BE SUGAR WISE!

What is healthier: natural sugar, table sugar or artificial sweeteners?

If there was an award for the most overused food ingredient with the least nutritional value, sugar would likely win in a cakewalk.

We're not talking about sugars naturally found in fruits and vegetables. but about added sugars — mainly plain white sugar and its troublesome twin, high-fructose corn syrup.

There’s really nothing beneficial about sugar — besides the temporary appeasement of your taste buds — but most of us eat way more of it than we should.

Sugar substitutes attract consumers because they’re labeled as being naturally derived, or calorie-free, or simply because they’re not sugar.

But what are sugar substitutes made of? And how do they rank in nutritional value? Are certain sugar substitutes better for you than others?

In this webquest you will work in 5 multinational teams and discover some information related to sugar and its substitutes. 

Team 1:

Sugar & health

We can find added sugars in most processed foods. This includes products that companies advertise as healthy, such as cereals, granola bars, crackers, and juices. What are the consequences of sugar consumption?

Please read the information provided and then fill in the worksheet.

websites: http://www.actiononsugar.org/sugar-and-health/recommended-intake/

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/196024.php

https://foodrevolution.org/blog/sugar-substitutes/

worksheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IFVGluvPfkXX83AXHywqiut1l-lLiZ72jNL3SsPqdFY/edit?usp=sharing

Team 2:

Monk fruit and stevia both come from plants. People use products made from the extracts to sweeten foods and drinks. These products contain very few calories, if any. Please read the information provided and then fill in the worksheet.

website: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322769.php

worksheet 2: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1476AswLfPHSWQJx9Nvv4LMaQGT_Qheb__mzpBcOIJbo/edit?usp=sharing

Team 3:

There are a variety of alternative sweeteners. The FDA have approved six high-intensity sweeteners for food:

• saccharin
• sucralose
• neotame
• aspartame
• advantame
• acesulfame potassium, which is also known as Ace-K

Please read the information provided and then fill in the worksheet about saccharin.

website: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/saccharin-good-or-bad

worksheet 3: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1e9FCRBuq0TaQ6334cCcBT3yjNd9BkjSo_1jp_wNoh7c/edit?usp=sharing

Team 4:

For people interested in sweeteners that contain some sugar and calories, natural choices include:

• fruit juice concentrate
• maple syrup
• honey
• date paste
• agave nectar
• yacon syrup

Please read the information about honey and then fill in the worksheet.

website: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/is-honey-good-for-you#bottom-line

worksheet 4: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QA3kl1dQ3LKi-4-rS9Fn0ntJZ0UC76PEkIbioTfsNX0/edit?usp=sharing

Team 5: 

Sugar alcohols are a type of carbohydrate. They are an alternative to sugar and contain fewer calories. Examples include:

• sorbitol
• xylitol
• lactitol
• mannitol
• erythritol
• maltitol

Please read the information provided and then fill in the worksheet.

website: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/xylitol-101

worksheet 5: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Huk3Vaw9EH6md3qzmqUwmjeVVfGgtSdJEQbWiDK9HM4/edit?usp=sharing

Great work! Now proceed to step 2!

Have a look at the image: https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1QIyIjW2ayDkXsAJINrhBuqBP3XJICUQaUwrFP8WBwPM/edit?usp=sharing

Now work in teams and measure the amount of added sugar in 5 foods/drinks of your choice, from the following categories:

1. soft drinks (e.g. a can of Coca Cola, Mountain Dew, Sprite, Lipton, Monster or another energy drink etc.)
2. sweets (e.g. bars of chocolate: Snickers, Lion, Twix, a pack of Oreo double cream, Sour Pearls, a pack of gummy bears etc.)
3. breakfast (e.g. cereals, almond milk, waffles, fruit yoghurt, sweetened soy milk etc.)
4. frozen ready meals (e.g. lasagna, pizza, tomato soup, burger buns etc.)
5. other ready to eat foods (e.g. barbeque sauce/sweet chilli sauce, a jar of Bolognese sauce, ketchup, chips with sour cream etc.)

Which foods/drinks contain most added sugar? How often do you eat/drink these? Were you surprised by the results?

The last task of this webquest invites you to calculate the amount of added sugar eaten by 2 adolescents during an average day. Fill in the worksheet from the link below:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZV_aXOchbKKdgn6mleHOVHTjSp7dzDon7x8ON02Sd5E/edit?usp=sharing

Now compare the amount you calculated with the recommended dose of sugar intake. Discuss with your team members and think of 3 changes Susan and Tom could make in order to decrease their sugar intake.

A Spoonful of Sugar

In a society that’s made added sugars a primary source of calories, we can see how sugar is harming the health of billions.

And for some people, especially those who are more susceptible to addictive foods and are high on what neuroscientist, Susan Peirce Thompson, PhD, calls the “susceptibility scale,” the taste of sweet foods other than whole fruits — even stevia and dried fruits — can trigger addictive tendencies.

But for many of us, a modest amount of the right kind of sweeteners can add a dash of delight to our culinary lives. And sometimes, a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down.