Some Thoughts On Sweeteners

[tex]

Hi All,

About twice a week, I usually eat pancakes for breakfast, (rather than the usual bacon and eggs). I use Pamela's Pancake And Baking Mix. It contains dairy and tapioca ingredients, but fortunately, those don't bother me. It makes superb pancakes.

Before my symptoms started, I ate sweets as if my purpose here on earth was to see how much sugar I could consume every day, and I did that for decades. (Amazingly, I didn't have a weight problem). I'm convinced that when my symptoms began, all that excess sugar consumption for years, was the cause of my leaky gut syndrome. As a result, while I was healing, I had to avoid all but small amounts of virtually all types of sugar - except for maple sugar. For example, I could drink one Coke each day, with high fructose corn syrup, (HFCS), but if I drank two, it would make me sick the next day. (So I cut them out, completely, along with all other sources of HFCS).

Polly and Shirley clued me in about the maple sugar. I don't know what there is about it, and I don't know if this applies to anyone other than me, but maple sugar was the only sugar that I could eat, without getting sick, when I was recovering. Today, I seem to be able to eat pretty much any type of sugar I want, but I eat much less of it than I used to, simply because I don't crave it as much, anymore.

Okay, back to the pancakes - I usually use maple syrup on those pancakes. A few weeks ago, I ran out of maple syrup, and I went to the local grocery store, (which doesn't stock maple syrup, because it's located in a one-horse town), and I picked out a couple of popular, name-brand containers of syrup, suitable for pancakes. Of course, the source of their sweetness was a blend of corn syrup, and HFCS. I tried the first one, and for a few hours after eating, I had a heavy, sort of over-stuffed feeling, but it didn't actually make me sick, just uncomfortable. This happened every time I tried it. When I tried a second brand, the same thing happened.

A few days ago, I had to get a refill on some prescriptions, and since the pharmacy I use is located in at least a two or three-horse town, I was able to pick up some pure maple syrup, while I was there. Problem solved. The pancakes, (with maple syrup), that I had yesterday morning were great. They went down smoothly, and they behaved themselves, afterward. No heavy, over-stuffed feeling - no discomfort at all.

The main sugar in pure maple syrup is sucrose, (plain old table sugar), which is the sole sugar in the "fancy" grade syrups. The darker grades of syrup contain a small amount of fructose and glucose. So what is it about maple syrup that makes it so much easier for me to digest than any other type of sugar?

Obviously, corn syrup, and HFCS is not as easy to digest as "real" sugar, (sucrose), and therefore not "equal" to all other types of sugar, as is claimed by those who promote these alternative sweeteners.

Tex

[JoAnn]

Tex, thank you for the information about sweeteners. I know I avoid anything but the real sugar now. I was wondering if you have any experience or information about Agave. I've bought some, and have used it a couple of times and it seems to be OK, but I'm not sure. It's thin like a syrup. Thanks, JoAnn

[tex]

JoAnn,

Agave seems to be gaining in popularity, but I have to admit that I've never tried it. Maybe someone else here has used it and can provide some insight on it.

Here's what Wikipedia says about it:

Production

To produce agave nectar from the Agave tequiliana plant, juice is expressed from the core of the agave, called the piña.[2] The juice is filtered, then heated to hydrolyze polysaccharides into simple sugars. The main polysaccharide is called inulin or fructosan and comprises mostly fructose units. The filtered, hydrolyzed juice is concentrated to a syrup-like liquid a little thinner than honey that ranges in color from light to dark depending on the degree of processing.

Agave salimiana is processed differently to Agave tequiliana. As the plant gestates it starts to grow a stalk called a "quiote".[3] The stalk is cut off before it fully grows, creating a hole in the center of the plant that fills with a liquid called "aquamiel". The liquid is collected daily and the fructans hydrolysed by enzymes into fructose and dextrose.

An alternative method used to process the agave juice without heat is described in a United States patent for a process that uses enzymes derived from the mold Aspergillus niger to hydrolyze the polyfructose extract into fructose.[4] A. niger fermentation is "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.[5]

Composition

Agave nectar consists primarily of fructose and glucose. One source[6] gives 92% fructose and 8% glucose; another[7] gives 56% fructose and 20% glucose. These differences presumably reflect variation from one vendor of agave nectar to another. Agave nectar's glycemic index and glycemic load are comparable to fructose, which in turn has a much lower glycemic index and glycemic load[8] than table sugar (sucrose).[9]

However, the extremely high percentage of fructose can be deleterious and can trigger fructose malabsorption, metabolic syndrome,[10] hypertriglyceridemia, decreased glucose tolerance, hyperinsulinemia, and accelerated uric acid formation.[11][12][13]

(The red emphasis is mine, obviously). Inulin is a fructooligosaccharide, (FOS), of course, which has the notorious reputation of being used as a prebiotic, but for most of us, it seems to promote the growth of "bad" bacteria as much or more than it promotes the propagation of "good" bacteria, so that characteristic is rather troubling. Also, the high fructose content in general, concerns me, since that is probably the main problem with HFCS.

Sorry that I can't offer first-hand experience. I seem to be sort of stuck in a rut with my food choices - I eat the same things day after day, and seldom venture away from them.

Tex

[Polly]

Very interesting, Tex. I have no idea either.

Love,

Polly

[Tanya Lynn]

Tex,

I was craving some pancakes just the other night and found a recipe
for GF,DF, and EF pancakes. I tried it and they were horrible.... I was
so disappointed and they ended up in the trash.

I always use maple syrup, I love the taste only bad thing is it's so
expensive. I'm glad to know about the difference in the type of sugar
that's in maple syrup. You are just a walking, talking Google-Guy...

