Sweet food without a guilty conscience – sugar alternatives are trendy
From pastries to specialty coffees to cold drinks: many people like to eat something sweet at some point during the day. What most people probably know by now: Conventional sugar promotes tooth decay, obesity and cardiovascular diseases. That's why alternative sweeteners are very trendy! They promise to be “naturally derived” and “much healthier than sugar”; yes, even protecting your teeth from tooth decay. There should be little to no calories in it, despite its strong sweetness.
We want to know what exactly is behind the alternative sweeteners, where they come from, whether they keep what they promise and, above all, what do they do to the climate, the environment and the body? Eco-checker Katharina takes a closer look!
Sweeteners are critical in terms of climate and environmental balance
The sweetener based on stevia and the sugar substitutes xylitol and erythritol are highly processed and industrially produced sweeteners. In the end, not much remains of their plant origin. All three of these sweeteners are not regional products and are always associated with transport emissions.
The “birch sugar” xylitol and erythritol are not produced in Germany, mostly come from Finland or China and may be made from genetically modified corn.
Organic seal is helpful when making your selection
Here you should pay attention to the organic seal, then the raw materials come from controlled organic cultivation without pesticides and genetic manipulation. Although steviol glycosides are produced in Germany, the plant Stevia Rebaudiana, from which the compounds responsible for the sweet taste are obtained, does not thrive as well in our latitudes. It must therefore also be imported.
When grown in southern Europe, it is less of an ecological problem; in China, many pesticides are necessary due to the humid climate. Stevia plants are also available from organic farming. However, processed foods with an organic seal may only contain erythritol as an additive; there is no approval for steviol glycosides and xylitol.
Further links
• DLG - Matthias Saß (2015): Steviol glycosides - compact knowledge DLG expert knowledge 14/2015
• Consumer advice center (2021): Coconut blossom, birch sugar, Stevia & Co. are not a sensible sugar substitute
• Prof. Dr. Stephan Martin (2021): Sweetener instead of sugar?
Apparently this doesn't do much to help you lose weight • Ärzteblatt (2019): Sweet fallacy: What benefits do artificial sweeteners have?
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