By Elena Voropay

Sugar-free foods for the 21st century are what fat-free used to be for the 20th - an effortless way to lose weight without any noticable sacrifice. Many diet beverages, candies, cakes, gum, gelatin, pudding, cookies, and other food products have removed real sugar from their list of ingredients and added sugar substitutes. Are artificial sweeteners a better option than sugar? The first artificial sweeteners, cyclamate and saccharin, were later linked the development of cancer in laboratory animals. Cyclamate was removed from the market. Similar test results with saccharin reduced its product use as well.

Aspartame is a naturally occurring amino acid 180 times sweeter than sugar. You might recognize it by the name "Nutrasweet," the most frequently consumed sugar substitute. Although the taste of Nutrasweet is well accepted, some people experience side effects that include nausea, burning with urination, and headaches. Infants, children, or adults with phenylketonuria should never consume the product, as it will increase the phenylalanine in their blood to dangerously high levels. However, according to the journal Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease, only a small segment of the population-one out of every 16,591-actually has this condition (called phenylketonuria, or PKU), in which one cannot properly metabolize phenylalanine, one of the amino acids in aspartame.

Isomalt is made from beet sugar using glucose and fructose. It looks and tastes like sugar but only has half the calories of sugar. The reason for the reduced calorie content is because human enzymes digest isomalt in much smaller amounts and more slowly than sugar. As a result, blood sugar and insulin levels do not change following consumption of low GI isomalt. The human body uses about 50% of isomalt because it belongs to a fibre group known as "low digestible carbohydrates". These stimulate bowel activity and help counteract constipation by acting like fiber.

In addition, although there is conflicting data on the effects of sugar substitutes on the unborn fetus or infants, it is advisable not to consume artificial sweeteners during pregnancy and lactation.

Acesulfame-K (called "Sunette") is another sweetener used in dry mixes and in chewing gum. Unlike aspartame, acesulfame-K is heat stable and can be used in baked products. Acesulfame-K is 200 times sweeter than sugar and has no calories.

Splenda, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1988 as an acceptable sweetener, is approximately 600 times sweeter than sugar by weight. Splenda is a Sucralose that is made from sugar, but is derived from sucrose. For that reason Splenda is presumed to be safe and natural, and most dietitians attribute it to the "best" sugar substitute available.

Chemically, sucralose becomes a chlorocarbon made from sucrose through a process that selectively substitutes three atoms of chlorine for three hydrogen-oxygen groups on the sucrose molecule. Sucrose is a natural simple sugar, but sucralose is not. It isn’t recognized as sugar by the body and therefore is not metabolized.

According to some lab tests, Chlorocarbons are known to cause organ, genetic and reproductive damage, swelling of the liver and kidneys, calcification of the kidneys, fertility and gastrointestinal problems. Splenda has been found to shrink the thymus gland--a foundation of the immune system--by 40 percent.

Sugar substitutes are undergoing constant development, but remember that these are chemical dirivatives and nothing can replace the natural goodness of real foods.No artificial sweetener made in the laboratory is going to be neither natural to the body nor safer than unprocessed sugar. As with any food, it is important that we consume sugar substitutes in moderation and only as part of an overall healthy diet.