Can This Natural Sweetener Lower Blood Sugar? by Dr. Joseph Mercola
Many people have a sweet tooth. For some, it can become an addiction,1 fueled by a food industry that continually creates an abundance of highly palatable, inexpensive, ultraprocessed foods. As some companies cash in on a market for lab-created, low-calorie sweeteners, one natural sweetener may help curb your sweet tooth without raising your blood sugar. In fact, it may have the opposite effect.
While manufacturers seek out “perfectly engineered food,”2 the incidence of obesity3 and obesity-related health conditions4 has skyrocketed. Type 2 diabetes is one of the obesity-related conditions that has a significant impact on many of your bodily systems.
People with diabetes have a higher risk of also having heart disease, stroke, glaucoma, kidney disease and high blood pressure.5 It would make sense if the incidence of diabetes and obesity goes down, you could have a positive impact on these conditions that contribute to at least five of the top 10 leading causes of death.6
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The obesity epidemic is one of the most important global public health challenges. Obesity was linked with 4.7 million premature deaths worldwide in 20177 and according to the National Diabetes Statistics Report, 34.2 million people, or 10.5% of the U.S. population, has diabetes.8 By using this sweetener you may reduce your risk of insulin resistance, a primary symptom of diabetes.
Not All Sugar Is Created Equally
Sugar is a carbohydrate9 found in fruits and vegetables and added to food products. Added sugars are usually sucrose (table sugar) and high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Once digestion has started in the stomach, sugars break down into one of three monosaccharides from which other sugars are formed.
These include glucose, fructose and galactose. Glucose is one of the main compounds found in sucrose, lactose and maltose. These are disaccharide sugar compounds commonly found in foods. Fructose is the main type of sugar found in fruits and vegetables and galactose is found mostly in dairy products.
In the West, the most used plant-based sweeteners are sucrose and HFCS, a sweetener made from corn. Evidence shows us that no matter what type of sugar you are consuming, it has a significant effect on your metabolism, even in the healthiest people.
Sugar hides under as many as 61 different names in 74% of processed food products10 and while there are copious numbers of studies over decades demonstrating the damage it does to your health, the industry has managed to bury the evidence and claim it has little to no effect on your health or your weight.
In one 12-week study,11 researchers demonstrated men who ate 650 calories a day of sugar had higher levels of fat in their blood and liver. Interestingly, the researchers separated the two groups into those who had evidence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and those who did not. During the study, each participant followed both diets for 12 weeks.
Lead researcher Bruce Griffin, Ph.D., from the University of Surrey, commented on the results saying,12 “Our findings provide new evidence that consuming high amounts of sugar can alter your fat metabolism in ways that could increase your risk of cardiovascular disease.”
Sugar can also affect your brain, mood and behavior. Several studies have found an association between a rising intake of sugar and an increase in rates of depression.13,14,15
Sugar stimulates the release of dopamine,16 which is a neurotransmitter that plays a role in many important pathways, many of which affect your mood. This is why sugar feels so good and why manufacturers use it to drive your behavior. But, like other addictive drugs, sugar is not healthy.
