Simple table sugar. Honey. Sugar in the raw. Splenda. There's a wide variety of sweeteners you might find on food and drink labels or choose to sweeten your meals. This chart highlights all these sweeteners' positive and negative attributes.
The chart, from the Washington Post, groups sugars into categories such as raw, cooked, partly refined, refined, and synthetic. The number on the top left indicates how sweet the sweetener is compared to table sugar, which has a sweetness level of 1 (useful if you're choosing a sweetener for baking). The symbols on the right highlight positive attributes, such as diabetic-friendly or containing nutrients, as well as negative ones like causing tooth decay or leading to metabolic problems if taken too much.
Head to the Post for the interactive version and more details.
Sweeteners: a periodic table | The Washington Post
Finally, we'd like to point out that too much sugar of any kind isn't good for you, whether you're ingesting regular table sugar or high fructose corn syrup, and it can be addictive. As for artificial sweeteners, research still isn't clear on potential health issues linked to them such as these sweeteners causing additional weight gain or glucose intolerance, as the Post's related article notes. As with most other things, moderation is key here.
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