ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses available nonnutritive sweeteners and fat substitutes and their potential application in pediatrics, including use in diabetes, hyperlipidemia, dental caries, and obesity. Efforts by the food industry to develop dietary fat substitutes have generated substantial interest among both the public and the medical profession. The majority of the adult and pediatric population in the United States have daily intakes of protein in excess of that considered sufficient to meet physiological requirements. Newborns and children demonstrate a positive response to sweetness that appears to be a reflexive, innate reaction rather than a learned response. Dietary phenylalanine is contraindicated in children with phenylketonuria, and foods and beverages containing aspartame must carry a warning label. Dietary modification is one of the cornerstones of any comprehensive therapeutic program for the treatment of diabetes in children. The issue of dietary sucrose has been extensively debated in discussion of the dietary management of diabetes.
