Evaluation of sweeteners

This blog post explains whether sweeteners are safe and why Nutri-Plus does not use stevia in its protein powder.

Sweeteners and sweeteners

In Germany, a distinction is made between sweeteners and sugar substitutes. Since December 2014, they have all been summarised under the term "sweeteners".
Like all other additives, sweeteners must be approved by the EU before they can be used in food. Authorisation is granted by international expert committees (such as the EU Commission's Scientific Committee on Food), which are guided by the current state of research.
An E number (e.g. E950 for acesulfame K) is assigned if the additive is classified as safe for health.

For additives, a so-called ADI value is defined (Acceptable Daily Intake), which is based on the results of animal experiments in which these animals have received correspondingly high concentrations of the additive in their feed over a longer period of time. The dose derived from this, at which no undesirable reactions occurred, is then divided by a safety factor (usually a factor of 100). The ADI value thus corresponds to 1/100 of the dose that has been shown to be approximate in animal experiments. The ADI value is given in mg per kg body weight per day (for lifelong intake).

A brief overview of the ADI values of various sweeteners:

As can be seen from the table, stevia has the lowest ADI value with a similar strength to acesulfame K. As it is still probably the most poorly investigated substance (and is otherwise only used as a synthetically produced variant in foods), we will continue to avoid using stevia in our products.

P.S.: Nutri-Plus hereby distances itself from animal testing of any kind!