How natural are ‘natural flavours & sweeteners' really?

Consumers are becoming increasingly savvy towards understanding ingredients in their food and how they affect their health, however, there are still two particularly insidious ingredients that continue to fly under the radar: natural flavours and natural sweeteners.

These two types of ingredients are common in everything from highly processed treats to organic items sold at health food stores. Unfortunately, their reputation hasn't yet caught up to the science behind their potential dangers in the way artificial flavours and sweeteners have. Most consumers don't even know what natural flavours and sweeteners are exactly, yet alone how they impact their health, and food companies benefit from this lack of knowledge.

The only difference between natural flavours and artificial flavours is their origin. Artificial flavours are entirely synthetic, whereas natural ones had to at least begin with a natural substance from either plants or animals. This original ingredient can then be altered and processed in any way imaginable, including with the addition of other chemical ingredients not mentioned on the final food label.

The American non-profit research organisation known as The Environmental Working Group claims that natural flavours often contain more than 100different chemicals such as preservatives, and solvents in addition to their original naturally-derived ingredient. This means that the actual difference between artificial and natural flavours is much smaller than most people realise.

Natural Sweeteners: Are They Too Good To Be True?

There are several different types of natural sweeteners. These encompass a range of ingredients which can be highly processed, minimally processed or not processed at all. The less processed an ingredient is, the more nutrition remains intact, and generally the healthier it is.

A few examples of unprocessed natural sweeteners would be raw dates and raw honey. Although these are both high in sugar and calories, they also offer a range of beneficial vitamins, minerals and nutrients. They are recommended to be eaten in moderation to avoid blood sugar spike and caloric overconsumption.

The main concern over natural sweeteners lie within the highly processed varieties. This includes Stevia and Monk fruit sweeteners. Although both of these sweeteners come from a whole food original source, the final products sold in stores have been heavily processed and often contain additional filler ingredients that don’t have to be disclosed in the ingredients list. Also, they contain no real value in terms of nutrition – their main job is to sweeten the food with out adding calories and inevitably mask the real taste of foods.

Stevia

Stevia sweeteners come from the leaves of the Stevia plant, but they're subjected to solvents, alcohols, steam and more before being combined with ingredients like glycerine (a vegetable-oil derived sugar alcohol) for liquid products and dextrose or erythritol for powders.

The main appeal of Stevia is that it is sugar and calorie free while still tasting sweet. The purpose of replacing sugar with Stevia however is defeated when the it is combined with dextrose in many products, which is a highly processed form of sugar. The commonly used  ingredients like sugar alcohol (glycerine and erythritol) also have their drawbacks. They've been linked to gastrointestinal issues, and the stevia plant itself has also shown potential to cause dizziness, bloating, nausea, and even kidney damage.

Monk Fruit

Monk fruit is another trendy health product with even less safety evidence behind its use than stevia. Monk fruit is as mall green melon native to China, but that's not how you'll see monk fruit sold in stores. Monk fruit sweetener products are actually made from monk fruit extract which is then processed into a powder or liquid form with other ingredients, similar to stevia. Since there are few studies on monk fruit itself, it's difficult to adequately determine its safety at this point.

Overall, the craze of low-calorie and sugar-free sweeteners, natural or not, is unlikely to lead to better health outcomes. Aside from the mentioned risks they pose, there's a strong case to be made for reducing your taste for something sweet altogether. Sugar &sweeteners should never be a regular part of anyone's diet, because it can also drive addictive behavioral and chemical patterns. Eating sugar releases natural opioids and dopamine in the brain which reinforces the desire to eat sugar and easily leads to overconsumption.

Natural Flavors: Not As Natural As You Think

The other majorly concerning natural ingredient additive used in a wide range of foods today is natural flavors. Though they're called "natural" the only difference between natural flavors and artificial flavors is their origin. Artificial flavors are entirely synthetic, whereas natural ones had to at least begin with a natural substance from either plants or animals.

This original ingredient can then be altered and processed in extreme ways and mixed with other chemicals such as emulsifiers, solvents and preservatives. The most concerning part of this is that neither the types of flavors used, nor their individual mixtures of ingredients are listed out separately on food labels. The umbrella term "natural flavors" is sufficient to encompass any combination of lab-created flavors with a natural origin, which makes it impossible to know exactly what you're consuming.

The lack of transparency is also concerning for those with allergies, or who follow a vegan or vegetarian diet since the ingredient sources could be problematic for them. The original ingredient source may also come from a genetically modified organism which poses risks and questions on its own.

The Bottom Line

The main takeaway on natural sweeteners and flavors is that despite their health halo, these substances are not risk free. It's impossible to say exactly what you're consuming when you eat anything with natural flavours, and the effects of natural sweeteners aren't very different from highly processed sugar sources. Overall, it's always the healthiest and safest choice to stick to minimally processed whole foods that offer an abundance of nutrition instead of empty calories camouflaged with flavors and sugar to make them appealing.

This is exactly why our smoothie blends only consist of real, raw, wholesome ingredients. Our smoothie blends are made to shine in a market full of flavored, sweetened alternatives.