Sugar and salt are ingredients for trouble if you have diabetes or high blood pressure. You'll also want to avoid too many sweet and salty snacks if you are watching your weight --- salt promotes water retention and sugar adds calories. Of course, those sugar and salt cravings can get pretty strong at times. Thanks to salt and sugar substitutes, however, you can satisfy your desires with purchased or homemade sodium and sugar free cookies. You can also use natural sweeteners, spices and flavors to replace sugar and salt in your favorite cookie recipes.
Salt Substitutes
The Cleveland Clinic explains the variety of salt substitutes available in the marketplace. One variety contains potassium chloride instead of sodium chloride. Others contain a mixture of sodium chloride and potassium chloride to lower the sodium content. These light or low sodium salt products are usually labeled as such. The claim that sea salt is healthier than iodized table salt is refuted by Mayo Clinic nutritionist Katherine Zeratsky. She says the amount of sodium is the same by weight in the natural and man-mined versions.
Salt Free
Salt preferences are learned and cravings can be unlearned, according to the Cleveland Clinic's assessment of salt substitutes on its website. The clinic suggests that natural, low-sodium foods added to your diet will help you develop new tastes in flavor. Fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and beans are suitable for a low sodium diet. Seasoning your food with garlic, nutmeg, cinnamon, pepper, oregano and other herbs or spices helps you to forget your desire for salt.
Sugar Substitutes
Diet and sugar free foods and beverages are readily available in restaurants and grocery stores. Manufacturers of artificial sweeteners and sugar substitutes compete to develop a product that matches the taste of white table sugar, or sucrose. Most of the more popular sugar substitutes are actually sweeter than sugar: aspartame, marketed as Equal or NutraSweet; saccharin, known as Sweet'N Low and Sugar Twin; and sucralose, branded as Splenda. Stevia, another popular sweetener, comes from a South American herb and tastes up to 30 times sweeter than sugar.
Sugar Alcohols
Sugar alcohols are less sweet than sugar and have caloric content. You don't cook with these sugar substitutes at home, but you will see them on the ingredient labels of many purchased products including toothpaste, mouthwash, baked items, candy, frozen desserts and chewing gum. Look for sugar alcohols under these names: sorbitol, erythritol, hydrogenated starch hydrolysates, isomalt, lactitol, maltitol, mannitol and xylitol. Truvia is a highly refined sugar alcohol taken from the Stevia plant.
Concerns
Used in moderation, salt and sugar substitutes are typically safe. However, there are some health concerns of which you should be aware. The Cleveland Clinic warns against salt substitutes containing potassium chloride if you have a history of kidney problems as your body cannot adequately eliminate potassium. Claims that sugar substitutes cause cancer remains largely unsubstantiated by scientific research, according to the Mayo Clinic. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulates artificial sweeteners and sugar alcohols as food additives and has labeled them as "generally recognized as safe."
Natural Sweeteners
Natural sugar substitutes, sometimes called added sugars, are typically purported to be healthier to use than white table sugar. Generally, they are the same in mineral and vitamin content. Some examples of natural sweeteners include honey, molasses, maple syrup and agave nectar. Cooks.com offers a recipe for Sugar-Free Oatmeal Cookies that contains baking soda and spices instead of salt, and substitutes raisins and unsweetened applesauce for sugar.
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