Sweet Way to Reduce Sugars

Lemonade. Sweet tea. Cupcakes.

It’s not easy to give up sugar.

But for anyone trying to lose weight or maintain their blood sugar levels because they have diabetes, it’s imperative to cut out these sweet, empty calories.

Here’s one strategy that may work: try substituting drinks that contain added sugars with those that rely on non-nutritive sweeteners for their sweetness such as: aspartame, acesulfame-K, neotame, saccharin, sucralose and plant-derived stevia.

According to a joint statement from the American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association, non-nutritive sweeteners “may help people reach and maintain a healthy body weight – as long as the substitution doesn’t lead to eating additional calories later.” The statement also said that for diabetics, these sweeteners “used alone or in foods and beverages remain an option and when used appropriately can aid in glucose control.”

The statement comes at a critical time for much of the adult population in the United States. Two-thirds are either overweight or obese. Eating excess dietary sugars contributes to heart disease and obesity, which then increases a person’s risk for type 2 diabetes.

Women should eat no more than 100 calories per day of added sugars, according to a news release from the AHA. For men, the limit is 150 calories.

“While they are not magic bullets, smart use of non-nutritive sweeteners could help you reduce added sugars in your diet, therefore lowering the number of calories you eat. Reducing calories could help you attain and maintain a healthy body weight, and thereby lower your risk of heart disease and diabetes,” said Christopher Gardner, associate professor of medicine at Stanford University in California, in the news release. “But there are caveats.”

Drinking a diet soda will cut out 150 calories from your day but won’t help you lose weight if you reward yourself later with a cupcake.

The joint statement does not address the safety of using non-nutritive sweeteners, which are evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Source: American Heart Association news release

+ Learn about Surgical Weight Loss

+ Read about Physical Therapy Programs