Willow Dental Care Network

Home of Family Sedation Dentistry

Sugar: The Sweet & Silent Killer

Although we think you’re sweet enough, we also understand that avoiding all sugar is pretty impossible. In our North American diet we are quite used to imbibing more sugar than we really should. The nice thing is there are a lot of sugar alternatives to help you get that hit of sweet without the extra calories or teeth damaging affects. _Sugar is known to cause your joints and liver to swell. It blocks the absorption of minerals and nutrients. Sugar is a silent killer, according to Vaughn Lawrence, Natruopath & HerbalistSucre_blanc_cassonade_complet_rapadura. Since life is so full of sweet things and we can’t live without some, the only question is, which sugar is best for you?

Toothbrush Confidential has waded through all the data and have constructed this guide to help you decide which sweetener is right for you. Remember all sweeteners should be imbibed in minimal amounts and are best when enjoyed with water and a tooth brushing afterwards. Now let’s get into the sweet!

  1. Sugar – Regular table sugar is the standard in most home baking and coffee shops. This kind of sugar, contains no nutritional value, will spike your blood sugar and feed the bacteria in your mouth that creates cavities. Try to limit in daily life and substitute with one of the sugar options below!

2. Coconut Sugar – is full of minerals and nutrients, it lands lower on the glycemic index and has less fructose than regular sugar. But it has the same amount of calories as regular sugar.

3. Maple Syrup – 100% pure maple syrup, tapped from maple trees is the kind we’re talking about here. The ingredients list should read: Maple Syrup. That’s it. Maple Syrup is sweet, contains antioxidants and is 70% sucrose. Why do you care about that? Sucrose does not up your blood sugar or trigger diabetes the way Fructose might. Fructose is still in maple syrup so it should still be eaten in limited amounts.

4. Agave Syrup – A year or two ago it was the go to sweetener. Much sweeter than regular sugar, you don’t need as much but it is full of fructose and as we mentioned above that’s something you want to avoid.

5. Stevia – Used for years as a natural sweetener, grown directly from the Stevia plant. Stevia will not boost your blood sugar or feed the bacterial in your mouth that causes cavities. A win for sweetness! Unfortunately some people find stevia in it’s natural form to be a bit bitter and in it’s lab created version, like all fake sugars can create a craving for more sweetness.

6. Xylitol, Erythritol and other sugar alcohols – All these sugars will not boost your blood sugar. They taste pretty great and will not create cavities. It seems that the bacteria in the mouth that are causing cavities are unable to digest xylitol, therefore their growth is greatly reduced. The number of acid-producing bacteria may fall as much as 90%. No acid is formed because the pH of saliva and plaque does not fall. After taking xylitol, the bacteria do not stick well on the surface of the teeth and as a result, the amount of plaque decreases. There are a number of products with xylitol, they should still be consumed with some limits however since the long term affects on your overall health have not been fully studied.

7. Monk Fruit – Used for decades in China to battle diabetes, Monk Fruit will not boost your blood sugar, has no calories and is full of antioxidants,the clear winner in our studies. The sugar created form isn’t the best for baking, but will sweeten your coffee.

8. Brown Rice Syrup – Contains no nutrients but also no fructose! It won’t up your blood sugar and can be used instead of maple syrup.

Overall Toothbrush Confidential has to side with our dentists. Limit the amount of sugar and choose fresh fruit and veggies over sugar laden treats. And if you are going to indulge, wash it down with water and make certain to brush your teeth afterwards. Life is too full of wonderful sweets that we cannot live without … so here is the challenge to create with a better choice of sugar.

  • Recent Posts

  • Contact Us

    "*" indicates required fields

    This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.