I just love what you said:
"One horse town"
I'm sure alot of people here have never heard that expression.

I use to always make pancakes with Pamela's brand and they were
wonderful, you couldn't really tell that they are gluten free. But now
since I can't have any dairy, I haven't been able to find a replacement.

Hope you have a great day,
Tanya

[tex]

Tanya,

Did you try this one?

http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7284

There are a couple of GF flour blend recipes in this thread:

http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7130

I have to admit that I've never tried it, but have you tried Trader Joe's GF Pancake Mix? It's also dairy-free.

http://www.glutenfreeportland.org/2009/ ... affle-mix/

Also, if those don't hit the spot, you might try their ready-made GF pancakes. They're also dairy-free, and some folks say that they're better than the mix.

http://glutenfreepost.com/?p=470

Speaking of "one-horse" towns, I live in the narrow blackland farming strip that runs parallel with I35, and just east of it, and since cotton production fell out of fashion, (about 40 years ago), most of these little towns around here are lucky to qualify as even a one-horse town. Except for those right on I35, or those that have been swallowed up by Austin, of course.

Tex

[Delta]

Great information. I still use the real maple sugar, but have also found that pure grade A agave nectar does not cause me any issues either. It like maple sugar is super sweet so I seem to use a lot less.
I use Pamela's products and love to make blueberry pancakes, I recently tried the new GF Bisquik and they were the best I've had in 1 1/2 yrs of GF diet, except that I reacted

[tex]

Dan,

Thanks for the report on the new GF Bisquick - I had forgotten that it was available. That's a heck of a note that you had an adverse reaction, though. I wonder why? The ingredients appear to be safe:

Rice Flour, Sugar, Leavening (baking soda, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate), Modified Potato Starch, Salt, Xanthan Gum.

It doesn't even contain tapioca flour, (which Pamela's does), let alone the cultured buttermilk that's used in Pamela's mix. All in all, I would think that the GF Bisquick might be a real winner as a pancake mix for people with multiple intolerances - except for the fact that you reacted to it. That's not a good sign, obviously.

Tex

[Delta]

I'm not sure why. It could have been a coincidence and been something else. I usually am stubborn enough to try things several times to be certain, I just haven't given it a 2nd round yet.

[tex]

Hahahaha. I'm a lot like you - usually I can't keep myself from trying it again, just to see if the first time or three was a fluke, but every now and then, for some reason or other, once is enough to satisfy me.

Great photos, by the way.

Thanks for sharing,
Tex

[Zizzle]

Fellow sugar addict here! I love a Coke here and there, but tend to get my sugars from fruit and very watered down fruit juice (lots of it). I grew up always having "bug juice" (watered down anything) at the dinner table. Couldn't understand those families that only offered milk or water. Now my kids have my same bad juice-drinking habit. We steer clear of all articifial sweeteners.

We use lots of maple syrup (you can buy a fairly inexpensive large bottle at Trader Joe's) and honey (my parents have beekeepers at our farm in Guatemala). When my daughter was having weight gain issues, I was advised to add maple syrup to her milk and food because it has the most calories of any sweetener. Not sure if that's true. I liked that is it not overprocessed. I also buy raw (turbinado) sugar and try to add molasses to hot cereals (lots of iron). I'm not anti-sugar - I grew up sucking on sugar cane at the farm! Of course my grandparents lost all their teeth from sucking on sugar cane before bed every night to help them sleep!

I've tried Agave Nectar, but it seems no better (chemically) than regular table sugar and is fairly processed. Dr. Mercola does not recommend it for this reason. He has analyzed all the properties of sweeteners and seems to prefer Stevia.

I'm curious whether folks here think too much sugar aggravates the MC and D? I know it can draw more water into the instestines, but does it make a noticeable and problematic difference?

[tex]

This may not apply to anyone else here, of course, but if my memory is accurate, alcohol is the number one cause of the leaky gut syndrome, (LGS), and sugar is the number two cause. I'm convinced that my high sugar intake for decades, eventually triggered LGS, resulting in most/all of my digestive system issues. Except for maple sugar, I had to eliminate all but traces of all other types of sugar, for a couple of years, in order to allow my gut to heal. That probably would not have been necessary, if sugar hadn't triggered LGS for me.

Any form of enteritis, (inflammation of the intestines), causes the small intestine to drastically curtail the production of certain enzymes that are used to split the complex sugars. Lactase is the first to go, (and the last to return, after the gut heals), but the extent of the damage determines whether, (or how many), other enzymes are affected. As best I can tell, very few of us have significant problems with the attenuation of the production of enzymes, other than lactase, and we are all subject to a lactase deficiency, during a flare. Even a simple case of the flu will virtually always cause a drastic drop in lactase production, for at least a few days.

Other than the enzyme issue, sugars should not significantly affect MC, because we cannot develop an autoimmune reaction to sugars - only proteins can trigger true food sensitivities, and that apples to histamine reactions as well, (including those that result in anaphylactic shock).

Tex

[Polly]

Hi All,

Dr. Fine believes that the major cause of MC is an imbalance of the bacteria in the colon - the "good" (helpful) bacteria becomes overpowered by the "bad" bacteria. Furthermore, he believes that sugar in the diet is favorable to the growth of the "bad" bacteria, so I guess sugar could actually precipitate MC, or certainly at least make it worse.

Love,

Polly

[tex]

so I guess sugar could actually precipitate MC, or certainly at least make it worse.

Well, that certainly appears to be true in my case, (though I don't consider my case to be typical). I'm unable to decide whether sugar simply sets up a favorable environment for the development of MC, or if it can somehow directly trigger the disease. Either way, a high-sugar diet appears to be an accident waiting to happen, for someone with genes that predispose to MC.

Love,
Tex