Sugar Substitutes: What to Know for Low Carb Diets

Quick Summary: A guide to sugar alternatives, from natural sweeteners like stevia and monk fruit to processed options like Splenda. Includes the truth about “no added sugar” labels, the difference between cane and beet sugar, and which substitutes don’t trigger an insulin response.

Jump to: What Does No Added Sugar Mean? | Cane vs Beet Sugar | Commercial Labeling | Common Sugar Alternatives | Insulin Response | Low Sugar Recipes | FAQ

When I was selling my jams and drink syrups at the farmers’ markets, questions about sugar substitutes came up more than any other topic. In earlier years at the market the questions all focused on organic certification or preservatives. Over time the questions changed to carb counts, what kind of sweetener to use and health pros and cons.

With respect to sugar, much of the information out there is questionable, and some labeling is actively misleading. “No added sugar” doesn’t mean what most people think it means. And some “natural” sweeteners affect blood sugar just as much as white sugar.

Here’s what I’ve learned from years of fielding these questions.

The Problem with “No Added Sugar” Labels

The “no-sugar added” tag on the label for jams is very misleading.  Very often that means the manufacturer is substituting white grape juice or apple juice for pure cane sugar.  These processed fruit juices will do two things:

1. It will mute the flavor of the fresh fruit and allow for less of the volume of the product to be fresh whole fruit
2. It will allow the jam to be less expensive to produce and therefore often less expensive for the consumer.

The travesty is that white grape juice and apple juice is no better for the diabetic or the insulin-resistant than pure cane sugar.  In essence, “less” sugar is not really used, but rather “different” sugar.

If you are in the market for jams or jellies, opt for a jam with real fruit sweetened with sugar rather than a “flavored” jam using grape or apple juice for the sweetener. Go for organic fresh fruit when possible, and look for small batch producers who don’t usually boil the nutrients into oblivion.

Artisan jams (and other products) are frequently more expensive, but you don’t need very much of them to get full flavor, and that in itself can mean less sugar.

Cane Sugar vs. Beet Sugar

Both are refined and processed. Nutritionally, they’re nearly identical: 99.95% sucrose.

For cooking, most home cooks can’t tell the difference. Professional bakers and chefs often prefer cane sugar because it caramelizes better and produces finer textures in some applications.

You pretty much have to know which brand is beet or cane and then buy by the brand name.  I used to use beet sugar because the Crystal brand is a beet sugar that is grown in Minnesota and I tried to stay as local as possible.  

When it was brought to my attention that all beet sugar is a GMO product, I switched to pure cane organic sugar.  Labeling law doesn’t require a cane or beet designation. C & H is the only mass-market producer to do so; other refiners decline.

Bown sugar is where you will see a difference. Brown cane sugar is a combination of sugar and molasses, both of which exist in the sugarcane plant .  It is produced in one step, as part of the natural refining process (crystallization). 

Beet brown sugar is processed differently.  The molasses is stripped off of the sugar granules because beet molasses is not fit for human consumption.  Cane molasses is then added back in to the beet sugar by coating (or painting, as it is called) the beet granules with the molasses.  Because the molasses is not an inherent part of the sugar, it can sometimes by rubbed right off. 

It is true that 99.95 percent of both beet sugar and cane sugar is sucrose.  The remaining .05 percent is made up of trace minerals and proteins, which can have an effect.  Remember that beets are a root, growing below ground and cane is a grass that grows above ground.  This variation might mean something in the mineral make up of the soil in which they grow. 

Sugar by Other Names

Watch for these terms, which are all forms of sugar:

• Cane juice crystals
• Dehydrated cane juice
• Florida Crystals (trademarked brand)
• Evaporated cane juice
• Raw cane crystals

The reliable guide is to look at the grams of sugar per serving on the nutrition label.

The following quote is from Vimlan VanDien, a nutritionist at the respected Bastyr University, in Seattle, Washington:   “One hundred grams of dried cane juice is pretty much the same thing as 100 grams of other sweeteners, no matter what you call it.

When people call these sugars something other than sugar, it’s deceptive in a way. If the market is uninformed. Because dehydrated cane juice is sugar. It simply sounds like a whole food.  But it’s not whole food. If you wanted the whole food, you’d go out in the field and eat the sugar cane, and get all the fiber and nutrients it has.”

Common Sweeteners and What to Know

Honey: A mix of sugars. Usually about 30-40% glucose, 40-60% fructose. Honey does contain some nutrients, but not many. It’s very high in calories. Honey may sometimes be “stretched” with additives, and some imported honeys are reportedly “contaminated.” It’s best to buy local honey.

Molasses: The dark brown syrup left after sugar processing has milled out and crystallized the sugar for refining. After filtering, molasses may have sulfur added to kill bacteria, and stabilize it. Blackstrap molasses contains iron and traces of vitamins and minerals.

Date sugar: Made from pulverized (generally not refined) dates, it contains sucrose, glucose and fructose. It’s low in grams of sugar per teaspoon, low in calories.

Brown rice syrup: Cultured (usually naturally fermented) rice, broken down by enzymes, strained and cooked to a syrup-like consistency. Is also available in powder form.

Fruit juice concentrate: “Reduced” (broken down) peaches, pears, pineapple, white grapes and other fruits are used. Concentrates can be highly refined.

Corn syrup: Cheap to produce, it’s basically glucose with water. Dark corn syrup has food coloring in it.

Best Substitutes for Avoiding Insulin Response

These natural sweeteners have been shown not to trigger insulin production:

• Stevia: Made from a Paraguayan herb, 300 times sweeter than sugar. A little goes very far.
• Monk fruit: Another natural sugar option that doesn’t spike blood sugar.
• Erythritol: A sugar alcohol that doesn’t affect insulin.

You’ll often find these blended together under brand names like Truvia or Swerve.

Note on artificial sweeteners: Research from the Atkins Diet Center suggests aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal) may stimulate insulin production. Sucralose (Splenda) and saccharin (Sweet’N Low) have not shown the same effect.

Dessert Recipes that are Low Carb and Low Sugar

A slow carb lifestyle does not mean you have to forego desserts and sweet treats. There are a ton of good slow carb dessert recipes using sugar substitutes and no refined flour. Here are a few of my favorites:

FAQ

Interested in the Slow Carb Diet? Check out this comprehensive E-Guide on Fat Loss through a Slow Carb Diet.