• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Shubhra Gupta

It's not only airlines and restaurants that offer sugar-free sachets, even the average household stocks them.

To have a sweet tooth is both a blessing and a curse. For those who love sweets, the world is a treasure trove of goodies, but the uncontrollable urge to eat something sweet can also lead to obesity, diabetes and heart disease. You don't have to be a doctor to know that the human body is a machine which uses sugar for fuel.

But trouble begins when you put in more sugar than it has the ability to store, or rather, the extra sugar weakens the mechanism that removes it in order to maintain a healthy balance. If you are physically active, you burn sugar, and keep yourself fit. But adults with sedentary lifestyles, by overdosing indiscriminately on sweetmeats and confectionery, invite type II late-onset, post-30 years diabetes (as opposed to type I infantile diabetes which can plague you as a child), and hypertension.

Sugar-free substitutes have always existed — you will be told that a certain sweet-dish contains no regular sugar, but jaggery, or dates. But it's only in recent years that the use of such substitutes has become commonplace. Now it's not only on airlines and in restaurants that you are offered sugar-free sachets and powders to sweeten your beverages, the average household stocks them too. Apart from Sugarfree, which seems to be the most popular (it's got 80 per cent of the market by virtue of being the first mover), there is the relatively recent entrant Equal; as well as the latest arrival, the `natural' sweetener, Steviocal.

Most people that one spoke to on the merits or otherwise of sugar-free substitutes brought up the `aspartame' issue. A majority of sugar-free substitutes contains aspartame, which many potential users thought would cause harm in the long-term. Actually, according to experts, there is no evidence till date to suggest that prolonged use of aspartame will lead to damage.

"It is absolutely a good thing," says Sanjay Nayyar, CEO, Merisant India, the company marketing Equal, which claims to be the world's number one sweetener, "and in this we are supported by doctors and the WHO."

Awareness-raising is something that these companies are currently engaged in. Nayyar talks about a print campaign they are working on, which will be based on testimonials of long-term, satisfied users. Because he knows that the zero calories Equal promises are also features of other substitutes, the final differentiator is the taste.

"We use the best ingredients, and ours is a clean sugar taste," he says. Both Tarla Dalal and Sanjiv Kapoor, celebrity chefs, have produced recipes which use Equal; Dalal's book is a diabetic's delight — imagine having your gaajar ka halwa and eating it, too!

The trouble with Equal and other aspartame-based additives is that you can't cook or bake with them because high temperatures lessen the sweet taste (it has to be added when the dish cools). For those who want to do both, and for those who want to be aspartame-free, there is Steviocal, which calls itself the `ultimate natural sweetener'.

The Stevia plant, a herb of the chrysanthemum family, and a native of South America, has been used as a sweetener for over 300 years in some parts of the globe. Since the 1970s, according to literature, Japan has used it as the main alternative to sugar (aspartame is banned in the country). It is also supposed to be helpful in controlling the blood sugar levels, and is being touted as a weight-loss aid, because of its zero-calorie properties.

S.K. Srivastava, Director, Rigil, the company behind promoting and marketing Stevia products in India, says that the `sheer goodness' of the product is a winner. Sweeteners as a category is growing, and Rigil is developing a twin-pronged strategy of working with doctors and diabetic forums. He is aware that food habits do not change overnight, but he is bullish about the fact that stevia products are `heat-stable', so you can both cook and bake with them.

He is also aware that the lingering after-taste of sweetness in stevia supplements, approved by a joint FAO/WHO expert committee on food additives in June 2004, can be a bit of a problem. But it is, Srivastava believes, something people can get used to. And as far as pricing is concerned, Steviocal "has already gone backward, because affordability is an issue in a price-sensitive market like India".

Starting from Rs 170 for a 100-tablet pack, it's come down to Rs 85 (it is still significantly higher than both Sugarfree and Equal, both of which are in the Rs 55-65 range for 100 tablets).

Regardless of what you choose, though, it is clear that sugar-substitutes, with or without aspartame, are here. And that's great news for not just diabetics but the generally health conscious as well

Response can be sent to life@thehindu.co.in

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
More than coffee

Copyright © 2004, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line