Knowra Sugar substitute Sugar substitute A sweet-tasting ingredient used instead of sucrose to sweeten foods or drinks. Sugar substitutes include intense sweeteners and bulk sweeteners, with differing effects on calories, blood glucose, and texture.
High-intensity sweetener : A sweetener far sweeter than sucrose, used in small quantities and contributing little or no energy. These ingredients replace sugar’s sweetness but usually not its volume or texture.
Sweet taste receptor : A taste receptor complex that detects sugars and many non-sugar sweet compounds. Many substitutes taste sweet by activating this receptor despite differing from sugar.
Diet soda : A carbonated soft drink sweetened with non-sugar sweeteners instead of conventional sugar. Beverages can use intense sweeteners without needing sugar’s bulk in a solid food.
Added sugar : Sugars added to foods during processing, preparation, or at the table. Substitutes are used to provide sweetness while reducing or eliminating added sugar.
Sugar alcohol : A carbohydrate-derived sweetener, such as xylitol or erythritol, that is incompletely absorbed or metabolized. Sugar alcohols can provide both sweetness and bulk in sugar-free foods.
Aspartame : A low-calorie artificial sweetener made from two amino acids and a methyl group. Its intense sweetness comes from receptor activation at quantities far below those of sugar.
Sugar-free baking : Baking that avoids conventional sugar while using alternative sweeteners and formulation techniques. Heat, moisture, browning, and structure make replacing sugar especially challenging in baked goods.
Saccharin : A non-nutritive artificial sweetener that is hundreds of times sweeter than sucrose. Its long use offers a point of comparison with newer high-intensity sweeteners.
Sucrose : A disaccharide composed of glucose and fructose, commonly known as table sugar. Substitutes are judged by which properties of this familiar sweetener they reproduce.
Steviol glycoside : A sweet compound extracted from Stevia plants, including rebaudioside A and stevioside. These plant-derived molecules provide intense sweetness without supplying sugar-like carbohydrate.
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