Crystal Nelson
Naturally sweet – without calories! Sweeteners promise a lot. But how good are they really? Praxisvita asked for you.
Our brain is addicted to sugar
They are 30 to 3000 times sweeter than table sugar and contain zero calories. And still, make you fat. But that’s not all: Lübeck diabetologist and brain researcher Prof. Dr. By analyzing more than 10,000 studies, Achim Peters has shown that sweeteners can even trigger diabetes. Our brain knows the four tastes sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. But his main interest is all things sweet because that is his fuel. Glucose (dextrose) supplies it with the energy it needs to live. But if we use sweeteners instead of normal sugar, we confuse our brains. The taste buds have passed on the signal “sweet” to it, but after ten minutes it realizes: It’s not getting glucose, but chemicals. It then requests new energy. “If we have fooled our brain several times with sweeteners, it reacts irritably and declares an energy emergency – and that then leads to plan B. And plan B means: eat more,” explains Professor Peters. Cravings now lead us to gain weight and consume even more sweeteners to manage our weight. A vicious cycle begins. Because our brain is an extremely egotistical organ: it mercilessly demands what it needs. But that’s not all: if the body stores are full, the glucose in the blood accumulates.
Sweetener boggles our minds
The blood sugar level rises – and type 2 diabetes is looming. Only if the brain can rely on sweets also providing energy can it order as much food as the body really needs. Only when our brain is “full” are the internal organs, the muscles and finally the fat stores supplied. One of the many proofs for the theory of the egoistic brain: Under extreme conditions of starvation, the internal organs lose up to 40 percent in weight – but the brain shrinks by a maximum of two percent. Studies have also shown that with a proportion of only two percent of body weight, the brain uses 50 percent of the daily glucose requirement. “In stressful situations even up to 90 percent,” explains Peters.
Why diets are pointless
Our brain needs around 130 grams of glucose to do its job. That’s the equivalent of a full cup of sugar a day! So what does the brain researcher recommend as a first step? “Be careful with sweeteners,” is his advice, because: “The shorter we are exposed to these sweeteners in life, the shorter this period, the greater the chance that our metabolic program will recover and we will then become slimmer.” Even if we get older, our brains still have the ability to regenerate. You are on the safe side if you do without artificial flavor additives, which can also irritate the stress system. From the point of view of brain research, the use of sweeteners is malpractice!
Is the sweetener stevia a sham?
The sweetener stevia is now also approved in Germany. Many manufacturers are now expecting a sweet revolution in the German food market. Is stevia a miracle cure or just a sham? dr Udo Kienle from the University of Hohenheim belongs to the small circle of internationally renowned stevia experts and answers the most important questions about sugar in the 21st century exclusively at Praxisvita:
- Should we now sweeten with stevia instead of sugar?
dr Kienle: The fact is: the sweetener has many advantages over sugar: it is harmless to the teeth, has practically no calories, is 300 times sweeter than sugar, and is suitable for diabetics. And compared to other sweeteners, the sweetness of stevia has the bonus that you can cook and bake with it.
- And what are the disadvantages?
In terms of taste, stevia extracts unfortunately still vary. Sometimes the sweetener leaves a bitter or licorice-like aftertaste. This is usually due to the fact that the complex manufacturing process of the products, which are mainly made in China, is not yet fully refined.
- What exactly is Stevia?
Stevia rebaudiana looks like peppermint and originally comes from Paraguay. However: If you expect a natural product from the sweetener, you will be disappointed. The steviol glycosides that end up in the soda have nothing to do with the original plant because they were obtained through a chemical process.
- Alternatively, can’t you just use the leaves of the stevia plant?
The stevia plant is not approved as a food in Germany. Fresh or dried leaves, green powder from dried leaves, and aqueous or alcoholic extracts are also not permitted under food law, because toxicological tests are still missing. In some cases, such products are offered on the Internet or in organic shops or health food stores, circumventing food law. However, this is not permissible and also punishable.
