Food and Digestion Enrich

Name Date Class

Food and Digestion ■ Enrich

Sugar Substitutes

A sugar substitute is a chemical that tastes sweet but provides few or no
nutrients to the body. Sugar substitutes often taste much sweeter than sugar,
and some have no Calories. However, sugar substitutes are not problem free.
Some lose their sweetness over time or at high temperatures; some have an
aftertaste; and some have been linked to health problems. Despite these
problems, over 100 million people use sugar substitutes in the United States
every year.

Saccharin (sa kur uhn), the first sugar substitute, was discovered by a
scientist named Constantin Fahlberg in 1879. Saccharin has no Calories and
is not digested or absorbed by the body. In 1977, a study showed that rats
given saccharin had a greater risk of developing cancer. As a result, all foods
containing saccharin carry labels warning that this chemical might be linked
to cancer in humans.

Aspartame (as pahr taym) is another sugar substitute. Unlike saccharin,
aspartame contains amino acids, which are digested and absorbed by the
body. Although the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has
not linked aspartame to any health problems, there is still some debate about
its safety.

In 1998, the FDA approved a sugar substitute called sucralose for use in
some types of foods. Sucralose is made from sugar, but it has been modified
so that the body does not digest or absorb it. One advantage of sucralose is
that it does not lose its sweetness at high temperatures, so it can be used in
foods that are baked, such as cakes.

Answer the following questions on a separate sheet of paper.

1. The population of the United States was about 270 million in 1998. About
what percentage of the population used a sugar substitute?

2. Why do you think so many people use sugar substitutes?

3. What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of sugar substitutes?

4. Which of the three sugar substitutes described above provides the body
with nutrients it can use? Explain.

5. Look at the ingredients listed on a can of diet soft drink. Does the drink
contain a sugar substitute? If so, which one?