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Substantial reviews of the most recent evidence report a strong relationship between the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and adverse health effects, such as the prevalence of obesity and metabolic diseases. Various public policies were recently undertaken by many countries in the hope of reducing sugar-sweetened beverage consumption amongst their population. This has led the food industries to promote low-calorie sweeteners (sugar substitutes) as a healthy alternative that would limit caloric intake without compromising the sweet taste of food and beverages. However, is the use of low-calorie sweeteners as a means of limiting or reducing energy intake without consequences for our health? This review aims to discuss the effects of low-calorie sweeteners consumption on health and to elucidate whether their use should be recommended by health professionals to their patients as part of weight management.Les édulcorants de la controverse.La littérature révèle un lien important entre la consommation de boissons sucrées et des effets néfastes sur la santé humaine, comme la prévalence de l’obésité et des maladies métaboliques. Différentes stratégies ont été adoptées par de nombreux pays afin d’inciter la population à réduire leur consommation de boissons sucrées. Les industries alimentaires ont, quant à elles, promu les substituts de sucre (ou édulcorants), les présentant comme une saine alternative qui permettrait de réduire l’apport calorique sans avoir à compromettre l’agréable goût sucré des aliments et des boissons. Toutefois, l’utilisation des substituts de sucre comme moyen de limiter ou de réduire l’apport énergétique est-elle sans conséquence pour la santé ? Cette revue vise à discuter des différents effets associés à la consommation d’édulcorants sur la santé et à élucider si leur utilisation devrait être recommandée par les professionnels de la santé à leurs patients dans le cadre de la gestion de leur poids.

Sweet solutions are one of the most widely used nonpharmacologic analgesics used for newborns. They alleviate mild to moderate pain induced by painful procedures. They are used daily in neonatal intensive care units before a venepuncture or a heel stick, especially for a blood-sugar measurement. It is agreed that analgesic sweet solutions do not modify glycemia results. This nevertheless remains a recurrent question that the present review attempts to answer.

Artificial Sweeteners are food additives increasingly developed by the food industry.Study of the consumption of sweeteners in diabetic patients.This prospective cross study performed using a questionnaire to 100 patients recruited at random outpatients of the National Institute of Nutrition. Data on the BMI,the blood sugar were found in clinical records.94% of diabetics have at least heard of sweeteners and 50% use it regularly. Sweetener table are the most consumed sweeteners, in order of frequency Saccharin, Sucralose and Aspartame, used to sweeten coffee and tea. The trade products "light" are consumed by 29% of patients. Yet consumers have no real information on these products. There was no statistically significant correlation between the consumption of sweeteners and BMI, balance and diabetes evolution. A statistically significant correlation was found between consumption and socio-economic and cultural development of patients.The education of diabetic patients should include information of patients on these sweeteners, their interest, their against-indications and adverse reactions.

Recent studies have demonstrated that the sweet-sensing receptors T1R2/3, thought to be "taste receptors" specifically expressed in lingual system, are also expressed and involved in the chemo-detection of sweetening molecules circulating in other organs. Researches that focus on their roles in intestinal absorption, metabolic regulation and glucose homeostasis, in particular, are increasing. Indeed, the sweet-sensing receptor could provide a new therapeutic target for certain metabolic disorders and diseases like obesity and diabetes. If the natural and artificial sweeteners agonists are diverse and well known, the "anti-sweeteners" antagonistic molecules are a class of compounds that received very little attention until now. Their potential roles and pharmacological relevance outside the taste system are discussed. Moreover, the recent finding that 2 major classes of compounds belonging respectively to the fields of medicine (fibrates) and agriculture (phenoxy-herbicides) are potent inhibitors of human T1R3 receptor is reported, raising new questions about their potential impact on human metabolism.

The observation of parallel increase in the prevalence of obesity and consumption of sweet beverages has drawn the attention of the scientific community on the possibility of a link between these tendencies at the population level. Clinical and epidemiological evidence support the possibility of a relationship between consumption of sweet beverages and the occurrence of obesity and diabetes. The precise mechanisms of these associations need further clarification. Nutritional education programs aiming at reducing sweet beverage intake in experimental schools have lowered the occurrence of obesity as compared to control schools. Energy intake via beverages is less efficiently regulated than energy from solid foods. Strategies for obesity and diabetes prevention should incorporate not only increasing physical activity, improving fatty acid quality of food items, but also reducing energy intake from beverages.

As the prevalence of obesity and diabetes are continually increasing, the use of "false sugars" otherwise known as sweeteners, and their associated health issues are being more and more discussed. A higher sugared power, less calories as well as a moderated or non-existent effect on blood sugar would lead to believe that sweeteners are helpful. However, we CANNOT say that they are THE solution as they can contain calories, may have some undesired effects, and moreover they ease the conscience without actually allowing a weight loss with their sole use. They are to be used with judgment, wittingly and especially when comparing sweetened products. The sweetener myth is often far from reality. It is therefore important to give our patients the means to analyze their dietary intake with regard to their sweeteners ingestion.

Sugars ingested outside of meals play an important role in the etiology of caries. In this respect, sugar substitutes present a very interesting alternative. In addition to the recommendations and usual care to their patients, dental surgeons also have to inform them on a dietetic level. Chewing sugar-free chewing gum after any light meal when it is not followed by a brushing presents a real interest. The authors describe the different polyols and their respective uses. Polyols are widely found in foodstuffs (sweets, chewing-gum, biscuits, cooked meals for diabetic), pharmaceutical products (syrups, pastilles to be sucked, various medicines), non-pharmaceutical chemists (toothpastes, mouth-washes...). By the light of the most recent published works, the particular properties of xylitol are described. Polyols are more particularly indicated for sugar-eater or sick children (syrups), and for those carrying a hight risk of developing caries (progressive polycaries, hyposialie...). Therefore polyols are not only a means of stabilizing some pathologies (diabetes, obesity) but also a weapon in the prevention of dental caries.

