Nutrition and Diabetes

The sweet life: Sugar substitutes

Although there is no evidence to suggest that sugar substitutes either prevent or improve diabetes, you can use them to reduce your caloric intake and your glucose response. Sweeteners are divided into those that contain calories and those that do not. Refer to the guide below for the scoop on popular sweeteners:

Caloric sweeteners include:

• Fructose from fruits and berries. It's absorbed at a slower rate from the intestine than glucose, so blood glucose raises at a slower rate as well.
• Xylitol from strawberries and raspberries. It has a similar effect as fructose and doesn't cause dental cavities.
• Sorbitol and mannitol are sugar alcohols from plants. They turn to fructose in the body and have little effect on blood glucose.

Artificial sweeteners include:

• Saccharin is much sweeter than table sugar, so less of it is needed to achieve the same level of sweetness. It leaves the body unchanged in urine.
• Aspartame is the tastier and pricier version of saccharin and is also much sweeter than table sugar.

Danger! Alcohol and diabetes can be a dangerous mix
Drinking alcohol on an empty stomach can be dangerous for diabetics. Alcohol increases insulin, but provides no food to compensate for it, which can cause low blood glucose. If you choose to drink, make sure to eat something substantive and nutritious along with it and count the alcohol in your total daily calories.

Assignment #3
Want to learn more about alcohol and diabetes? Here's a fascinating article that describes exactly what goes on in the body when you take that first sip.

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