- Katharina Butsch
- Apr 20
- 5 min read
Updated: May 4
Healthy sweetening with maple syrup, dates or agave syrup?
On sugars and sugar substitutes
A while ago, a mum told me that the parents in daycare are feeding their kids with food that is sweetened with dates, coconut blossom sugar or something similar. She wanted to know whether that actually was more healthy and if she should be sweetening her son's food with dates.
A wonderful question which is not only interesting to young parents. As the general question behind this is whether there are more healthy sugars and whether sugar substitutes are really a better choice if you want to sweeten food healthily.
Types of sugar in food
Sugar substitutes and sweeteners
Healthy sweetening
Summary (Table)
Types of sugar in food
If you've ever looked at the ingredient lists on foods, you probably noticed - sometimes they just say 'sugar' in general. Other times specific sugars are mentioned such as ‘honey’, ‘coconut blossom sugar’ or ‘glucose-fructose syrup’. To understand this better, we first need to clarify what exactly sugar is: In the ingredients list and in common phrases, sugar means table sugar. You may also know it by its biochemical name sucrose. This sugar consists in equal parts of glucose and fructose. It occurs in many plants and is usually industrially obtained from sugar beets or sugar cane. So you may also know this sugar as “cane sugar” or “beet sugar”.
Sucrose is also the sugar found mainly in dates, or the sap of maple trees and coconut palm flowers. You can probably guess what this means - terms like date sugar or coconut blossom sugar are little more than flowery descriptions for sugar. They likely are just meant to sugar-coat (pun intended) the fact the food is sweetened. In principle, the same is true for maple syrup, only that liquid syrup has a relevant water content. Maple syrup therefore contains less sucrose than table sugar, if based on its weight. Of course, maple syrup therefore tastes less sweet, too.
It's different when a food contains honey or agave syrup, as these two sugars mainly consist of fructose. Similar thing with foods that contain malt sugar, also called maltose. This sugar purely consists of glucose. And finally, milk sugar consists of half glucose and half galactose.
Glucose-fructose syrup is an industrially produced, liquid mixture of glucose and fructose. It is different from table sugar in that the ratio of glucose and fructose varies. Whatever is mentioned first in the name is the main ingredient. Glucose-fructose syrup therefore provides more glucose than fructose, while fructose-glucose syrup provides more fructose than glucose. These syrups are usually made from corn and are also referred to as corn syrup. Food produced in Europe usually contains glucose-fructose syrup, while in the USA food is often produced with fructose-glucose syrup. The syrups are not just added as sweeteners, but also to improve shine, stability or shelf life of foods. That's why they can be found in foods in which you wouldn't necessarily expect them, like salad dressings and sauces, or sausages.
Since the sugar types have varying sweetness and the body metabolizes them differently, the composition of a sugar is important for sweetening healthily.
Sugar substitutes and sweeteners
As alternatives to sugars, the food industry also uses so-called sugar substitutes and sweeteners. Sugar substitutes are substances with fewer calories than table sugar, but they are not free of calories. Biochemically, these are primarily sugar alcohols. Never heard of them? Probably yes: Examples include birch sugar (also called xylitol), isomalt, maltitol, mannitol or erythritol. The fact these are reduced in calories and not free of them shows, our bodies can metabolize sugar substitutes - albeit in a different way. Sugar substitutes can also promote the formation of caries, just like sugar.
Sweeteners, on the other hand, are compounds that have nothing chemically in common with sugars. They are free of calories - the body cannot metabolize them - and they do not promote the formation of caries. These compounds include classic sweeteners such as aspartame, cyclamate and acesulfame K, but also stevia.
Healthy Sweetening
Now, what does this all mean for healthy sweetening - is it really healthier to sweeten foods with dates or maple syrup? Since date sugar and maple syrup both ultimately are sources of sucrose, we can achieve the same effect by just using less table sugar. As long as the total amount of sugar in the food is the same, the use of these sugar sources is equally healthy.
However, those who sweeten with honey or agave syrup, or consume processed foods containing fructose-glucose syrup, increase their fructose intake. For healthy eating, this is not advised: Studies have shown that increased fructose intake can lead to significant weight gain. Fructose is considered to be obesity promoting. This is mainly a consequence of fructose intake not raising insulin levels and therefore having a smaller satiating effect than glucose. Additionally, fructose is metabolized to fat in the liver. This fat is transported into fatty tissue to be stored there. However, increased fructose intake can lead to the development of a so-called non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Foods serving primarily as sources of fructose, should only account for a small part of the overall sugar intake in a healthy diet.
But anyone who now thinks the best way to go is using sugar substitutes or sweeteners is also wrong: medical studies have raised health concerns for the consumption of certain sugar substitutes or sweeteners. The WHO has thus pointed out in their guidelines from 2023 that long-term consumption of sweeteners increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes and is not suited to reduce and maintain body weight.
Conclusion: Sweetening is most healthy when the overall amount of added sugar is kept low and contains as little fructose as possible.
Summary
© Nutrinavi | Examples | Glucose/Fructose-ratio | Health-related assessment |
Sugars | Table sugar Maple syrup Coconut blossom sugar Date sugar | G = F |
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Honey Agave syrup Apple syrup Pear syrup Grape syrup | G << F |
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Malt sugar Dextrose | G, (F = 0) |
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Lactose ("Milk sugar") | G, (F = 0) [ + Galactose] |
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Sugar substitutes | Xylitol (“birch sugar”) Isomalt Maltitol Mannitol Erythritol |
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Sweeteners | Aspartame Cyclamate Acesulfame K Stevia |
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* Provided you are not lactose intolerant or have a galactose metabolism disorder
