(1) Not completely sugar-free

The concept of sugar-free food originated in the national . foreign markets. The so-called sugar-free, can be understood as not easy to be absorbed by the body of xylitol and other polyols and functional oligosaccharide instead of simple sugar (sucrose, fructose and maltose, etc.) easy to cause tooth decay, obesity, high blood sugar. The effect is to make the food have the taste of sugar, but without the high energy of simple sugar, more beneficial to health.

Sugar-free food has quickly gained a foothold in the domestic market. Its popularity is actually not difficult to understand. With the improvement of living standards, the world's obesity patients, diabetics are increasing, they have a rigid need for sugar-free food. There are also more and more people who believe that it is healthier to choose sugar-free food for themselves and their family and friends.

For people who want to eat sweets, lose weight, and maintain health, "sugar-free cookies," "sugar-free cake," "sugar-free yogurt" "sugar-free milk tea" and a series of food, is indeed a good choice. But before choosing, we should not take for granted that the "sugar-free" on the product packaging may not be the "sugar-free" you think.

According to international practice, sugar-free foods are sweet foods that do not contain table sugar, i.e., sucrose (cane sugar and beet sugar) and starch sugar (glucose, maltose, and fructose), and require the use of sugar substitutes that contain the properties of table sugar. According to the I. State . State. General Rules for the Labeling of Prepackaged Foods for Special Dietary Uses, sugar-free foods are required to contain no more than 0.5 grams of sugar per 100 grams or 100 milliliters of solid or liquid food. It is impossible to completely remove sugar from food, therefore, "sugar-free" in sugar-free food only means that the sugar content does not exceed the prescribed standard.

(2) taste can also be very sweet

Often, sugar-free products contain sugar alcohols, oligosaccharides, high-fold sweeteners and other sweeteners, they have a sweet taste, but does not affect blood sugar, can reduce the consumption of calories intake.

Sweeteners, a food additive that gives food a sweet taste. Sweeteners can be divided into nutritive sweeteners and non-nutritive sweeteners according to their nutritional value; low-sweetness sweeteners and high-sweetness sweeteners according to their sweetness; and natural sweeteners and synthetic sweeteners according to their source.

Specifically, there are three main categories of sweeteners used in food.

Sugar alcohols

Sugar alcohols are a polyol, hydrogenated sugar reduction system, not sugar, but with some of the properties of sugar. Common sugar alcohols are xylitol, sorbitol, maltitol, erythritol, mannitol, lactitol, isomaltitol, etc., its sweetness is slightly lower than sucrose. As a nutritious food ingredients have a certain viscosity and hygroscopicity, heat resistance, the heat generated is lower than sucrose, between 2-3kcal/g, so it is known as nutritive sweeteners.

Sugar alcohols in the oral cavity is not subject to microbial action, does not produce acid, so it does not lead to dental caries; sugar alcohols are not sugar, metabolism is generally not subject to insulin control, no effect on the rise in blood glucose values; can provide a certain amount of calories for diabetic patients, is conducive to diabetic patients or ordinary consumers, and therefore is widely used in sugar-free food.

Functional oligosaccharides

Functional oligosaccharides refer to oligosaccharides containing 2-10 glycosidic bonds polymerized into oligosaccharides, mainly including oligosaccharides, oligoisomaltose, inulin (long-chain fructose), oligofructose, oligogalactose, soybean oligosaccharides and so on. It has certain sweetness, viscosity and water solubility and other characteristics of sugar. The sweetness is 40%-60% of sucrose, and the sweetness is soft and natural, so it can be used as a nutritional supplement or a substitute for sucrose in foods such as infant milk powder.

Because the human body does not have the enzyme system to break down and digest oligosaccharides, functional oligosaccharides cannot be degraded by human gastric acid and gastric enzymes, and are not absorbed by the small intestine, but can go directly into the large intestine, and the energy value they provide is very low or none at all. Functional oligosaccharide can promote intestinal peristalsis, inhibit harmful bacteria, promote probiotic reproduction, laxative; can not be utilized by human oral spoilage bacteria; non-insulin dependent, will not raise blood glucose, and thus is widely used in food, health care products, beverages, medicine, feed additives and other fields.

High sweetener

Its sweetness is 30-600 times that of sucrose, so it is called high sweetener. At the same level of sweetness, it produces negligible heat, so it is called a non-nutritive sweetener. It is divided into natural and synthetic. Naturally derived sweeteners currently include stevia extract, rosmarinus officinalis extract, and somatosweet; synthetic sweeteners commonly include saccharin, acesulfame, aspartame, and sucralose.

Higher sweeteners have the advantages of high sweetness, low calorie, not easy to caries, mostly not involved in the metabolic process, and have no effect on blood glucose, etc. They are widely used as food additives, and especially can be applied to caries-proof foods, as well as to foods for diabetic patients, obese patients, and other special consumer groups.

It should be noted that sugar alcohols and high-frequency sweeteners, although they belong to the "sugar", but only with sugar alcohols in food can be called "sugar-free food". Simply with saccharin, aspartame, acesulfame and other high-frequency sweeteners prepared food, generally known as no-calorie food or low-calorie food.

