The Sweetener Trap & How to Avoid It , livre ebook

Turner Publishing Company - Beatrice Trum Hunter

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288 pages

English

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With this expaned revision of the 1982 classic, The Sugar Trap, Beatrice Trum Hunter, noted writer on food issues, brings readers invaluable help for avoid the sweetener trap. She exposes facts about today's many sweeteners, from aspartame to stevia, sucralose, and xlitol. With carefl research and well-weighed advice, Hunter explains why it is important to limit all added sugares.

Sujets

Santé et bien-être

Diététique

diététique

Nutrition

Fitness

Health

Diet

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Publié par	Turner Publishing Company
Date de parution	15 juin 2008
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781591205616
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0998€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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T HE S WEETENER T RAP
& H OW TO A VOID I T
BEATRICE TRUM HUNTER
The information contained in this book is based upon the research and personal and professional experiences of the author. It is not intended as a substitute for consulting with your physician or other healthcare provider. Any attempt to diagnose and treat an illness should be done under the direction of a healthcare professional.
The publisher does not advocate the use of any particular healthcare protocol but believes the information in this book should be available to the public. The publisher and author are not responsible for any adverse effects or consequences resulting from the use of the suggestions, preparations, or procedures discussed in this book. Should the reader have any questions concerning the appropriateness of any procedures or preparation mentioned, the author and the publisher strongly suggest consulting a professional healthcare advisor.
Basic Health Publications, Inc .
28812 Top of the World Drive • Laguna Beach, CA 92651
949-715-7327 • www.basichealthpub.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hunter, Beatrice Trum.
The sweetener trap and how to avoid it / by Beatrice Trum Hunter.
p. ; cm.
Rev. and updated ed. of: The sugar trap and how to avoid It / Beatrice Trum Hunter. Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1982.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-59120-561-6
1. Sugars—Health aspects. 2. Sweeteners—Health aspects. I. Hunter, Beatrice Trum. Sugar trap and how to avoid it. II. Title.
[DNLM: 1. Sweetening Agents—adverse effects. 2. Diet. 3. Dietary Sucrose—adverse effects. 4. Food Habits. WA 712 H945s 2008]
QP702.S85H86      2008
613.2’83—dc22
2008026120
This book was published originally as The Sugar Trap, and How to Avoid It by Houghton Mifflin in 1982. The present edition is revised and updated.
Copyright © 2008 Beatrice Trum Hunter
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the copyright owner.
Editor: Cheryl Hirsch
Typesetting/Book design: Gary A. Rosenberg
Cover design: Mike Stromberg
Printed in the United States of America
10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1
C ONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
The Sweetener Trap: How Did We Get Caught?
PART ONE
Traditional Sweeteners and Early Nontraditional Newcomers
1. Refined Sweeteners: Desired, But Undesirable
2. Traditional Sweeteners: Overrated?
3. Crystalline Fructose: A Fruit-Sugar Pretender
4. High-Fructose Corn Syrup: A Dangerous Superstar
5. Sugar Polyols: Consumed But Not Tallied
PART TWO
High-Intensity Plant-Derived Sweeteners
6. Licorice: A Flavorant Converted into a Sweetener
7. Stevia: Sweetener or Dietary Supplement?
8. Thaumatin: A Very High-Intensity Protein Sweetener
9. The Dihydrochalcones: Bitterness Turned into Sweetness
10. Plant-Derived Sweeteners: Used Traditionally, Becoming Recognized
PART THREE
High-Intensity Synthetic Sweeteners
11. Cyclamate: Approved As Safe—Later, Banned
12. Saccharin: Sweet, Cheap, and Detrimental
13. Aspartame: A Breakthrough High-Intensity Sweetener
14. Neotame: “Superaspartame,”
15. Acesulfame-K: An Upstart Sweetener
16. Sucralose: A Sucrose Derivative, But Not Sucrose
17. Alitame: A High-Intensity Sweetener in Limbo
PART FOUR
A New Generation of Sweeteners
18. Trehalose, Tagatose, and Agave Nectar
19. Designing New Sweeteners: A New Era May Be at Hand
PART FIVE
More Reasons to Minimize Sweetener Use
20. Sugars and the Glycemic Index: Not a Happy Story
21. Sugar Consumption Statistics: Deceptive and Confusing
22. Avoiding the Sweetener Trap: Simple Strategies
Appendices
A.  Acronyms Used in Text
B.  Glossary of Sweetener Terms
C.  Relative Sweetness of Various Sugars and Sweeteners
D.  Some Naturally Occurring Sugar in Foods—Tolerated by Most, But Not by All
Main Sources
About the Author
To H. J. Roberts, M.D.,
with homage .
Introduction
T HE S WEETENER T RAP: H OW D ID W E G ET C AUGHT ?
It is important to remember that refined and processed sugars have been added to a wide range of products. Although labeling regulations do not currently require the content of the different sugars to be described, if some kind of sugar (corn syrup, fructose sugar, dextrose, honey, etc.) is listed as one of the first two or three ingredients, then one can reasonably assume that there is a lot of sugar added to the product .
