"Real" or "Artificial"

    First, I apologize for not getting back to my blog for a while. I have moved cross the U.S. and taken a new job that is quite a bit different from my previous job -- so it's been easy to get distracted. I'll try to post more regularly again.
    There is a tendency for people to talk about food items in terms of "real" or "natural" versus "artificial". In reality, there isn't such a dramatic division between the two. Sucrose is "natural" in that it occurs, without chemical manipulation, in nature and in food items. But, table sugar is far from "natural" as it is necessary to do a lot of refining to have it available in the form that we use it. However, although it is not "natural" nor is it "artificial" as the chemical substance is not different from that found in life.
    From the other direction, a chemist can duplicate a chemical compound found in nature. There is no difference between it (which is "artificial") and that which was "natural". Many flavorings, used in food, are of this nature. But there is actually a difference -- the one found in nature is mixed with many other flavors, textures, and other compounds (including inorganic fibers). Nature is rarely "pure". Sometimes this means the laboratory-created ingredient is "better" and sometimes it is not.
    From the previous blogs, we have tried to decide what is the reality behind the names used in marketing of sweeteners. Once again, we find that it is a "gray" area -- some "natural" sweeteners are rarely used as found in nature. Other "artificial" sweeteners may be present in inert (does not interact with other substances) forms -- or they may be metabolized (broken down into building blocks by the body).
    So, which is better? In answering that question, I will first say that I am not a food chemist, researcher, or any person who has a degree in a related area. I am a generalist.
    My general feeling of analysis is based on experiential analysis -- what happens, what can be observed, how is it used? In other words, if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and lays eggs like a duck then it might just very well be a duck or, at least, something you can call a duck.
    When the body tastes something sweet, there are a number of reactions that the body undergoes. This is as a reaction to the quality "sweet". The body will react to this "sweetness" regardless of the source of the quality. Sucrose, Fructose, Sucralose, Stevia, and so forth will all make the body react because it is reacting to the defining quality of "sweetness". We can observe the body salivating. We can observe the swallowing reflex.
    We can not easily observe the internal reactions -- and this is where it is difficult to compare and "prove" results. Although it makes sense that the body will react internally to "sweetness" the same independent of the source -- I cannot prove it. Let's say that it is true -- what does that mean? Mostly, it means the body's metabolism will start trying to process the substances with which it associates sweetness. Insulin will be produced and gastric juices will be increased to break it into smaller building blocks and to store energy.
    So, the body does all these things based on "sweetness". What happens when it is NOT the substance for which the body has developed these reactions? What happens when insulin is released and there is nothing for it to react against? What happens when the metabolism tries to break down an inert substance? What happens when the body says "absorb" and the substance cannot be absorbed?
    I don't know the answers. I can make guesses but I do not know the answers. But I am rather certain that I do not want my body to be used as a test bed to determine the long-term reactions and effects. I know that there are various undesirable effects from refined table sugar -- but I know them and (although not in the refined version which has only been easily available for a century or two) it has been in use by people for a long time.
   "Natural" is not always good. "Artificial" is not always bad. But, in the area of food items, one can also look at it as "what is the body used to", 'how was it designed".
    That's my two cents on the subject. I'll stick to regular sugar. What do you think?

What's in a name: sugar and marketing

   When it comes down to looking at the way that words are used in marketing, the use of sugar is a prime candidate as an example. Have you heard of these terms? Unsweetened, no sugar added, sugar-free, naturally sweetened all seem to suggest a healthy drink or food but you had best examine the ingredient list carefully. What do these terms (and others) really mean? This is a situation where sometimes the literal meaning is usually the one that is "true" but most of us hear what we think it implies rather than what the word says.
   Let's start with the word unsweetened. It is not used consistently even in the market. Sometimes it is used to mean "without sweetness" -- such as unsweetened tea or coffee. However, it is also used for situations where added ingredients include sugar but no separate refined sugar or sweetener is added. For example, tea with cream is a sweetened drink because cream includes various sugars (primarily lactose). Unsweetened cereal means no refined sugar was added to the mix but almost all grains include sugars (maltose, fructose, and sucrose).
   I used to buy a slice of "no sugar added" apple pie at a local restaurant. I love to cook and bake (it's really an at-home chemical laboratory) and know that it is possible to make an apple pie without any added sugar (one does have to do something to "draw out" the moisture from the apples, however, or it will be quite dry) because the apples have enough sugar within. But, it turns out that, at this restaurant, they actually make use of Splenda (sucralose-based) which is an "artificial sugar substitute". So, their definition of "no sugar added" really means "no caloric natural sweeteners added". I guess that it doesn't have the same ring to it -- but it is a lot more direct.
  "Sugar free" is one of my least favorite marketing phrases. Unlike "unsweetened" which, at least sometimes, means no sweeteners are added -- it almost always means artificially sweetened. I guess that "chemically sweetened" doesn't have the same marketing pizazz as "sugar free". I keep hunting for a real sugar-free drink but water seems to be the only one that can be really trusted.
   Finally, there is the term "naturally sweetened". Generally, this does have a meaning -- no refined sugars are added and no artificial sweeteners are included. This does not often mean without considerable sweetness as it usually means that extracted fruit juices are used in combination with the "primary" flavors. For solid foods, it means the same but the added sweetness comes from the other ingredients (like the tea with cream) in the mix.
   So, how do we determine what is actually in the drink or food. Like most foods, one has to learn to read the labels (in countries where nutritional labels are required). First, read the list of ingredients. Ingredients that end with "alose" (NOT "ose" which is at the end of most natural sugars) or "itol" are likely to be artificial sweeteners. Natural sugars end with "ose" or are described with everyday words (sugar (sucrose), corn syrup (maple syrup is the only other included syrup of which I am aware is used). Check the order and frequency. The highest percentage come first but if the list includes sugar AND corn syrup AND fructose then the total might very well be first or second highest amount -- another marketing trick to shift the order of ingredients and help you to think it has less sugar.
   After checking the list of ingredients, one has to look at the nutritional label. In the "carbohydrates" section, it will be broken down into dietary fiber and sugar. The sugar should correspond to the natural sugars in the ingredient list. When you add up the amount of sugar and dietary fiber, it will usually be less than the total amount of carbohydrates. The difference between these two amounts indicates the amount of more "complex" carbohydrates.
   Carbohydrates are a classification of food elements that combine carbon and Hydrogen-Oxygen (think "hydration" -- or water added -- although hydrates are not quite the same as adding water). As from the previous blog on sugars, dietary carbohydrates can also be grouped into saccharides. The simple monosaccharides and bisaccharides are given the name of "sugar" while the polysaccharides are sometimes called "starches". Starches require the body to break them down into simpler molecules before using (as sugars). At any rate, the difference between the total of sugars and dietary fiber and total carbohydrates indicates the amount of "starch". As you can read from my earlier blogs on nutrition, the healthiness of starch depends on the mixture -- the ratio of dietary fiber versus sugar and simple starches should be kept high.
  So, let the "buyer beware" -- the names used (and with many other aspects of life) have multiple meanings and uses. Marketing terms are used to make the consumer interested in the product -- not to inform. I really will talk about differences between "natural" and "artificial" sweeteners in my next blog but I thought that the use of marketing terms and sugar was important to understand first.