Be Sweetener Smart

Pink packets, blue packets, yellow packets…there are so many low-calorie choices for sweetening your coffee and other beverages. And not just beverages, these sweeteners are found in everything from cookies to gum. Low-calorie sweeteners, also called non-nutritive sweeteners or sugar substitutes, are widely available alternatives to caloric sweeteners and provide a sweet taste without significant calories.

Read on to brush up on your sweetener smarts.

Aspartame
Aliases: Nutrasweet, Nutrataste, Sugar Twin, Equal, AminoSweet, “the stuff in the blue packet”

Aspartame, which was discovered in 1965, is 200 times sweeter than table sugar, and although it has calories it takes so little to mimic the sweetness of sugar that it’s considered a low-calorie sweetener. Aspartame is used as a tabletop sweetener and is also used in low-calorie beverages, chewing gum, gelatins, dessert mixes, puddings and fillings, frozen desserts and yogurt. It can also be used to sweeten some pharmaceuticals like vitamins and sugar-free cough drops. Foods that contain aspartame should report this on their label because individuals born with phenylketonuria (PKU) can’t metabolize phenylalanine, an amino acid found in aspartame.

Sucralose
Aliases: Splenda, “the stuff in the yellow packet”

Sucralose, which was discovered in 1976, is a non-caloric sweetener and is about 600 times sweeter than table sugar. Sucralose is used in commercial products such as diet drinks, and is relatively stable at high temperatures so it can be used in some baking and cooking capacities.

Saccharin
Aliases: Sweet n’ Low, Sweet Twin and Necta Sweet, “the stuff in the pink packet”

Saccharin was discovered over a century ago, and has been used as a non-caloric sweetener in foods and beverages for more than 100 years. It is 300 times sweeter than table sugar. Today saccharin is used in a wide range of low-calorie and sugar-free foods and beverages, including tabletop sweeteners, baked goods, jams, chewing gum, canned fruit, candy, dessert toppings and salad dressings as well as cosmetic products, vitamins and pharmaceuticals.

Acesulfame potassium
Aliases: ace-K, acesulfame K, or, Sunette, Sweet One, Sweet & Safe

Ace-K is a low-calorie sweetener approximately 200 times sweeter than table sugar, and unlike several other artificial sweeteners, it is stable at high temperatures. Ace-K is usually combined with other sweeteners such as sucralose and aspartame to give foods and beverages a more sugar-like taste and to reduce the total amount of sweetener needed. Ace-K is used in thousands of foods and beverages, including desserts, puddings, baked goods, soft drinks, candies and canned foods. It is also used in oral hygiene products.

Rebiana
Aliases: PureVia, Truvia, Stevia

Rebiana is high-purity extract of rebaudioside A, a sweet-tasting compound found in stevia leaves. Once refined, it is about 200 times sweeter than table sugar. In the U.S., rebiana is used mostly in beverages, and is also sold in health food stores as an herbal sweetener in powdered or liquid forms.