Faqs
Faqs

What are sweeteners?

Sweeteners are food additives that act as sweetening agents. Sweeteners have no or virtually no calorific value, whether calories or joules, and are produced by synthetic means.

 

How safe are sweeteners?

Sweeteners have been tried and tested for generations. Their safety has been put to the test scientifically time and again – almost more than any other food additive. Many international studies have shown that sweeteners are quite harmless to health. Süssina and Süssina Gold are manufactured from ingredients subject to very strict controls. The sweeteners used come under both national and European legislation and the quality standards these impose.


Prejudices against sweeteners

As sweeteners are produced synthetically, many people still have reservations about them. Words such as “chemical” or “artificial” are frequently used. This prejudice is wholly unfounded.

Medical science has demonstrated that very many people have a greater allergic reaction to substances occurring naturally in fruit and vegetables than to additives in industrially manufactured foodstuffs.

 

Two features characterize sweeteners best:

•  Sweetening strength, i.e. capacity for sweetening (e.g. 1 Süssina tablet equals 6g sugar)

•  The flavor quality of the sweetener.

As sweeteners are among the most-investigated additives, if correctly used they are harmless to health.

 

Maximum consumption of sweeteners

Exceeding the ADI (Acceptable Daily Intake) is almost impossible normal circumstances, even if you eat a lot of products that contain sweeteners every day.

There is no defined maximum quantity for the consumption of sweeteners that can be considered the threshold of a toxic effect. The World Health Organization specifies an individual ADI value for every food additive (and thus for every individual sweetener), which describes the lifelong harmless daily consumption per kilo of body weight.

ADI values per kilo of body weight:*

Acesulfame: 15 mg

Aspartame: 15 mg

Cyclamates: 11 mg

Saccharin: 5 mg

*Source: Deutscher Süssstoffverband, January 1999

What is an ADI value?

The ADI (Acceptable Daily Intake) value puts a figure on the acceptable daily consumption of an additive in milligrams per kilo of body weight that people can consume throughout their lives without it being injurious to their health.

The basis for determining ADI values is generally long-term studies carried out on animals. They establish the highest dose at which no health-related effects can be detected. This No Effect Level (NEL) divided by the safety factor of 100 gives the ADI value.

For example, if the NEL is 100 mg per kg of body weight, the ADI value is 1 mg per kg of body weight. The mixtures of sweeteners used in many products reduces the ADI of an individual sweetener still further, because sweetener combinations work synergetically on the sweetening strength and are therefore dosed substantially lower.

The ADI value is a kind of “safety guarantee” – not to be confused with a threshold level for toleration or even a risk level of sweeteners. It assumes lifelong consumption and must not be assessed in terms of quantities consumption on an individual day. The ADI is a whole-life value, and does not relate to a single day or a single meal.

ADI values per kilo of body weight:*

Aspartame: 40 mg

Cyclamate: 11 mg

Saccharin: 5 mg

*Source: Deutscher Süßstoffverband, January 1999

 

What does “Contains phenylalanine” mean?

This warning is intended solely for the tiny percentage of the population that suffers from a rare disorder of the metabolism called phenylketonuria (PKU). For all other consumers except pregnant women, this warning has no significance. Phenylketonuria is a very rare inherited disorder that prevents the natural and (for the human organism) important protein constituent phenylketonuria being broken down and metabolized in the normal way.

 

What is the difference between sweeteners and sugar substitutes?

There are some major differences between sweeteners and sugar substitutes such as xylose, isomalt, mannitol, sorbitol, fructose, etc.:

•  Sweeteners supply no calories or mass, and have substantially higher sweetening strength, no influence on the increase in blood sugar and no laxative effect.

•  Sugar substitutes supply calories, mass and volume like sugar, have sweetening strength similar to sugar and in large quantities have a laxative and flatulent effect.

In short, sugar substitutes (e.g. sorbitol, etc.) have no critical advantage over sweeteners.

 

Losing weight with sweeteners?

With exercise and appropriate care with fatty foods, losing weight is generally possible.

With sweeteners you don't have to give up good meals. They also make it easier to lose weight and, once down, keep it down for good Sweeteners have no influence on the hunger-satisfaction mechanism. They supply virtually no calories and have no side effects on health.

Claims that sweeteners increase appetite supposedly because they affect insulin levels have been scientifically disproven. No sweeteners have a stimulating effect on insulin or blood-sugar levels.

 
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