Adopting a healthy lifestyle is hard and one of the biggest hurdles many of us face when attempting to turn to a healthy diet is…sugar (cane sugar). We love sugar, we put it in and on almost everything and of course there is hidden sugar, the sugar that has been unnecessarily added to many processed foods.

After years of being conditioned to depend on sugar many of us are addicted and this sugar addiction has created a number of health challenges with our love of sugar being linked to type two diabetes, cardiovascular disease (heart disease and stroke) and obesity.

Reducing our sugar consumption is tough and many of us have tried various strategies. These have included switching from white sugar to brown sugar because we mistakenly think it is healthier but white sugar and brown sugar are very similar, i.e. they provide no nutritional benefit, consist of sucrose and fructose and provide us with quick energy. White sugar is slightly more processed because it is bleached to achieve its colour and brown sugar contains molassess but the bottom line is that high consumption of both brown and white sugar is bad for our health and should be avoided.

Other strategies many employ to reduce their sugar intake include switching to other sweeteners like honey and synthetic sweeteners but again these are not ideal.  Honey is better than cane sugar in that it contains small amounts of vitamin C, vitamin B, calcium and iron (I stress SMALL amounts), it has a lower glycaemic (50 versus 64-68 for brown/white sugar) and so it doesn’t raise our blood glucose levels as fast as cane sugar and research has suggested it is good for our immune system . But, honey is 70-80% sugar and contains more calories than cane sugar so it has to be consumed in moderation. The advice from many nutritionists is that if you don’t have any underlying health issues (diabetes or any issues with your metabolism) then having honey occasionally is ok.

Synthetic sweeteners are also used by many as they have no calories and don’t adversely affect blood glucose levels. Whilst most synthetic sweeteners have been deemed safe by food regulators there are mixed feelings about these products. Early studies linked some sweeteners to cancer and other health conditions but these studies have been refuted with organisations like the National Cancer Institute and the Cancer Research UK stating that they pose no danger to our health. With this in mind use of these products is down to personal preference and how confident an individual feels about the long-term effects of synthetic sweeteners. It is a good option from the point of view of blood sugar levels and calories but if you’d  prefer to stay away from highly processed products then this is not a good option.

There are some newish natural alternatives such as agave nectar and stevia. Agave nectar  has a much lower glycaemic  index (GI is 15) than both white and brown sugar (GI ranges from 65-68) as well as honey (GI is 50), but there are concerns over its high fructose levels which can lead to insulin resistance, diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndrome. Therefore there are questions over whether the benefits of its low glycaemic index are cancelled out by its high fructose content (70-90%) so it’s probably best to avoid agave nectar altogether because as Dr Johnny Bowden has said “Agave syrup is basically high-fructose corn syrup masquerading as health food”

Stevia-based sweeteners are made from the stevia plant and contain no calories. Their sweetness comes from the presence of glycosides which are not stored in our body and are rapidly excreted.  Stevia-based sweeteners have a glycaemic index of zero and hence have no negative effectives on our blood sugar or insulin nor does it contribute to obesity and cardiovascular disease with researchers  writing in The Open Obesity Journal  that “Stevia leaf extract and their constituent phytonutrients promote caloric balance and can be beneficial components of a  healthy dietary lifestyle”

The main components of stevia-based sweeteners are stevia glycosides and safety tests have shown that they pose no harm to our health. There have been concerns over the long-term effects of whole-leaf and crude extracts of stevia, the misrepresentation of stevia-like products which are not stevia but highly refined stevia preparations and the additives that are included in some stevia products.  The recommendation is: if you are going to try stevia  do your research and opt for a high quality product.  A high quality stevia-based product appears to be one of the healthiest alternatives to sugar.

Finally, we’d like to talk about coconut palm sugar which we were recently introduced to at a health and wellbeing day by Mother Nature. Coconut palm sugar is made from the sap of the coconut. It is healthier than cane sugar due to its significantly lower glycaemic index (GI is 35 versus 64-68 for white/brown sugar). It also contains small amounts of fibre, zinc, iron, potassium, calcium, magnesium, vitamin C, short chain fatty acids, phytonutrients and antioxidants, but it does contain fairly high levels of fructose (35-45%). As mentioned previously high levels of fructose have been linked to diabetes, insulin resistance, obesity and metabolic syndrome. The levels of fructose in coconut palm sugar are lower than white sugar (50%) and agave nectar (70-90%) so in this respect it is also better than white sugar and agave nectar. If you need a sweetener and you’d like to have it from a source that is unprocessed then this is a better and  healthier alternative than white cane sugar, but should be consumed moderately due to its fructose content.

The take home message is we should really be avoiding sugar no matter what form it comes in due to its negative effect on our health. If we do need to sweeten the food we eat then a healthy option is using high quality stevia. Alternatively, if you have no underlying blood sugar problem you could occasionally opt for a good quality honey or coconut palm sugar.