The Continental Blockade was established by the Decree of Berlin (1806). Scientists, manufacturers, and politicians were interested in grape sugar as a substitute for cane sugar. Grape sugar had been extracted and refined by Proust (1754-1826), in Spain, on a laboratory scale. He was invited by the Government to search a way of producing grape sugar on an industrial scale. As a scientist, he accompanied manufacturers in their assays. The matter is closed about 1811. It throws light on aspects of scientist's relationship, and part of authorities in the birth and failure of an agricultural industry. It signs the transition from an economic system directed by the Government to a system managed by manufactuers. This story forcasts the partition between scientists and manufacturers which will increase in France during all the century. As his compatriot Volney, Proust was an ideologue, searching for basic, general laws and useful science.

The research on beetroot sugar began in Germany with Marggraf and Achard and gained in importance in France during the Continental Blocade, more directly with the work of Chaptal and Delessert. The industry born from this sugar, the only product which could favorable replace cane sugar from the West Indian colonies, was developed thanks to Napoleon I. The Emperor brought his support and large grants to the manufacturers who had launched themselves in the production of this sugar substitute. If Chaptal, a former minister who was certainly one of the most significant pioneers in this field, was a beetroot grower and sugar manufacturer on the grounds of Chanteloup near Amboise; numerous other industrialists established themselves in France in areas of beetroot cultivation which quickly occupied vast surfaces in certain regions. It is the history of beetroot sugar, its economic importance and the beetroot industry in France, from its origins until the end of the First World War, that we will present here.

In ancient times, the medicaments used to be sweetened with honey. Subsequently, the Arab apothecaries progressively replaced it by sugar, as witnessed by their formularies, that were known as grabadins. These were introduced to the West as from the XIth century A.D. The latin world also produced its very own formularies, of which the Antidotarium magnum (circa 1100) and the Antidotarium Mesuae (appearing at around the same period) are the most famous. The latter accords to sugar a place of honour and has recourse to it for the best part of the formulae intended for internal usage (namely syrops, julebs, electuaries, loochs, aromatic powders, condita, conservae, etc.) whilst not abandoning the use of honey.

Ultraviolet spectrophotometry can help determined the quantity of paracetamol and acesulfam-K when mixed. The isosbestic wavelength (lambda iso) and the absorbency at the wavelength (Aiso) determined with equimolecular solutions or by annulation of the first derivative at 226 nm for paracetamol determination and at 242.5 nm for acesulfam-K determination can be used.

Clinical studies have demonstrated the caries promoting effects of sugar based gum when compared with non sugar chewing controls. Sucrose gum has been shown to stimulate plaque growth and increase its adhesivity. Acid produced in plaque and mixed saliva whilst chewing sugar gum is counteracted by the buffering action of mastication induced saliva. However the vast majority of studies measuring plaque pH has demonstrated acidification of plaque during use of sugar gum into the decalcifying zone (pHor = 5.5), or after the gum is taken out. Sugar gum causes a more pronounced fall in plaque pH in individuals with an increased caries risk compared to the pH drop in more caries resistant individuals. Sorbitol, by itself or in combination with mannitol is slowly converted to acids by the plaque microorganisms. Chewing gums sweetened with these sugar alcohols do not cause a critical acidification of the plaque and appear not to promote caries in the clinical trial. Twelve weeks use of sorbitol chewing gum has been shown to induce a plaque more adapted to form acids from this sugar alcohol. This adaptation has been shown to persist for up to twelve weeks after cessation of the use of the sorbitol gum. Xylitol has generally been considered non-cariogenic because of its non-fermentability by most important plaque microorganisms. Plaque pH and pH of mixed saliva is increased during and following the use of xylitol based chewing gum. Prolonged use of xylitol or xylitol containing chewing gum reduces Streptococcus mutans counts in plaque and saliva, at the same time fostering remineralization of early caries lesions. Regular use of xylitol reduces the acidogenic potential of the plaque as well as its adhesiveness, at the same time increasing its mineral content. No adaptive changes in plaque metabolism resulting in the fermentation of xylitol have been reported, not even after long term, intense use. Xylitol chewing gum therefore is eminently suited to be used as part of a caries preventive regimen notably for high caries risk patients and those suffering from xerostomia. Adding mineral salts to sugar based chewing gum has been demonstrated to significantly inhibit caries development. Possible additional caries preventive benefits of mineral compounds added to sugar-free chewing gum have, so far not been reported. Sugar-free chewing gum has been shown to be an excellent vehicle for Fluoride. The plaque-growth retarding properties of Chlorhexidine-containing chewing gum have been shown to equal that of a Chlorhexidine mouthwash. Ureum added to a sugar-free chewing gum helps to neutralize plaque acids by liberating basic ammonia.

The growth of Streptococcus mutans ATCC 25 175 has been studied in the presence of various sugars (sorbitol, mannitol, lycasin, sorbose and xylitol) and compared to sucrose, glucose and fructose, added to a complex and a synthetic culture medium. In these two media, the decrease in pH was related to the bacterial growth; this fact was confirmed by the dosages of the liberated lactic acid. In the complex medium, the different sugars influenced only slightly the bacterial growth, whereas in the synthetic medium the micro-organisms did not grow in the presence of sorbose, xylitol or lycasin 80/55. An adaptation period was necessary before the beginning of bacterial growth in the synthetic medium supplemented with sorbitol and mannitol.