—“D IETARY G OALS FOR THE U NITED S TATES,” PREPARED BY THE STAFF OF THE S ELECT C OMMITTEE ON N UTRITION AND H UMAN N EEDS , U.S. S ENATE , 2 ND ED. REV. D ECEMBER 1977
A lthough we are toothless at birth, already we have acquired a sweet tooth. We have developed taste buds in our fourth month in the womb. Almost immediately after birth we respond to sweet tastes with smiles, and to bitter tastes with grimaces. As newborns, we display the same positive responses to sweet tastes as we do later as adults. With surprising precision, as infants, we are able to distinguish different levels of sweetness; like adults, we prefer high concentrations.
An inborn preference for sweets is believed to be an evolutionary adaptive mechanism that guides us to choose nutritious fruits and vegetables that are high in energy-rich carbohydrates. Many other animal species also have learned the survival value of selecting sweet plants. Our aversion to bitterness in infancy is thought to be another survival mechanism: steering us away from toxic alkaloids present in many bitter plants.
In recent times, however, our taste for sweetness has become maladaptive. As we learned to extract and concentrate the sweet components from plants, we succeeded in separating sweetness from nutrition. Our greatly increased consumption of concentrated sugars, divorced from their nutrients, is incriminated as an important factor in a wide range of health problems. The problems are compounded by the extensive use of non-caloric sweeteners.
The sweetener trap is baited early. At birth, we are offered sweetness, either with lactose, the breastmilk sugar, or with cane, beet, or corn sugars in infant feeding formulas. Sugars and sweetened foods continue to be offered in commercially prepared solid baby foods and toddler foods. Our sugar consumption is greatest between our twelfth and fourteenth years. As we mature, generally we continue to enjoy sweet tastes, and culturally acquire tastes for bitterness and for subtle mixtures of sweetness, bitterness, saltiness, and sourness.
E ARLY I MPRINTING
“A company called Munchkin Bottling arranged to have soft drink logos like Mountain Dew and Pepsi placed on baby bottles. Babies are four times more likely to consume soft drinks from these as from standard bottles.”
— Kelly Brownell, Ph.D., director of the Yale Center for Eating and Weight Disorders, Food Fight: The Inside Story of the Food Industry (McGraw-Hill, 2004)
Indisputably, we humans enjoy sweetness. In some circumstances, it is believed that our enjoyment of the food’s taste may affect how well we utilize the food. In this respect, sweetness may play an important role.
In our cultural traditions, sweetness has been associated with goodness. More than sixty English phrases include sugar, and as many include honey and other syrups, all conveying positive ideas about taste, smell, appearance, acts, and characteristics. Terms of endearment include “you’re my sugar,” “sweetie pie,” “sweetheart,” and “honey.”
SUGAR—A CHEAP AND PLENTIFUL ENERGY SOURCE
Sugars and starches are classified as carbohydrates, and along with proteins, fats, minerals, vitamins, and water, constitute our total nutrient content of foods and beverages consumed. Nutritionists are in general agreement that a diet comprised of about 50 percent carbohydrates is normal and healthy. However, the carbohydrates should be from fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes. Instead, many of our carbohydrates are from refined sugars and flours. Because sugar is the cheapest and most plentiful food energy source available, proponents suggest that we could consume even higher levels than those being used without overstepping the bounds of moderation. They argue that in a well-balanced diet, having enough calories provided by carbohydrates and fats keep us from having to burn our protein for energy. Furthermore, they claim that sugar is eaten with foods and beverages, many of which contain specific nutrients, so the total dietary intake is not “empty calories.”
This argument is specious. Sugars are simple carbohydrates; starches are complex. We utilize them differently. We metabolize sugars rapidly, and starches slowly. The candy bar is noted for its “quick energy”; a baked potato provides slow, sustained energy. Total blood fat levels of triglycerides and cholesterol are increased significantly by high-sugar diets, but not by high-starch diets.
Is sugar a cheap calorie source, as sugar proponents would have us believe? Although growing plants from which sugar is derived may require low-energy use, its refining process is energy-intensive. According to the Census of Manufacturers’ standard industrial classifications, the processing of sugar beets and the refining of sugarcane, along with the milling of wet corn and the processing of malt beverages—all sources of “empty” calories—account for 20 percent of the total energy used to process food in the United States. The production of one pound of refined beet sugar requires 4,360 kilo-calories, and cane sugar, 2,610 kilocalories. Yet each returns only 1,746 empty nutritional kilocalories. In Brazil, it was found that less energy was needed to ferment and distill sugar into alcohol than to refine it.
H OW M UCH S UGAR D ID O UR A NCESTORS E AT ?
According to historical studies, 200 years ago, Americans consumed only about four pounds o