Below is a list of foods that have a caloric value of zero. Degrees . Coke as an example of this conceptualization. Market. Sold . A . Coke brand has an ingredient list of: water, fructose syrup, sugar, food additives (carbon dioxide, caramel color, phosphoric acid, caffeine, food flavor); zero . Degrees. Coke. Cola's ingredient list is: water, food additives (carbon dioxide, caramel color, phosphoric acid, caffeine, aspartame, acesulfame, sucralose, sodium benzoate, sodium citrate), food flavor. As you can see, the difference between the two is zero . Degrees . Cocoa . Fructose syrup and sugar are removed from the cola, and the sweetness is provided by sweeteners such as aspartame, acesulfame, and sucralose (sucralose). So, zero . Degrees . Coke may be called a calorie-free beverage, but it is not generally called a sugar-free beverage.

(3) Whether sweeteners are safe for human beings

Any kind of food additive has to undergo a strict safety assessment before it is approved for use. Food safety in China . National . National standard for the use of food additives (GB 2760-2014 ) clearly stipulates the permitted use of sweetener varieties, the scope of use and the maximum amount of use. Therefore, food products with added sweeteners produced by regular manufacturers are safe to eat. However, the safety of consumption of some high-frequency sweeteners, such as saccharin, sweetener and stevia, is still controversial internationally, and it is recommended to minimize intake.

Recently the fire of the "0 calories sugar" food, in fact, is added erythritol, stevia glycosides and other sweeteners. According to . State. National. Standards, fat and sugar content per 100 ml is less than or equal to 0.5 grams, can be labeled "zero fat" "zero sugar", per 100 ml of beverage energy is less than or equal to 17 kilojoules (4 calories) can be labeled "Zero Card The energy per 100 ml of beverage is less than or equal to 17 kilojoules (4 calories) can be labeled as "zero calories". So even if it's a "0 sugar, 0 fat, 0 calorie" drink, it's not the same as a completely sugar-free, calorie-free drink.

In short, any sweetener needs to be consumed in moderation to prevent excessive intake. A large intake of sweeteners has the potential to cause changes in the structure and composition of the human intestinal flora, causing bloating or diarrhea. Adults with better immunity are not a big problem, while for young children whose organs are not yet fully developed, drinks sweetened with sweeteners should not be consumed, or they are likely to cause severe diarrhea. In addition, some studies have found that long-term consumption of large quantities of food containing sweeteners can cause a decrease in glucose tolerance in mice, resulting in increased blood glucose, and in the long run may also appear insulin resistance, and even lead to diabetes and obesity.

In addition, it is necessary to focus on the "aspartame" this kind of high-frequency sweetener. The country. The country. Standards require that foods with aspartame must be labeled "aspartame (containing phenylalanine)" in the ingredient list. This is because people with phenylketonuria, a genetic disorder, are born with a deficiency in an enzyme that impairs the metabolism of phenylalanine. Aspartame, on the other hand, can be broken down into phenylalanine, aspartic acid and methanol by enzymes in the human gastrointestinal tract. Therefore, it is especially important to remind patients with phenylketonuria not to consume foods with added aspartame because they cannot metabolize phenylalanine on their own.

(4) How to choose sugar-free food

The key to sugar-free food is not to add sucrose. However, consumers should not consume sugar-free foods just because they are labeled as such. Some sugar-free foods are still associated with elevated blood sugar and high calorie counts after consumption. For example, sugar-free cookies, sugar-free cake raw material is starch, and in the production process added milk, eggs and a lot of fat. After human consumption, the starch and fat will gradually metabolize into small molecules of glucose, blood sugar will naturally rise. In addition, the "sugar-free" on the milk tea cups only means that it does not have extra sugar, but the various ingredients that make up the milk tea itself contain sugar.

So how do you choose sugar-free food?

1. To choose the regular manufacturers of sugar-free food, relatively speaking, the regular manufacturers production norms, feeding is also more accurate.

2. Look at the ingredient list, not only to see if there is sucrose content, but also consider whether the food itself contains sugar. As mentioned earlier, sugar-free pastries are made of starch, and starch is essentially sugar, which can be broken down into glucose in the human body.

3. Some foods are labeled "no cane sugar", but the ingredient list is labeled sugar or glucose. In fact, sucrose and sugar is the same thing, just called differently. There are also labeled "dextrin", "maltose", "starch syrup", "corn syrup", etc., are sugar. We should pay attention to screening, do not be misled by the business word games.

In short, the choice of sugar-free food, be sure to pay attention to the content of the food labeling, to figure out the significance of the nutritional indicators represented. Priority is given to the addition of sugar alcohols, natural sugar substitutes and functional oligosaccharide food, as little as possible to choose products containing "saccharin", "sweetener", "stevia" and other sweeteners.

Extended reading

What is sugar

In life, we will encounter a variety of sugar, mainly including the following five types.

"Monosaccharides" include glucose, fructose, and galactose, which can be directly digested and absorbed by the body, and are particularly fast in raising blood sugar. Common foods containing monosaccharides include honey, milk, and beets.

"Bisaccharides" include sucrose, maltose, lactose, etc., which need to be broken down into monosaccharides and then absorbed by the body, and the rate of blood glucose elevation is slightly slower than that of monosaccharides. Common foods containing disaccharide include white sugar, brown sugar, milk sugar, pastries, wheat, and glutinous rice.

"Oligosaccharides," also known as "oligosaccharides," include common oligosaccharides and functional oligosaccharides. Common foods containing oligosaccharides include garlic, onions, and soybeans.

Polysaccharides are polymeric carbohydrates consisting of more than 10 monosaccharides, such as starch and cellulose. Common foods containing polysaccharides are cereals, potatoes, rice, pasta, and so on.

"Sugar substitute" is mainly divided into two categories: sugar alcohols and high-frequency sweeteners, which are widely used as food additives.