if you are living a #healtylifestyle, that same limit is covered by h 2 tablespoons of maple syrup, and one cup of freshly squeezed orange juice.
Our overconsumption of added sugars isn’t helped by the fact that we rely heavily on processed foods. In 2015, a team of researchers from the University of North Carolina estimated that nearly 70% of all processed foods in the grocery store contain added sugar. It’s become an almost inescapable component of our diet and unless you’re nose deep into the ingredients list it can be difficult to know if it’s even been added or not. That’s because the line for “sugar” on our food labels represents the total amount of sugars present in the food - both added and naturally occurring. So if you’re investigating a strawberry yogurt with 12 grams of sugar, you can’t tell how much of that comes from naturally occurring lactose, versus cane sugar that was added during manufacturing. Thus far only the US has made it easier to decipher this puzzle. In 2018 the FDA introduced a requirement which mandates all food manufacturers to label how many grams of added sugar are included in their products. Good job Obama! Trudeau, if you’re listening, take note.
Despite the evidence that shows any added sugar consumed in excess is not good for us, some sweeteners are still crowned with health halos. The perception that maple syrup, honey, and agave syrup are somehow better for you is just the result of pervasive influencer marketing. What these sweeteners may be better for, though, is supporting your local economy. Accessing local honey or maple syrup can be an easy way to help out your regional farmers and environment. But that’s where the benefits stop. At the end of the day, added sugar, in whatever form it takes, is still extra sugar that we don’t really need to be eating. But with that said, it’s important not to demonize added sugar when you thoughtfully consume it. If you want to drizzle your oatmeal with maple syrup or take a slice of the sweet stuff this holiday season go for it! Just try to cut back your intake of other sneaky sources of added sugar, like BBQ chips or pre-packed salad dressings. And most importantly, don’t be fooled into thinking that Auntie Annie’s honey-sweetened cookies are somehow healthier than her sister’s brown sugar ones. It’s best to stay out of that family feud and enjoy your moment of sweetness in peace.
That’s been the bite for today. Stay hungry.