大学入学共通テスト2021(R)⑩第６問B

ー Cake, candy, soft drinks – most of us love sweet things. In fact, young
people say “Sweet!” to mean something is “good” in English. When we think of
sweetness, we imagine ordinary white sugar from sugar cane or sugar beet
plants. Scientific discoveries, however, have changes the world of sweeteners.
We can now extract sugars from many other plants. The most obvious
example is corn. Corn is abundant, in expensive, and easy to process. High
fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is about 1.2 times sweeter than regular sugar, but 
quite high in calories. Taking science one step further, over the past 70 years
scientists have developed a wide variety of artificial sweeteners.

ー A recent US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey concluded
that 14.6% of the average American’s energy intake is from “added sugar,”
which refers to sugar that is not derived from Whole Foods. A banana, for
example, is a whole food, while a cookie contains added sugar. More than half
of added sugar calories are from sweetened drinks and desserts. Lots of
added sugar can have negative effects on our bodies, including excessive
weight gain and other health problems. For this reason, many choose
 low-calorie substitutes for drinks, snacks, and desserts.

ー Natural alternatives to white sugar include brown sugar, honey, and maple
syrup, but they also tend to be high in calories. Consequently, alternative
“low-calorie sweeteners” (LCSs), mostly artificial chemical combinations, have
become popular. The most common LCSs today are aspartame, Ace-K, stevia,
and sucralose. Not all LCSs are artificial – stevia comes from plant leaves.

ー Alternative sweeteners can be hard to use in cooking because some cannot
be heated and most are far sweeter than white sugar. Aspartame and Ace-K
are 200 times sweeter than sugar. Stevia is 300 times sweeter, and sucralose
has twice the sweetness of stevia. Some new sweeteners are even more
intense. A Japanese company recently developed “Advantame,” which is
20.000 times sweeter than sugar. Only a tiny amount of this substance is required to sweeten something.

ー When choosing sweeteners, it is important to consider health issues.
Making desserts with lots of white sugar, for example, results in high-calorie
dishes that could lead to weight gain. There are those who prefer LCSs for
this very reason. Apart from calories, however, some research links
consuming artificial LCSs with various other health concerns. Some LCSs
contain strong chemicals suspected of causing cancer, while others have been
shown to affect memory and brain development, so they can be dangerous,
especially for young children, pregnant women, and the elderly. There are a 
few relatively natural alternatives sweeteners, like xylitol and sorbitol, which are
low in calories. Unfortunately, these move through the body extremely slowly,
so consuming large amounts can cause stomach trouble.

ー When people want something sweet, even with all the information, it is
difficult for them to decide whether to stick to common higher calorie
sweeteners like sugar or to use LCSs. Many varieties of gum and candy today
not put artificial sweeteners in hot drinks may still buy such items. Individuals
need to weigh the options and then choose the sweeteners that best suit their
needs and circumstances.